About the Holiday
For kids who love nonfiction, this year has brought a bumper crop of creative, fascinating, and informative books on all topics from biographies to history to science and beyond. Innovative, interactive, and humorous, these books for all ages – even babies – open up the world for children in ways that resonate and make learning exciting and fun. Today’s book will have kids looking at the animals around them in a whole new way.
Eye by Eye: Comparing How Animals See
Written by Sara Levine | Illustrated by T.S Spookytooth
“Have you ever wondered what it would be like to see the world through someone else’s eyes?” Let’s make that musing even more intriguing—How would the world look if you gazed out at it through the eyes of an animal, insect, or bird (you know… a bird’s eye view)? Say, for instance, you had eight eyes dotting your face. “What kind of animal would you be, then?” Hmmm… With “four big eyes on the front of its face…” and “four smaller eyes on the top of its head,” the jumping spider can see what’s above and in front of it.
What if your eyes weren’t on your face at all, but on your arms instead? who would that be? Or how would you like it if your eyes were on “long stalks sticking out of the top of your head?” That might come in handy in a crowded movie theater or museum, but the animal with these eyes doesn’t really frequent those kinds of places. It’s more of an outdoorsman. Can you guess? While you’re contemplating that, you’re also going to want to learn about the animals whose eyes move to other parts of their face and the animals whose eyes are fixed in place.
Now, look deeeep into your eyes. What do you see? A pupil! What shape is it? Would it surprise you to learn that there are animals whose pupils are oval or even rectangular? Cat lovers know that their fav animals have oval pupils, but so do other “predators that hide and then ambush their prey.” Their unique eyes help them “judge distance and plan its attack without making any movements that might scare away its meal.” Animals with rectangular eyes use their peepers to stay safe. Which animals do you think those would be?
Image copyright T.S Spookytooth, 2020, text copyright Sara Levine, 2020. Courtesy of Millbrook Press.
Some animals, including some humans, can’t see the colors red and green. You know this as color-blindness, but have you ever wondered exactly how color-blind people or animals view the world? Side-by-side pages show you! And that bird’s-eye-view? Because of the way birds’ eyes are constructed, their world is even more colorful than ours! How much more? “We have no idea… since our eyes can’t give us this information. But it’s pretty cool to know that there are things that exist out there that humans can’t see at all.”
One last question: What kind of animal could read the words in this book? If you know the answer, “you are a human who is using your eyes to read.” While other animals can’t read words, they can read the signs other animals and even plants provide. What are some of these? The answers plus even more fascinating information can be yours in the blink of an eye.
Back matter includes hands-on activities kids can do to “see” the way two animals do, a close-up examination of a human’s pupil, and a glossary as well as a list of books and websites for further research.
Sara Levine’s eye-opening guide to how a wide variety of creatures in the animal kingdom see will enthrall kids. In the fourth book of her Animal by Animal series, Levine continues her kid-enticing combination of humor and science to teach children about the specialized eyes that help animals navigate their particular environments. Her conversational storytelling, sprinkled with questions, will have kids engaged in the kind of predicting that reinforces learning. Levine’s detailed answers to the questions, including benefits of particular eye shapes or placement, physiological characteristics and adaptations, and the names of additional animals that share the same types of eyes, are enlightening will inspire young scientists to discover more about their world.
A highlight of the Animal by Animal series is the artwork by T.S Spookytooth, who excels at translating Levine’s vision into illustrations that get kids giggling and learning. The first page starts off in familiar territory: a glasses-wearing girl stares eye-to-eye with the little wiener dog she’s holding in her hands. But turn the page and this same girl now sports eight eyes and two cleverly constructed pairs of glasses while other kids—and clues for discussions to come—stand by. On the next pages, eyeballs jut from the ends of six arms, peer out from long, wiggly stalks, and migrate across a girl’s face. These images will have kids laughing and riveted to the pages, while Spookytooth’s realistic depictions of the animals these eyes belong to will long remain in their memory. Insets of enlarged eyes allow kids to see the particular formation of eyes and pupils up close. The side-by-side page spread showing full-color human vision and the vision of someone who is color-blind is enlightening. Kids will enjoy following the pet crocodile from page to page and discussing all the reasons for its distinctive eyes. The diverse group of kids are charming companions on this educational journey.
An exciting and fascinating way to spur children to explore and learn about animals, nature, and themselves, Eye by Eye: Comparing How Animals See is a top pick for home, school and public library collections.
Ages 5 – 10
Millbrook Press, 2020 | ISBN 978-1541538382
Discover more about Sara Levine and her books on her website.
To learn more about T.S Spookytooth, his books, and his art, visit his website.
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