Starred Review ALA Booklist (Wed Feb 01 00:00:00 CST 1995)

Starred Review Beautiful double-page-spread cut-paper collages illustrate a picture book about some of the biggest and smallest, fastest and slowest, strongest and longest record holders in the animal world. The facts are amazing. Their juxtaposition makes you gasp, not just about size and speed but about comparative wonders. Right after the African elephant, which eats more than 300 pounds of grass and leaves every day, there's a close-up two-page picture of an ant, which turns out to be the strongest animal for its size it can carry five times its own weight. The book's design makes it accessible at many levels. The youngest can identify the various creatures. Preschoolers can enjoy the one-sentence descriptions in large type (The cheetah can run faster than any other animal. . . . The flea is very small, but it is the world's best jumper). Older kids will love thinking about the additional facts regarding scale and proportion that are printed in small type, accompanied by a tiny silhouette in the corner of each picture (If a 5 1/2-foot-tall woman could jump as well as a flea, she could leap to the top of a 65-story building). Here's proof that power isn't just about size and that science can be a lot of fun. (Reviewed February 01, 1995)

School Library Journal

K-Gr 2--Large, clear print; fascinating facts; and beautiful, detailed, cut-paper collages make this excellent title a delight. One main fact is presented per spread about each of 14 animals, e.g., ``The Etruscan shrew, the world's smallest mammal, could sleep in a teaspoon.'' Two more relevant facts are given in smaller print. Silhouette drawings show comparative sizes--the blue whale is shown next to an adult human. The realistic, inventive, textured illustrations, mostly double spreads, flow smoothly from page to page. A helpful chart at the end contains further information about each creature, such as diet and habitat. An all-round superlative effort.--Jan Shepherd Ross, Dixie Elementary Magnet School, Lexington, KY

Horn Book

Jenkins uses striking cut-paper collages to explore extremes--for example, longest-living, smallest, and slowest--in the animal world. In each instance, Jenkins makes a graphic comparison that children can understand and includes a smaller illustration that helps make abstract concepts concrete. Appended is a chart presenting brief facts about the animals' diet, range, and size.