Trickiest!: 19 Sneaky Animals

This book is about 19 very different animals that use very different and interesting tricks to both catch their prey and protect themselves. One of my favorites is the Western Hognose snake, which plays dead for protection. It flips over and releases a liquid that smells like a dead animal and even lets blood drip from its mouth. I guess no one would want to eat prey that’s been dead for a while. Another interesting animal is the Stoplight Loosejaw, which is a fish that lives in the deep. It has a bioluminescent red light on its face and it lights up so it can see its prey. Since most other deep sea fish can’t see red, they don’t see any light at all. This helps it catch its prey because they can’t see it coming. This book has cool illustrations that almost look like cut-outs. If the animal’s trick is camouflage, the picture shows it in its natural habitat. This is a fact book with lots of information. There is also a little box with the globe showing its habitat in red and telling where it lives and what it eats. This book would be great for young kids because words written in blue (like prey) can be found in the glossary. It even has a few pages in the back where the animals are grouped together by their tricks, like “pretending to be something else” or “using a lure.” It’s nice to see what they have in common. You wouldn’t think a snake would have much in common with an octopus. This is the second book in the series, and there are more to come. The series is called Extreme Animals, and the book that came before is Deadliest!. There will also be Stinkiest! and Speediest! coming soon. I can’t wait to read them all!