Platypuses: Web-Footed Billed Mammals

Children's Book and Media Review Volume 39 | Issue 9 Article 51 2018 Platypuses: Web-Footed Billed Mammals Jamie Greenwood Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cbmr BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Greenwood, Jamie (2018) "Platypuses: Web-Footed Billed Mammals," Children's Book and Media Review: Vol. 39 : Iss. 9 , Article 51. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cbmr/vol39/iss9/51 This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the All Journals at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Children's Book and Media Review by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact , . Greenwood: Platypuses: Web-Footed Billed Mammals Book Review Platypuses: Web-Footed Billed Mammals Author Rebecca E. Hirsch Illustrator N/A Reviewer Jamie Greenwood Rating Dependable Level Primary Pages 32 Year 2015 Platypuses: Web-Footed Billed Mammals includes an introduction and four chapters, titled “Meet the Platypus,” “What Do Platypuses Look Like,” “Where Do Platypuses Live,” “Platypus Hunting Behavior,” and “The Life Cycle of Platypuses.” Each chapter opens with factual information on the chapter’s individual subject. The information is brief, to the point, easy to understand, and captivating. In each chapter the author compares a platypus with a similar animal and with a dissimilar animal. The end of the book provides a chart that lists the similar and dissimilar traits between platypuses and all the other animals with which it was previously compared. All the information given on the platypus itself is interesting and informative. The comparisons of platypuses with similar animals given in the book, such as beavers, otters, dolphins, and echidnas, are fascinating and allow the reader to understand how various characteristics of particular animals give them similar or different capabilities. However, the book makes comparisons with very different animals, such as giraffes, dall sheep, African wild dogs, and blue whales. These animals are so dissimilar to the platypus that all the facts listed about them cause the reader to forget that the main subject of the book is in reality the platypus. At many times, the book appears to be a general book on mammals, and not a book specifically on the platypus. However, the chart given at the end eventually ties everything back together. Publisher Lerner Publishing Group ISBN 9781467755818 Published by BYU ScholarsArchive, 2018 1  (...truncated)