How Many Ways Can You Catch a Fly? [Hardcover]

Robin Page (Author), Steve Jenkins (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: P and up

Flies are fast! They can hover, walk upside down, and use their lightning-quick reflexes to escape predators. But rainbow trout, slender lorises, and assassin bugs can catch them. Chimney swifts can, too. How do such diverse creatures manage to capture the same prey? Similar in structure to What Do You Do with a Tail Like This?, this eye-popping picture book introduces readers to a menagerie of animals that approach the same challenges in very different ways.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Starred Review. Grade 1–5—In this new take on animal adaptation, readers are asked to guess how six different animals might hatch an egg, use a leaf, eat a clam, or dig a hole. They can then turn the page to see how the creatures, ranging from the well-known grizzly bear to the unusual white tent bat, pull off the task. Jenkins and Page have done a remarkable job of selecting animals with unique adaptations and organizing them into categories for the gamelike feel of the book. The explanations in the body of the book and in the more detailed end matter are clear and engaging. Jenkins's beguiling slender loris on the cover, with its torn-paper fur and uncannily realistic eyes, draws readers into a menagerie of detailed paper art. This is good science, organized and illustrated for joyful learning.—Ellen Heath, Easton Area Public Library, Easton, PA
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From Booklist

*Starred Review* Like Jim Arnosky’s Gobble It Up! (reviewed on p.103), this picture book is about the food chain, but there is much more scientific depth and detail here. The facts about how particular animals escape danger and evade predators to stay alive are just as exciting as the facts about hunting. With clear, gorgeous, freestanding images in cut- and torn-paper collage, each double-page spread shows detailed species close up, as well as the connections between animals. As salmon swim upstream to lay their eggs, a grizzly bear grabs a leaping fish in midair, and the text tells how. Then there are amazing descriptions of how various animals lay, protect, and hatch their eggs; how they use leaves (in an unforgettable small picture, an orangutan in the rain forest holds a large leaf overhead as an umbrella); how flies use their large eyes and lightning-fast reflexes to escape; and how animals dig holes to escape from enemies or to find food. At the back, two double-page spreads with beautiful small images add detailed notes about each creature for older children. An enthralling read-aloud, especially in small groups, where children can crowd up close to the images. Preschool-Grade 3. --Hazel Rochman

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children; None edition (October 6, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 061896634X
• ISBN-13: 978-0618966349
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 10.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #656,037 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great nonfiction choice for young animal lovers., October 7, 2008

By 

The Well-Read Child "http://wellreadchild.blo... - See all my reviews

This review is from: How Many Ways Can You Catch a Fly? (Hardcover)

I'm a fan of Steve Jenkins and Robin Page because I think they do an amazing job of making nonfiction interesting and engaging and presenting fun and interesting facts. I also think they make an effort to keep their content fresh. I always know that when I pick up one of their books that I'm going to learn lots of new information about animals.

Needless to say, I wasn't disappointed with their newest book, How Many Ways Can You Catch a Fly?.

This book presents a number of challenges animals face along with their unique methods for solving the problem. For example, one challenge is digging holes. Readers are presented with the question, "How many ways can you dig a hole?" When you turn the page, there is a two-page spread showing how different animals dig holes. There is an aardvark making burrows with his front legs and claws, a Mexican burrowing toad digging into mud with its feet, a red rock urchin wearing away rock or coral with its teeth, and more.

Other challenges presented in the book include catching flies, snaring fish, hatching eggs, using leaves, and eating clams. At the end of the book, readers can learn even more about each animal featured.

Accompanying the fact-filled text are Jenkins' customary colorful paper collage illustrations. I never fail to be amazed at how he captures so many details and facial expressions with the collages.


This is a book that I highly recommend to children who are interested in animals, and it would make an excellent cross-curricular resource for science, geography, social studies, and language arts lessons. It may also inspire young readers to come up with creative ways of solving their own problems after seeing how the animals in book do it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Insights into how very different creatures harbor similar habits, November 16, 2008

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How Many Ways Can You Catch a Fly? (Hardcover)

Steve Jenkins and Robin Page's HOW MANY WAYS CAN YOU CATCH A FLY? provides a fine picture book story of fast creatures and how different creatures can succeed at capturing the same prey. Drawings of birds and animals like offer insights into how very different creatures harbor similar habits.