Most people know the difference between a cat and a dog. But the differences between certain other animals are not so obviuos, which is why it's so easy to confuse them.
You may guess that the insect trying to eat your icecream cone is a bee, but it's probably a yellow-jacket wasp. You may think that the chimp sitting in a tree in the forest is a monkey, but it's really an ape. How can you tell these and other similar animals apart? By using your eyes, ears, and all your senses to observe them--and by reading this book.
Grade 3-5?Singer describes the distinguishing physical and behavioral characteristics of 14 pairs of similar-looking animals. She differentiates between frogs and toads, koalas and bears, butterflies and moths, whales and fish, etc. Attractive watercolor and gouache paintings of the animals in their natural habitats appear on almost every page. The text is clearly written and logically organized, but it omits some useful information. For instance, while readers learn that "...a honeybee dies after it stings you. But a yellow jacket does not," there is no explanation as to why this is so. Lynda Graham-Barber's Toad or Frog, Swamp or Bog (Four Winds, 1994) examines 18 pairs of look-alikes in the animal kingdom as well as a few examples of wrongly identified weather phenomena, plant species, etc. It is generally more detailed than A Wasp Is Not a Bee and includes some statistics. Libraries owning that title can skip this one.?Karey Wehner, San Francisco Public Library Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Gr. 2^-4. Did you ever wonder why a crocodile is not an alligator or why a bat is not a bird? This slim, informative book adequately answers those questions as well as 12 additional ones about other similar but different animal pairs. The physical characteristics of each animal are accurately compared and contrasted with those of its counterpart. Full-color realistic illustrations of each animal accompany the readable text. This interesting, factual book presents curious young animal detectives with the basic methods of observation to identify differences and similarities in animals they regularly encounter. April Judge
Marilyn Singer was born in the Bronx (New York City) on October 3, 1948 and lived most of her early life in N. Massapequa (Long Island), NY. She attended Queens College, City University of New York, and for her junior year, Reading University, England. She holds a B.A. in English from Queens and an M.A. in Communications from New York University.
In 1974, after teaching English in New York City high schools for several years, she began to write - initially film notes, catalogues, teacher's guides, and film strips. Then, one day, when she was sitting in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, she penned a story featuring talking insect characters she'd made up when she was eight. Encouraged by the responses she got, she wrote more stories, and in 1976, her first book, The Dog Who Insisted He Wasn't, was published by E.P.Dutton & Co.
Since then, Marilyn has published over eighty books for children and young adults. Her genres are many and varied, including realistic novels, fantasies, non-fiction, fairy tales, picture books, mysteries and poetry. She likes writing many different kinds of books because it's challenging and it keeps her from getting bored.
Marilyn currently lives in Brooklyn, NY, with her husband Steve; their standard poodle Oggi, seen in the home page photo; a cat named August ; two collared doves named Jubilee and Holiday; and a starling that says, "Hi. How are you? Sweet Birdie. Okay!" Her interests include ballroom/Latin dancing, dog training, reading, hiking, bird-watching, gardening, playing computer adventure games, and going to the movies and the theatre. She's also a major Star Trek fan.
Marilyn is the former host of the AOL Children's Writers Chat and currently co-hosts the Poetry Blast at various conferences. Visit her web site: www.marilynsinger.net.
This review is from: A Wasp Is Not a Bee (Hardcover)
This book compares different animals such as bees/wasps, spiders/insects, and koala/bears. It gives some basic information on each and compares the differences. This book would be perfect for introducing Venn Diagrams.
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3.0 out of 5 starsBeautiful illustrations, March 13, 2004
By A Customer
This review is from: A Wasp Is Not a Bee (Hardcover)
We just got this book and our 3 year old really likes it. I love the painted illustrations which are beautiful. I am confused though because in comparing the alligator to the crocodile it says that "a crocodile is smaller than an alligator" and everything I have ever read and I just did a little more checking on it says that crocs are bigger than alligators. The American crocodile, the largest crocodile in the Americas, reaches lengths of about 7 m (about 23 ft)and the American alligator reaches up to about 6 m (about 20 ft) in length.
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