Curious Critters by David FitzSimmons

By Reviewer Emily:

My 5 year old daughter has informed me that she has a job. I am not sure who is responsible for the paycheck, but she now considers herself an animal scientist. Her “work bag” consists of her field journal, colored pencils, binoculars and camera which she keeps handy to record any new animal she finds. To help support her budding career, we’ve made frequent trips to the library and our local book store so she can read up on her favorite subjects. We’ve now acquired a pretty decent animal book collection in our home and one of our favorites is the recently published Curious Critters by David FitzSimmons. This book is brilliant!

Award-winning author and photographer David Fitzsimmons has created a book that is not only fun to read, but equally fun to look at. The striking animal photography is the main feature of Curious Critters. Each of these animals (many found in your own backyard) is photographed against a plain, white background which brings out the animals’ colors, textures and shapes.

There are twenty-one fascinating critters in all, and each animal tells a story about itself to give young readers an understanding of the animals’ character in real life. For older readers, there is plenty of educational information that features natural history information for each animal, a two-page spread of life-size silhouettes and a glossary.

To my surprise, our little animal scientist enjoyed the bat and spider pages best. She told me these are two scary critters she would not want to find in real life so being able to see them up close in the pages of the book was pretty cool. Since many of these animals and insects are quite common, my two year old daughter liked trying to name each animal on the page and mimic their sounds.

We browsed through the book rather quickly the first time because we couldn’t wait to see what photographed on the next page. With each reading afterwards, my girls continued to become mesmerized with each page, studying all the captivating details the photos reveal.

Curious Critters is a great book to enjoy over and over. It’s a children’s book not just for the young, but for the nature lover of any age and would make the perfect gift for that person.

Curious Critters is the 2011 Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards silver medalist among Non-Fiction – Picture Books.

For more information and resources including puzzles, coloring pages, e-cards, teacher aids and stories about the making of Curious Critters. For more information about the author and his photography check out David FitzSimmons.

Samples were received.

About Emily:

Emily is also very active in the local MOMS CLUB. She raises chickens and has 2 shih tzus. Her daughter Caitlyn attends Montessori school and she hates housecleaning, loves wine and enjoys dining out. She would love to find a cure for the depression and anxiety she has dealt with on and off over the past 10 years, just like me. She is an amazing mom and friend.