About the Holiday
National Wildlife Day was established in 2005 by author and pet lifestyle expert Colleen Paige in memory of conservationist Steve Irwin. The day promotes awareness of the importance of conservation of animals, habitats, and the environment worldwide and offers education on the number of endangered and threatened species across the globe. To honor today’s holiday, visit a local zoo, aquarium, or other nature preserve and take some time to learn about what you can do to help protect the environment.
Thank you to Kane Press for sharing a copy of Like No Other with me for review consideration. All opinions on the book are my own.
Like No Other: Earth’s Coolest One-of-a-Kind Creatures
Written by Sneed B. Collard III | Illustrated by Christopher Silas Neal
There’s something captivating about the unique. Couple that feeling with the endless fascination of animals, and you have today’s book! Like No Other introduces readers to thirteen creatures of the air, land, and sea that have no close living relatives in the animal kingdom. Some never had close relatives, some evolved away from their kin, and others thrived while the rest of their lineage became extinct.
Inside Sneed B. Collard III’s and Christopher Silas Neal’s eye-catching book, readers meet, among other one-of-a-kind animals, a bird that uses echolocation and nests in caves, a sea turtle that “can grow more than six feet long and can weigh more than half a ton,” and my personal favorite—a frog that lives eleven months of each year underground.
Illustration copyright Christopher Silas Neal, 2024. Text copyright Sneed B. Collard III. Courtesy of Kane Press.
To orient children on animal classification and how the subjects of his book are so different, Sneed B. Collard III uses the example of a red fox to explain the terms genus, family, and order. He relates how the red fox is closely related to other species of foxes, more distantly related to dogs and wolves, and also belongs in the order Carnivora with other meat eaters. Christopher Silas Neal provides a clear visual representation to further help readers understand these terms.
Some of the animals in Like No Other, such as the walrus and the platypus, may be familiar to young readers, while others will come as a surprising discovery. Each accessible and detailed entry begins with a bite-size description of the animal that will immediately pique a child’s attention. Collard then goes on to reveal each animal’s scientific family, how they were left alone in the world, where they live, what they eat, and other extraordinary facts. Information on the height, weight, and lifespan of each creature is also included.
Christopher Silas Neal’s superb mixed-media, full-spread illustrations depict beautiful, true-to-life images of each animal interacting with its typical environment. Among the pages, readers will view an aye-aye as it taps a tree branch, listening for any tasty insects inside; dive deep with a whale shark as it sucks a school of tiny fish into its tunnel-like mouth; and watch a secretarybird wrangle with a snake. The final entry leads readers to contemplate where we humans fit into the earth’s design.
Illustration copyright Christopher Silas Neal, 2024. Text copyright Sneed B. Collard III. Courtesy of Kane Press.
Extensive backmatter includes “Saving One-of-a-Kind Creatures,” which discusses the impact of human population growth and industry on plants and animals and how we can help reverse adverse effects; “Be an Animal Scientist”—a fun, step-by-step activity in which readers can test their skills of taxonomy by identifying and categorizing the creatures and plants depicted in a provided illustration; and “Figuring Out Relatives—an interactive explanation of taxonomy—as well as a glossary of words in the book, a list of websites for continued learning, and a short discussion on how the author researched his book. Closing out the section is a world map dotted with eleven more one-of-a-kind animals—a perfect resource for educators to spark kids’ own research.
Like No Other: Earth’s Coolest One-of-a-Kind Creatures will captivate young readers from cover to cover. Together the text and illustrations create a well-conceived package for both casual readers and those interested in doing further research as well as teachers and other educators looking for a high-interest book to introduce or add to their lessons in nature science. The book is a top pick for home and classroom bookshelves as well as school and public library collections.
Ages 5 – 8
Kane Press, 2024 | ISBN 978-1662670077
About the Author
Sneed B. Collard III is the author of more than eighty-five books for children and young people. His Beaks! title (Charlesbridge, 2002) has sold more than 200,000 copies in paperback, and continues to sell. His work has received the Eureka! Nonfiction Silver Medal, the High Plains Books Award, made the Junior Library Guild Selection list, and received many starred reviews from Booklist, School Library Journal, and others.
About the Illustrator
Christopher Silas Neal is an award-winning author and illustrator of picture books, including the acclaimed Over and Under series with author Kate Messner, which was praised for its “stunning retro-style illustrations” (New York Times). Neal’s author debut Everyone was praised by Publishers Weekly as “simple, honest, lyrical.” His board books Animal Colors and Animal Shapes received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Kirkus. He speaks about his books, the art-making process, and his career at schools, conferences, libraries, and book festivals across the country. Neal is a Mexican/European-American artist who lives with his wife and two boys in Brooklyn, NY.
National Wildlife Day Activity
Animal Coloring Pages
Enjoy these coloring pages of two of the world’s unique animals!
You can purchase Like No Other: Earth’s Coolest One-of-a-Kind Creatures at these booksellers
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop (to support your local independent bookstore)
Picture Book Review
celebratepicturebooks.com 