Have you ever wished you could get an up-close look at a giraffe’s long tongue,
a gorilla’s dark eyes, or an aardvark’s odd face? Thanks to the photographs in Life-Size Zoo, readers can view "mug shots" of these and other creatures in amazing detail. For example, spanning two pages, the startling, actual-size photo of a tiger’s snarling face reveals black lips, green eyes, and fierce fangs. The text prompts readers to examine the rough, sandpapery texture of the beast’s huge pink tongue, noting that it "comes in handy for grooming and for stripping meat off bones. Yum." I was intrigued to see that the tiger’s true-to-life-size tongue is as large as my hand!
Several pages fold out to reveal impressive headshots of larger animals such as the elephant, rhino, and giraffe. Other pages contain full-body snapshots of different, but similar-sized animals. One such spread shows a spiky hedgehog beside an armored armadillo. A subsequent photo shows what these curious creatures look like when they each roll up into a ball.
You’ll probably see more animals in this over-sized book than you would on an actual zoo tour. Indeed, photographer Toyofumi Fukuda visited several Japanese zoos to capture these breath-taking images. The book’s table of contents appears as a colorful cartoon-drawn zoo map, and endpapers, featuring full-body photos of all 21 animals, includes basic information such as height, weight and natural habitat. Cartoon-style sidebars offer additional fun facts about these magnificent creatures. Life-Size Zoo is a captivating read, a "must-see" book for anyone who is truly wild about animals.
This book was reviewed by Heidi Bee Roemer. This post is part of the Nonfiction Monday Round-Up posted at Tales From the Rushmore Kid.
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