They Just Know

July 15, 2015
Drawing a line between human and animal behaviors, this debut from Yardi teaches children about instinctual behaviors. Alternating double-page spreads first show anthropomorphized animals "learning" how to do something and then the reality: spring peeper tadpoles don't get lessons in leaping at school, and no one has to teach them their iconic song. A turn of the page reveals: "Mother peepers lay a lot of lovely eggs and hop away. Little tadpoles just know what to do, all on their own." Klein's artwork is the real draw, though. The anthropomorphized scenes will certainly elicit chuckles from both adult and child readers: a mother sea turtle rocking her baby in a cradle, a baby kingsnake coiled round a teddy bear, a horn shark in a highchair, tiny tadpoles wearing backpacks. Turns of the pages reveal realistic scenes of the animals in their natural habitats. And the final message-animals don't need toys, help, or hugs, "but you do!"-is one every child will relish hearing. The "For Creative Minds" section in the backmatter delineates instinctual vs. learned behaviors and gives children a chance to determine which are which. A double-page spread then talks about life cycles and metamorphosis and asks readers to match adults and their young. The dichotomy between the anthropomorphized scenes and the realistic ones artfully highlights the divide between the animal world and the human one. (Informational picture book. 4-8)

COPYRIGHT(2015) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

July 1, 2016
This introduction to unlearned animal behaviors explains (somewhat simplistically) that baby animals "just know" how to find food, fly, and swim on their own. Tongue-in-cheek illustrations dramatize the textual comparisons between animal babies and their needier human counterparts ("No one reminds a caterpillar to eat her leaves"). End pages expand on the story with additional information and activities for concept reinforcement.

(Copyright 2016 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)