Animal Olympics

May 15, 2020

K-Gr 2-This enlightening nonfiction book showcases the abilities and skills of animals from many different habitats. Animals "compete" for the gold and partake in various athletic events including diving, sprinting, weightlifting, boxing, and swimming. Brief chapters, which feature a colorful double-page spread, provide facts about the animal contenders. Tanis's humorous illustrations depict the athletes in the context of familiar human settings, such as a racetrack, a boxing ring, a gym, or a pool. Each animal is issued a one-line catchphrase. For example, the African bush elephant boasts, "I can easily lift more than either of you," while his gorilla competitor calls attention to his muscles. The rhinoceros beetle warns, "Don't underestimate me-I'm small but super strong." The abundance of remarkable feats makes the actions of the winner even more impressive. Victories are relative to an animal's size, which makes it possible for a mantis shrimp to be a champion boxer or a flea to be crowned the best long jumper. A further reading list allows readers to learn more about animal abilities, sports, and the history of the Olympics. VERDICT A worthwhile purchase. This informative book is sure to entertain readers and will be especially satisfying for those hungry for unusual fun facts.-Gloria Koster, formerly at West Sch., New Canaan, CT

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April 15, 2020
Animal athletes compete for the gold. In this unrelated but similarly conceived counterpart to Richard Turner's Wildlife Winter Games, illustrated by Ben Clifford (2019), three disparate competitors line up to show their stuff in each of 12 events, from long jump (flea; grasshopper; kangaroo rat: "I can jump backward, too!") to general climbing (gecko; gelada baboon; mountain goat). Brown supplies a few lines of basic facts about the capabilities of each entrant and awards the gold to one--often the smallest, as, for instance, rhinoceros beetles can lift many more times their body weight than elephants or gorillas, and a mantis shrimp's punch is more powerful for its size than anything a brown hare or eastern gray kangaroo can deliver. In her tidy, stylized illustrations, Tanis doesn't draw the animals to scale but does outfit them in athletic gear and garb on one side of each double-page spread to add a bit of fun and then shows them in natural settings on facing pages. Steer readers with a yen to continue the games to Martin Jenkins' Animal Awards, illustrated by Tor Freeman (2019), which broadens the areas of competition beyond sports, and Mark Carwardine's much more expansive Natural History Museum Book of Animal Records (2013). A limited but mildly stimulating gathering on a (possibly) timely theme. (bibliography) (Informational picture book. 6-8)

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