Creaturepedia: Welcome to the Greatest Show on Earth

Gr 1–4—This is an extensive array of more than 600 creatures that live among and around us across the world. This encyclopedia, of sorts, has several features that make it different from other animal compendiums. Barman relies upon categories such as "The Redheads," "The Unlucky," "The Munch-It-Uppers," and "The Faithful." Illustrations of relevant animals are provided, along with snippets of information. For example, on the pages that depict "The Bounders," readers learn that the puma can leap up to 20 feet from a standing start and that the flea can jump up to 200 times its body length. Though the images are fairly realistic, Barman has opted to lend a bit of personification to some of the animals, especially through their expressive eyes and mouths. The organization offers new and interesting ways to think about and classify animals and understand relationships among them. After all, who knew that a dolphin, a rat, and a red wood ant had anything in common?