David Fitzsimmons

I loved not only the context of this book but how the author gave each of the animals their very own personalities. I am a huge fan of personifying animals throughout literature, so I thought this was a really cute way to gain young readers attention. I also found this book to be extremely educational for children to read and learn about small critters. I am going to keep this book in mind for my own classroom because of the way the author decided to write the book. The author used a lot of show more words that jump out to children when they are reading, such as " T-H-W-I-P" while introducing the jumping spider. This would be an all around fun book to read out loud to an elementary class. show less

Curious Critters by David FitzSimmons is a fun and engaging take on informational texts. Each page consists of a large colorful photo of a critter, from an American Bullfrog to Virginia Opossum. Along with a jump-out-of-the-page photo is text containing information about the critter from the critters point of view. "Its just no true: I don't give people warts when the touch me." states the American Toad before he goes into characteristics of his species. This informational text also includes show more a Natural History page containing additional facts of each critter mentioned. A page of the critter's life size silhouettes is also found in the back of the book with colorful life size shadows of each critter, along with questions quizzing the reader. This interactive text would make a great addition to any children's library. show less

Lovely photos that really help a reader see what to look for, and simple text that helps a reader learn where to look, and what to listen for. I'm going to show this to my husband as he often hears birds but doesn't know what they are; this introduces him to a few of the most common ones.

I'd recommend you read whatever your library has of this author's 'series.' I imagine there's overlap from state to state (most have cottontail rabbits, right?) so maybe buying a 50 state set would be show more redundant... but maybe not; maybe he does keep them unique somehow.

My edition a nice board book.

Note on the end copyright page explains that animals were not sedated for these photos nor made captive. show less

The photographs of the animals are outstanding! I find this a book to be enjoyed over and over again. I agree with the author's decision to show the animals with plain backgrounds to eliminate any distractions. I was particularly glad to know this (quoted from the copyright page in the book): "All animals portrayed in this book were handled carefully and not sedated. Some resided at centers dedicated to education, conservation, and rehabilitation. Wild animals were returned to their habitats."