Apex Predators: The World's Deadliest Hunters, Past and Present

by Steve Jenkins

Overview

What does it take to be "top dog?" In this illustrated exploration of the animal kingdom, Caldecott Honor winner Steve Jenkins introduces readers to some of the most powerful predators in history, from the Tyrannosaurus rex to the African Siberian tiger.

Using his signature cut paper art style, Jenkins illustrates how these animals dominate their different ecosystems using speed, strength, and even cooperation and cunning.

Take a trip through history and discover apex predators both past and present, from the earliest sea creatures to the modern African lion and giant freshwater ray, which can grow to over fifteen feet.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780544671607
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	06/06/2017
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	9.00(w) x 11.20(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	1020L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Steve Jenkins wrote and illustrated many nonfiction picture books for young readers, including the Caldecott Honor Book What Do You Do with a Tail Like This? His books have been called stunning, eye-popping, inventive, gorgeous, masterful, extraordinary, playful, irresistible, compelling, engaging, accessible, glorious, and informative.

Editorial Reviews

"Jenkins has done it again—all nonfiction collections will want this title." — School Library Journal

"It’s a clear and simple addition to Jenkins’ books of animal infographics, and browsers interested in the fiercest of the animal world will snap it quickly up." — Booklist

"The intricacy of Jenkins’s distinctive artwork will capture readers’ imaginations, as will the predator face-offs he stages between pairs of predators. Great white shark vs. Dunkleosteus, anyone?" — Publishers Weekly

“Jenkin’s cut-paper collage illustrations are, as usual, ingenious and remarkable in their clarity, their several components neatly articulating the anatomy of their subjects.” — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

From the Publisher

2017-03-06
Face-to-face introductions to over two dozen creatures it would be better to avoid.Labeling each predator as either extinct or modern-day, Jenkins arranges his paper-collage portraits—most of them rendered, as usual, with seemingly miraculous realism—in no readily obvious order. Starting off with the cruel-beaked "terror bird" (extinct) of South America and toothy views of a gaping Siberian tiger and T. Rex, he proceeds past African wild dogs ("some of the most successful predators on earth, with nine out of ten hunts ending in a kill"), the electric eel, killer pig Daedon, 48-foot-long (14.5 m) Titanoboa, and like threats to the spiderlike Trigonotarbid, just an inch long (2.5 cm) but 400 million years ago one of the largest predators on land. Then, in true browser-rousing fashion, he proposes several matchups, like the Siberian tiger vs. Utahraptor. Place your bets! Each creature comes with descriptive notes and a small silhouette posed next to a human ("The deadliest predator") for scale. Measurements for each creature are provided in first English and then metric units. The bibliography includes an unremarkable assortment of reference works and websites. No red—but lots of tooth and claw on display. (Informational picture book. 6-9)

Kirkus Reviews