Innovative Octopuses, Half-Brained Birds, and More Animals with Magnificent Minds

Gr 4-7–This newest addition to the “Extraordinary Animals” series features six different animals and the qualities that make their brains exceptional. Readers start off learning about octopuses, and then move to parrots, squirrels, other birds, tortoises, and whales. Each chapter uses that animal as a jumping-off point and weaves in related topics about brain science and other animals through colored feature boxes and callouts. Chapters lead with a full-color photograph of the titled animal, and there are both full-color illustrations by Duncan and photographs interspersed throughout. Each chapter includes a multi-page activity to engage readers. Important vocabulary is bolded throughout the text. Back matter includes sections on further exploration, source notes, bibliography, and an index. Young readers looking for a book about octopuses or birds will find a few pages to interest them, but this should be posed to readers as a brain science book more so than a specific animal one. The text is broken up by frequent photos, illustrations, and other features, but is still dense enough to require close attention and mature reading ability.