Critter Chat by Rosemary Mosco

What worked:

While the content of the book is non-fiction, the format of using the internet and social media is fictional and will appeal to young readers. The chat rooms are most entertaining as unlikely “friends” amusingly talk about their lives in different habitats. A shark, whale, sea tortoise, and seal chat about life in and around the ocean while a different chat room finds creatures discussing where they find water for survival. Dolphinstagrams show a Honduran White Bat talking about its love for camping and an Orchid Mantis sharing how it uses its disguise to catch food. There are Yelp-like posts, Yip-advisor reviews of habitats, Bee-harmony posts looking for companionship, a one-star Llamazon rating for a narwhale’s toothbrush, and a bat’s five-star Yowl review for the Algerian Desert.

Information is presented through the animals’ voices which creates some amusing points of view. A lion ROARS about being the king of its one territory while a cheetah and giraffe counter with the advantages of moving to new areas. A Greater Bilby can’t share much in its chat room since it’s falling asleep during the daytime. A mockingbird gets annoying when it keeps repeating what other animals say. In another chat, a spotted salamander, an earth snake, and a mole talk about what they like to eat (worms), an earthworm is offended and says “I’m right here!”, so the salamander asks for a text of its location.

What didn’t work as well:

The book opens with a page telling readers to watch for an arctic tern in the pictures as it migrates across the planet. I was hoping this would tie the pages together, but the tern’s appearances aren’t highly noticeable. Consequently, information about animals from around the world seems to appear randomly. However, this isn’t a terrible problem as the information is presented in an amusing and entertaining style.

The Final Verdict:

 I’m sure young readers will love this book and learn a lot about the diverse lives of animals. This information is kept simple in a humorous way, is accompanied by colorful photographs on every page, and is presented in a variety of styles. I highly recommend you give this book a shot!