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Starred Review When Lunch Fights Back

Wickedly Clever Animal Defenses

  • Interest Level: Grade 4 - Grade 8
  • Reading Level: Grade 5

The octopus spies a nice, tasty mantis shrimp. It swims over for a closer look at the small creature. Then—WHAM!—the mantis shrimp strikes a nasty blow with its hammer-like forelimb. The octopus shrinks back, defeated. That wasn’t such an easy meal after all . . .

In nature, good defenses can mean the difference between surviving a predator’s attack and becoming its lunch. Some animals rely on sharp teeth and claws or camouflage. But that’s only the beginning. Meet creatures with some of the strangest defenses known to science. How strange? Hagfish that can instantaneously produce oodles of gooey, slippery slime; frogs that poke their own toe bones through their skin to create claws; young birds that shoot streams of stinking poop; and more.

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978-1-4677-2109-7
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978-1-5124-0000-7
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978-1-4677-7273-0
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978-1-7284-1267-2
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Interest Level Grade 4 - Grade 8
Reading Level Grade 5
Genre Science
Category 5 Kinds of Nonfiction, 5KN: Expository Literature, 5KN: Narrative Nonfiction, Animals, STEM, STEM: Life Science/Animals
Copyright 2015
Publisher Lerner Publishing Group
Imprint Millbrook Press ™
Language English
Number of Pages 48
Publication Date 2014-08-01
Reading Counts! Level 6.4
Text Type Informational/Explanatory
BISACS JNF003000, JNF051050, JNF051150
Dewey 591.47
Graphics Full-color illustrations
Dimensions 9.75 x 9.75
Lexile 920
ATOS Reading Level 5.9
Accelerated Reader® Quiz 167386
Accelerated Reader® Points 1.0
Features Author/Illustrator note, Awards, Bibliography/further reading, Glossary, Index, Photo captions, Reviewed, Starred Reviews, and Table of contents

Awards

  • Maine Student Book Award Reading List, Long-listed, 2015
  • Cybils Finalist, Nominated, 2015
  • Notable Award Children's Book Committee at Bank Street College Best Children's Book of the Year, Winner, 2015
  • Chicago Public Library Best of the Best Books, Winner, 2014

Reviews

Starred Review Library Media Connection

Reviewed on 1 May 2015

“This combination of storytelling, scientific fact, and attractive photographs will appeal to many readers, especially boys….Highly Recommended.”―starred, Library Media Connection

Booklist

Reviewed on 15 October 2014

“From the award-winning science author Johnson comes another somewhat gross but definitely engrossing book…. Some of the animals are featured in other similar books, but few bring them together with such a punch.” —Booklist

School Library Journal

Reviewed on 1 July 2014

“This title explodes with fascinating facts and action-packed photographs that convey how different creatures have evolved to escape predators…. A visually stimulating and informative addition.” —School Library Journal

Starred Review Kirkus Reviews

Reviewed on 15 June 2014

“This is an outstanding way for readers to meet scientists at work in both field and lab…. Thrilling reading for budding biologists.” —starred, Kirkus Reviews