Life-Size Zoo: From Tiny Rodents to Gigantic Elephats, an Actual-Size Animal Encyclopedia by Teruyuki Komiya is a delightful gem. I haven't shared it with my 5th graders yet, but I predict they are going to love it.The cover sets the stage nicely for what the reader will find inside the book. We see a life-size photo of a zebra. Right inside the book, the author gives a guide to the readers as to what each section of the upcoming pages will hold. As someone who is currently teaching non-fiction text characteristics and their purposes to her students, this immediately caught my attention. It is so important for students to know how to get the most information possible from each page of a non-fiction text.
The pictures of each animal are not only life-size, but they also contain the most minute of details. Children will love looking at these amazing close-up photographs.
The text beside each photo is minimal, but good. However, the sidebars on each page have very interesting details about both the specific animal in the picture (including its name) and details about the animal in general.
The best part of the book is the pages that fold-out to accommodate the life-size features of the animal. My favorite fold-out was the picture of the giraffe with its tongue sticking out -- both gross and fascinating at the same time!
To be "life-size", Life-Size Zoo is quite an oversized book. This is yet another reason to love this book and share it with children!
**This book was compliments of the publisher, Steven Footer Press.**
Hi Karen! We loved this book in my class. The kids noticed right away that the table of contents is set up differently than most nonfiction books. That set us on the quest to look for more examples of "non-traditional" tables of contents. There is so much to use in this book. I often look up to see a couple of kids lying on the floor with this book with the pages folded out! It's on our "to buy" list for a friend's son for Christmas.
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