Creatures Great and Small
This beautifully illustrated book explores the world of different species: insects, mammals, sea jellies, reptiles, amphibians, birds, crustaceans, arachnids and molluscs by using examples of extreme size, moving from huge creatures, such as the blue whale, to the tiniest creatures like the bumblebee bat.
About the Author
Karen Patkau is the award-winning author and illustrator of many books for children. The first book she illustrated was Don't Eat Spiders by Robert Heidbreder, which won the Ezra Jack Keats Memorial Medal. Several of her other books have also won prizes including the Our Choice Award for Python Play and Dimensional Illustrators Award for her books In the Sea and Seal is Lost. She has written and illustrated several books for children and in the spring of 2008 Tundra Books will be publishing Creatures Yesterday and Today, the companion book to Creatures Great and Small which Patkau both wrote and illustrated. Karen Patkau resides in Toronto.
Book Reviews
Suggested Activities
- Find a pair of large and small animals from the same animal classification (mammals, insects, fish, etc.). Write three facts about each animal.
- Find a book in the library that has a photograph of one pair of creatures from Creatures Great and Small. Compare the photographs with the artist’s drawings.
- Choose a pair of animals from the book. Tell which animal you would rather be and why you have chosen that animal.