ODD BODS

Photos of 11 unusual-looking animals are accompanied by statements about the utility of their odd features.

From thorn bugs in the Americas to saiga antelopes in Eurasia, this album introduces strikingly unusual-looking members of the animal kingdom from around the world. Singling out animals that “look freaky” is a dubious premise for children’s attention, but author Murphy points out that “these odd features also make them super survivors.” Spread by spread she presents close-up photographs that fill a page and a half; a single-sentence caption and a short boxed paragraph explaining the odd feature’s utility appear in the remaining space. The mammals—dugong, aye-aye, naked mole rat, narwhal, and the aforementioned antelope—may be animals children have heard of. Leafy sea dragons sometimes turn up in aquariums. But the others—the brightly colored thorn bug gracing the cover, a sea slug called a glaucus, an Australian reptile called a thorny devil, and the African shoebill (a large, grumpy-looking bird)—are likely to surprise. The photographs, from stock sources, are wonderfully attention-getting. There seems no need for the exclamation marks that end every descriptive sentence and most of the explanatory paragraphs. The information given is limited but sound, supported with additional facts and suggestions for further reading and web research in the backmatter.

Not a necessary purchase—but an easy sell.