What If You Could Sniff Like a Shark?

May 1, 2020

PreS-Gr 3-Markle and McWilliam have produced some interesting "What If You Had...?" titles involving hair, teeth, feet, and noses. This next book in the series describes the "superpowers" of ocean animals. Nine animals and their unique adaptations are spotlighted. Scenarios depict the awesome abilities readers would have if an animal's characteristics were adapted to a human body. A cartoon kid demonstrates each adaptation, such as a child using crab claws to snap through tin or a puffed-up child floating in a parade to illustrate how large a pufferfish can expand. A brief paragraph discusses the animal; a photograph is placed next to the cartoon drawing for comparison. A world map indicating where the creature lives is featured. There are also "What you should know" fact boxes and additional details about the animals. End pages provide information on the four ocean zones. VERDICT Kids will get a kick out of this great mix of illustrations and animal facts. Libraries that have the previous titles in their collection should add this one to the set. Consider purchasing the entire series so readers can peruse all the "What If You Had...?" books.-Sandra Welzenbach, Villarreal Elementary School, San Antonio

Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2020
Wouldn't you want stinging tentacles or superpowerful crab claws? Markle and McWilliam continue their tour of the animal sphere begun with What If You Had Animal Teeth? (2013). Markle supplies scientific descriptions of nine marine creatures accompanied by photographic close-ups and realistic renderings, and McWilliam adds big, funny cartoon views of a thoroughly diverse cast of chimerically altered children sporting, essentially, superpowers. Who, after all, wouldn't love to have the ability to squeeze through a chain-link fence like the giant Pacific octopus, slide over an icy sidewalk in the shell of a loggerhead sea turtle, or blow up like a starry pufferfish to float over a parade? Each animal is given two double-page spreads. On the first, a photograph appears on the verso, with a lively paragraph explaining the attribute explored, while McWilliam's illustration on recto comically imagines a human child exploiting that attribute. The following double-page spread provides further information including size, life span, and diet along with information about juveniles of the species and another cartoon. Appealing equally to curiosity about the real world and to readers' sense of play, this makes a natural companion for other eye-widening explorations of the deep like Corrine Demas and Artemis Roerig's Do Jellyfish Like Peanut Butter?, illustrated by Ellen Shi (2020), and Brenda Z. Guiberson's The Most Amazing Creature in the Sea, illustrated by Gennady Spirin (2015). A winning mix of solid fact and undisguised fun. (Informational picture book. 7-9)

COPYRIGHT(2020) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.