Neal LaytonRecensioni

Extremely interesting, full of grossness and scatalogical factoids, definitely worth recommending to the 3rd-6th grader who enjoys a bit of yuck.

I would love to have this fun and colorful book in my library! The illustrations are great to keep students engaged and interested in what the book is trying to teach them. There are lots of different things students can learn from this book. There's all different kinds of geometry implemented throughout!

This book is able to teach how area and volume scale with lengths, and how this contributes to life. It also presents this lesson in many different ways. You also learned a lot of fun facts about animals weight and size. The illustrations in the book are also really easy for children to understand and mentally digest. This book will serve thrill children who enjoy learning about nature.

Kindergarten-Grade 3–What happens to two woolly mammoths when summer makes an unwelcome appearance during the Ice Age? That's the premise of Layton's extremely silly picture book. Oscar and Arabella, blissfully ice skating (minus the skates) in the freezing cold, sneeze when the weather is warm enough for flowers, frantically scratch at the invading insects, and sweat in the heat of the sun. After they make several amusing attempts to cool themselves off, Oscar holds up a scissors in his trunk and promptly invents the haircut. The grass is littered with mammoth hair as Arabella examines her new look in Oscar's mirror. The trend spreads like ragweed through the animal world; even the human lurking nearby throughout the story discards his animal skin. (And children are likely to be amused by his naked behind.) The illustrations are rough-hewn and absurd; this combination is unfailingly appealing. Layton uses a variety of media to produce bright, primitive landscapes populated with lively, cartoon creatures. An epilogue entitled "Ice Age Facts" presents some simplified information, including this tidbit: "There probably weren't any combs, mirrors, or scissors in the Ice Age. I made that up. Animals would have had to cut their woolly coats with blunt stone axes. (Just kidding)." This paragraph will elicit chortles from some children and confusion from others. It exemplifies the dry humor that infuses Hot Hot Hot.

This picture book tells the tale of different animal families happily sharing a tree until “new arrivals” show up with a “wonderful” plan for the tree’s future. Can the tree be a home for all?

This picture book was a good picture book that l would recommend to a student that was confused about size. I would also recommend this book to those students that are interested in animals. It seems more geared to younger kids but is definitely a good read.

This book shows you why animals are the size that they are through the evolutionary theory. The book could be used for Science classes because it gives great examples of 'survivor of the fittest'. It also can be used in math because of the size proportions used in the book. This is a great and interesting read for students because the book is very detailed, factual, and yet understandable.

This fable illustrates that what seems like a disaster maybe a delightful surprise. The animals happily living in the cozy homes in a tree get a surprise when new arrivals show up. The new arrivals had plans of their own and began to cut down the tree, thus destroying the animals' homes. The animals were very upset but to their surprise, the new arrivals made even better homes for them and the animals realized that what they thought was a disaster ended up being a great surprise!

This book tells the reader about the different kind of parasites that are on the planet, how they helped shape the earth, and how we as humans can prevent getting bad parasites. This book is so knowledgeable. This book can honestly be used in the science curriculum to teach about hygiene, parasites, the human immune system, and many more other topics. Teachers can divide this book into sections and teach about a different parasite each day as a closing to the class period. I would have loved to learn about lice in school because it was not taught to me. All I knew was the nurse would check students for lice once or twice a year. This book is just filled with so much knowledge that students should be taught. I enjoyed reading this book and learning. I look forward to using this book in a science lesson.

This book is a pop up book that would be good to use as a read aloud in younger grades. It casually introduces the subject area of stars, space, and space exploration. It is great for introducing key vocabulary in a friendly manner. I think this book could be used in 3-4 in the classroom library for students to look at and explore. It encourages questions and talks about questions that people have had all throughout history about space. I would love to use this book for a picture walk and interactive read aloud with students where they select topics about space they want to engage more in and go from there.

I use Nicola Davies' Animal Science series a lot in book clubs and as recommendations for school projects. They're good choices being small and not daunting to reluctant readers, with funny cartoons and small chunks of text.

This older title, from 2011, is still relevant and will intrigue readers who are interested in animal communication.

Davies compares animal communication to human communication; in "uniforms" and markings, sounds, smells and more. Each type of communication is illustrated with humorous cartoons and simple text. Readers will learn how bright colors signal poison, how fish stay in schools be reading each other's colors, and how birds sing to defend territories, attract mates, and maintain communications. There's also information about sea horses, dolphins, deer, and many, many more.

An index and glossary make up the back matter. While this isn't as complete and scientific an introduction to the subject as, for example, Castaldo's Beastly Brains, it's a great intro for beginners and casual readers. Kids who are studying nonfiction author styles will enjoy learning interesting tidbits and facts and those who like animal trivia will revel in this funny collection of animal facts.

Verdict: A great beginning for learning about animal communication, helping kids narrow down a research topic, or just enjoy a funny, informative book. Worth purchasing even though it's a few years old as the information is still fresh and relevant.

ISBN: 9780763650889; Published 2011 by Candlewick; Borrowed from another library in my consortium

A towering pine tree shelters a bird's nest, an owls' hollow, a squirrels' nest, and a rabbits' burrow in this simple picture-book fable. Then two newcomers - a human couple - arrive, excited about building a home of their own. But when they realize that their plans will lead to the destruction of all the other creatures' homes, will they proceed? Or can some other solution be found...?

Inspired by British author/illustrator Neal Layton's family holiday in a French forest, The Tree: A Fable offers a hopeful vision of humanity learning to live in harmony with nature, finding a way to see that their own needs are met, while still protecting wildlife. The eventual solution found - a tree house! - was very pleasing, especially as the construction of tree house (to live in, rather than as play areas) is a current trend in some quarters. Recommended to all young tree and nature lovers, and to anyone searching for children's stories about living in an environmentally conscious way.

A charming little walk through evolutionary theory. Ms. Davies explains the theories and offers countless real-world examples to support them; Mr. Layton's illustrations bring the concepts to life in amusing vignettes. The style is suitable for 5th grade on (in my uneducated opinion), and the author takes great pains to explain any terminology that may be unfamiliar to the reader (there's also a glossary in the back to help). This book is a great way to introduce younger readers to the ideas of evolutionary biology, geometric ratios, and the kaleidoscope of spectacularly unique animals that inhabit the planet. Some background information about dinosaurs is assumed, but most everything else is carefully and wittily explained in the text.

Brief text; great story

THE TREE: A FABLE by Neal Layton is a heartwarming story about animals and people living together in nature.

Although this picture book contains few words, it tells a powerful story of empathy and compassion. When a couple decides to build a house, they discover their land is already populated by animals. The couple decides to find a way to live with their new neighbors.

Librarians will find this timeless book provides an excellent springboard for creative writing activities focusing on empathy and nature. It would also be a refreshing way to introduce the idea of fables.

To learn more about the author, go to http://www.neallayton.co.uk.

Published by Candlewick on February 14, 2017. ARC courtesy of the publisher.

You know all of those parasites? The ones that make you itch all over? Reading this book will explain all about parasites that can live off of your body as well as the other animals around you. Read with caution as you may begin to feel them all around you.

We all do it. What can our poop say about us and other animals around the world? Find out in this well written and engaging book.

This cute book tells the story of a family of aliens that land on Earth hoping to take a picture of a human. It happens that they land at a zoo, so they have to work pretty hard to find a human. As the family walks around, they compare the traits of humans with other animals and decide that the other animals are not human. In the end, the author includes humor, where the family finally gets their picture of a human. However, it is revealed that they actually took a picture of a monkey. I think this book is perfect for younger audiences, perhaps 2-4 years old. It is a short, quick read, with pictures that are engaging. The humor at the end is also placed perfectly.

It's hard for adults, sometimes, to judge the appeal & clarity of children's science books. ?�In my opinion this has the right balance of whimsical illustrations and informative text for age 9 up. ?áAnd I know plenty of adults who could learn a few things from it, too. ?áThe only thing it desperately needs is a 'for further reading' section. ?áIt could also use a 'cutting edge' note... the page about the degree of warm-bloodedness of dinosaurs is vague and, if one searches online, esp. at ASU, one can get better & more up-to-date info. ?á

It's also a little unclear on just how evolution works, failing to make it plain that there is no forethought, no 'desire' for a critter to evolve to be better adapted. ?áSomehow we need to make it plain to kids that evolution is random, and that the definition of 'fittest' is 'most fit currently for the current set of constraints.' ?áOtherwise kids (and adults) keep thinking that fittest means 'best' and that man is top of the heap, king of the mountain.

Still, it's far better than a lot of friendly science books for young children, and I do recommend it. ?á
I also say that it is worthy of the Candlewick logo. ;)½

In my opinion this book is very overwhelming. As a reader I felt that the writing was a lot because the author used so many different fonts that made the book seem choppy. For example, the book explained the different types of parasites and then explains that people should always take their medicine. Also, the illustrations were too detailed that it was difficult to continue the book. For instance, the page where the author explained about tapeworms and how they travel in humans’ feces is little disgusting. This book is about how parasites are everywhere and that there are good ones and bad ones living in our body.

Go Wild with...Colors by Neal Layton is a picture books about colors. It correlates a color to an animal found in the wild that matches.

There is a really surprising amount of information in this book that looks like such a light read when you just grab it in passing off the nonfiction display, and I think it would be great for kids who are interested in animals. You learn about all the different ways animals communicate—through coloring, like different kinds of butterfly fish and monkeys; through smells, like beavers and pandas (who will do handstands so they can get their bums higher up on the tree, letting other pandas know just how big and intimidating they are); through sound, like wolves and howler monkeys and birds; through dances, like seahorses and the superb lyrebird, who apparently does a dance so elaborate that he builds himself a stage first; through electric buzzes, like the elephant-nose fish that live in West African rivers so muddy that they can't see each other; and so on.

I learned that African elephants make rumbling sounds that are so low humans can't hear them, but elephants can feel the vibrations over several miles. So when one part of the herd is in trouble, the rest of them show up almost from nowhere, and I thought that was really cool.

And I learned that deer roar. This was such a curious fact that Mike had to go look it up, and we found a YouTube video to listen to. You could do a lot with this book, if you have kids who are interested in animals and nature. Lots of things to learn, and illustrated in a fun way that will keep kids entertained.

I thought this book was very funny, informative, and slightly disturbing. I enjoyed how Nicola Davies made parasites seem humorous and normal. Sometimes though, the illustrations and text were very hard to follow. For instance, text would be hidden inside of an illustration.

I absolutely adored this short informational text piece. For starters, the illustrations were simple but easily identifiable, I knew what the animals were and I could tell the animals from the people. I loved that on some of the illustrations Layton made it in a way where there were illustrations within his illustrations. I also enjoyed the way Layton represented parasites that generally live inside of you, he made the people look like x-rays of themselves and you could see their bones and intestines. Another reason I really enjoyed this story is the way the author decided to layout the works and information on different pages. The first page is written very short and to the point to try and get the flow going. Then he moves onto paragraph form which contains ample amounts of information. But then Layton does something fun with the information using the illustrations. He puts the information into arrows and points them to the illustration of the animal he is referring to. The big theme or idea of this book is to inform the reader about parasites and how we are potential feeding grounds for these little insects.

An entertaining, informative look at predators of all kind.