Little Killers: The ferocious lives of puny predators by Sneed B. Collard III

Nonfiction author Sneed B. Collard III returns with another fascinating plunge into an unfamiliar world - this time the world of deadly predators... so small most can't be seen with the naked eye.

Collard takes his readers through the lives of copepods, pteropods, ctenophores, ants, spiders, and ladybugs. He showcases their strange anatomy with brilliant photos and shows how they are not only voracious predators, but important parts of their ecosystems, on land and on sea. Collard ties together the lives of these creatures with current issues of climate change and invasive species in a thoughtful conclusion that encourages readers to investigate and reflect on the hidden wonders of the world.

This book made me think about the dichotomy of kids loving nonfiction, but being discouraged from reading it either because of the emphasis on "leveling," the format, or their own reading difficulties. As many teachers and librarians would agree, we need a major shift in how we teach and encourage reading; I am finding it more and more difficult to find readers for this level of nonfiction. Kids - and their teachers - have become engrained with the culture of levels, which often put a higher number on nonfiction because of the more complex vocabulary. Many systems also arbitrarily assign "points" based on page numbers. The end result is that adults discourage kids from reading nonfiction both because of the format "it looks like a picture book/baby book" or the reading level "this is too hard for you" while kids are daunted by the denser text and reluctant to put in the effort for a more challenging book that they might not get "points" for. I'm watching with interest the efforts of Melissa Stewart to encourage teachers to put aside their biases and promote nonfiction, School Library Journal has (again) posted research and interviews showing that leveling systems don't work and aren't used as their creators intended (I take this with a grain of salt), and many school districts are revisiting their approaches to teaching reading. Will it make a difference? We can only wait and see.

Verdict: Despite difficulties, I pride myself on one of the few nonfiction collections in our consortium that has a strong focus on science, wide variety of nonfiction from expository to narrative, and a generous amount of challenging nonfiction. I've had this confirmed from teachers who visit from other areas to use my collection. While I certainly don't think every library should have the same collection, I am glad that my audience allows me to purchase this type of nonfiction. This is well-written, an interesting topic, and the only drawback is it is from Lerner's nonfiction imprint, Millbrook, which is a little pricier. If you are interested in building a strong nonfiction collection, this is a good choice.

ISBN: 9781728415697; Published March 2022 by Milbrook Press/Lerner; Borrowed from another library in my consortium