Third graders were BEGGING me to read from this book last time I subbed in their classroom. This is a book every kid will be fascinated with.

Animal Planet has brought the strangest and most interesting animals to life in this book to show kids how vast the creatures of our planet really are. From Betic Midwife Toad to the Rhombic Egg Eater to the Christmas Frigatebird to the Hickory Horned Devil, I learned about all kinds of animals I never heard of nor do I want to ever see in person.

The photography, of course, is amazing and there is just enough information to teach kids about where they live and why they are either strange, unusual, gross or cool. With some creatures, it gives quite a bit of information and others, like the Jumping Spider, just gives a little tidbit. If you could see the photo, I guarantee it would give you the creeps?

The book is laid out in sections based on the title. When I subbed in third grade, I used reading from this book as a behavior incentive by giving them a few strange animals while waiting to go to lunch. The kids were fascinated and couldn't wait to have me read more. Later in the day after they had worked hard on their assignments, I chose a child to pick a category and then read a random creature from that section. It was a little bit of science and geography wrapped together talking about the creature and discussing where they lived. The kids loved seeing the photos most of all.

This is a great book for any child, but especially those who love science. I'm sure I could use this as an incentive in any elementary classroom. Our own high-school-aged kids even had fun looking through it. ( )

Animal Planet Strange, Unusual, Gross & Cool Animals by Animal Planet & Charles Gingha is full to the brim with pictures of all types of pictures! This book has everything and then some. There is the bizarre, gross, funny, so ugly it's cute, just adorable, I wish-I-could-do-that, and more animals in this book. The images and the tons of fun trivia everywhere makes the book POP with excitement. Not a dull page anywhere. Newly discovered animals, ancient animals, little known animals, animals of the sea, insects even. The gross to the cute. It is all here, if it is strange or cool, you will find it in this book, up close and in your face! Loved it. Thanks NetGalley for suggesting this book! Another great book from the Animal Planet! ( )

Animal Planet and Time Inc. Books have produced a collection of cool (not to mention, strange, unusual, and gross) animal facts sure to delight any kid.

There are more than 200 photographs in this book that is divided into four different focuses: “Galleries” to explore a theme, “Featured Creature” to spotlight particular extraordinary animals, “Creature Collections” with groups of animals to compare and contrast, and “Macroview,” showing tiny details.

The featured animals are just amazing, and include the blobfish, the deep sea octopod, the ghost octopus (just discovered in 2016!), the red-lipped batfish, banded gila monster, and as you can tell by the names, a host of unusual creatures. To me, the most incredible animals are those hiding way below us in the ocean, but the book also includes animals we might hope to see on land (or in some cases, hope not to see….)

I especially love the theme galleries. They include “Fabulous Feet,” “Vanishing Creatures,” “Squirters and Spitters,” “See-Through Creatures,” and my favorite, “Glow-in-the-Dark Creatures.”

On all of these pages, you learn astounding facts about what makes these animals so unusual.

The book includes a glossary, annotated links to find out more, and an index.

I really appreciate that a portion of the proceeds from the sale of books benefits the principal partners of R.O.A.R. (Reach Out. Act. Respond) - Animal Planet’s project to help make the world a better place for animals.

Evaluation: This overview of a fascinating topic is sure to inspire kids to seek out further information. The books from Animal Planet (as well as their television series) prove that learning can be fun. ( )

Animal Planet’s Strange, Unusual, Gross, and Cool Animals by Charles Gingha is nifty collection of some of the wildest critters on our wonderful, wonderful planet. I read this book with my cublings, and we all learned tons of new and fascinating facts. The girls and I loved the little poems at the beginning of each section. The boys, not as much. Haha, except my little poet.

There are myriad pictures to engage young eyes (and adult ones too!). They stole my tablet and read it again with das/uncles, especially to share the dragonish creatures and scorpions/spiders. Jonas keeps scorpions and Drake and Charley love dragons.

Some fun facts inside...

*The Darwin's frog- male holds the baby tadpoles in its vocal sac til they become froglets.

*The kakapo- the heaviest parrot. It does not fly, but is a skilled climber with strong feet. It uses its stubby wings for gliding from tree tops.

*The 2016 discovery of a beautiful jelly in the Mariana Trench.

*The lion-mane jelly has a bell 8 ft in diameter and tentacles up to 100 ft long.

🎻🎻🎻🎻🎻 Highly recommended, especially for kids who are wild about animals and nature. Also as an educational tool for middle-graders. ( )