Life-Size Animals: An Illustrated Safari

Echoing the concept of Sophy Henn’s Lifesize series, this new title offers “accurate illustrations” of animals and animal parts “that have the actual measurements beside them.” Fact-laden spreads show the relative sizes of animal and bird tongues, claws, teeth, and tails. Readers can marvel at the size disparity between the goliath beetle (“the largest of the coleopteran order”) and the ladybug (said to bring good luck), and, as in Lifesize, goggle at the gargantuan eyeball of the giant squid. Schiavo’s explanatory text is direct and dry: “The squid’s eyes are so large to allow it to perceive the faint light of the sea depths and the bioluminescence of the inhabitants of the abyss.” Grott’s stylized yet realistic digital illustrations are more engaging—awash in color and texture, they are lifelike depictions of the lifesize creatures. Ages 6–9. (Nov.)