This title is a little different, as it eschews the narrative portion, so it's not really a read-aloud option. For that reason, I'd pitch it to a slightly older, elementary school audience. It's still a fascinating piece of writing though.
Laberis' cheerful, colorful illustrations show a variety of animals in their habitats in full-page art and smaller thumbnails. This accompanies Haynes' sometimes dense text exploring the use of tools in a wide variety of animals. I've previously read some interesting books on this topic, some of which are referenced in the bibliography, but Haynes takes a different approach and a much wider definition of "tool use." He talks about some of the instances I'm familiar with - crows that use and make hooked twigs, dolphins and sponges, and of course various primates. However, some more unusual examples are elephants using twigs to pry ticks out of their skin, boxer or pompom crabs waving anemones for defense, or a heron dropping a worm into a pond to lure fish to the surface.
Tool use is divided into categories for food, grooming, defense, comfort and more. There is a thoughtful conclusion, looking at the use of tools and the implication of communication and intelligence in animal life, a glossary, bibliography, and index.
Verdict: While not a read-aloud, as I had been expecting, this is an informative and interesting book for elementary age readers. It's broken up into sections so a teacher could read aloud portions and it would make a great starting point for STEM projects and discussion of animals. Recommended.
ISBN: 9781536200935; Published April 2021 by Candlewick; Review copy provided by publisher; Donated to the library
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