A unique way to talk about animals that live in tricky habitats. Each poem tells us about an animal that lives where you'd least expect such as penguins on the coast of Chile or snow monkeys in Japan. The illustrations that follow are collage-style images of the animals made from ripped up magazine pictures. I think it would be fun to emulate this style for a class project as well as a fun and different way to study animals and habitats. ( )

The main purpose of this book is to inform children about different habitats and animals that live there. First I liked that the book used a lot of questions, it causes the reader to think and make predictions about some of the habitats that they’re going to read about. Some of the questions used in the text were, “Would you prefer a home on a tropical reef teeming with life or inside a glacier where its freezing?” I also liked that they story was very poetic, “ Which adaption is the boulder: to live where its arid or where its colder?” This makes the text more fun and easy to read. Even though this vocabulary in this book is complex the reader can use the knowledge of poetry and word families to decode the words. ( )

A book of nonfiction poetry, A Strange Place to Call Home: The World’s Most Dangerous Habitats & the Animals That Call Them Home, is far from typical.
The author exposes both children and adults to things about animals we never considered. Each animal profiled lives in a habitat in which it seems impossible to survive. Through her writing, Singer shares the specific ways in which the animals in each of these 14 poems adapt to their strange surroundings. There are animals who we think belong in cold weather surviving in unusually warm temperatures, like penguins. There is also a poem about a blind albino cave fish.
Before the poems begin in the book there is an informative preface that gives background information about how these creatures could have possibly ended up in these harsh, atypical environments.
The endnotes provide additional information, about a paragraph more for each animal giving their actual scientific name and how they are able to adapt.
Unfortunately, there is no bibliography or list for further reading. These things would have really benefitted readers and added to the credibility of the author.
The collages used to illustrate the book show a magnified look at the animals and the harsh realities they face in these environments.
Helpful pronunciation guides are incorporated within the text. Overall, as someone who has little interest in science and nature, it makes me want to know more about different animals and how and where they live. As an English teacher during this transition to Common Core, it’s the perfect way to teach poetry without deviating from the focus on nonfiction; and a wonderful source for cross-curriculum lessons. Singer even includes a mini-poetry lesson at the end by explaining the forms of poetry she uses in the book. She describes free verse poetry, as most of the poems in this book are. She does specify which writing patterns have specific names like haiku, cinquain, etc.

This collection of poetry tells us about different animals that live in scary, harsh conditions, but have learned to adapt to them. The animals in the poetry are humboldt penguins, snow monkeys, spadefoot toads, ice worms, blind cave fish, flamingos, tube worms, mountain goats, limpets, camels, mudskippers, dippers, petroleum flies, and urban foxes.

I think this book would make a wonderful addition to the 5/6 grade classroom. The poetry is a little advanced for the younger grades, but provides fantastic information and really great insight into the habitats of these animals. It would be perfect for the unit on animal sciences. I really enjoy the variation in the poems -- they use free verse poems, but also triolets, haikus, sonnets, cinquans, villanelles, and terza rimas. Also, the illustrations (collage style paper cut out) are phenomenal. This collection could be easily integrated into a science, writing and art project. ( )

This would be a great book to use in a science class studying habitats. The poems are very fun and creative and get the mind to imagine these unique places in the world. This could also be used in teaching poetry or in a reading corner.