Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

When we think about animals using tools, we often think of apes or crowsbut what about crabs, wasps, and other unlikely creatures?In this delightful book, young readers will learn all about how different animals use tools to create rhythmic sounds (the palm cockatoo taps a stick against a tree limb in courtship rituals), floss their teeth (chimpanzees, macaques, and other apes and monkeys rely on plant fibers, hair, and sticks), defend themselves (the boxer crab uses sea anemones like boxing gloves), or set elaborate traps (the corolla spider arranges quartz stones outside its burrow to detect the presence of prey). Jenkins defines tool as an object that an animal manipulates and uses to affect its environment, another animal, or itself. Each page features bright collage illustrations of the different animals set against a black background that lets the images pop. The detailed visuals also depict the animals in action, with insets of the tools. Brief text gives the name of each animal and explains how the tool is used and why. For curious readers, backmatter offers more information about each animal as well as a bibliography. (This book was reviewed digitally.)Brimming with insights into the animal world. (Informational picture book. 5-10) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

When we think about animals using tools, we often think of apes or crows…but what about crabs, wasps, and other unlikely creatures? In this delightful book, young readers will learn all about how different animals use tools to create rhythmic sounds (the palm cockatoo taps a stick against a tree limb in courtship rituals), floss their teeth (chimpanzees, macaques, and other apes and monkeys rely on plant fibers, hair, and sticks), defend themselves (the boxer crab uses sea anemones like boxing gloves), or set elaborate traps (the corolla spider arranges quartz stones outside its burrow to detect the presence of prey). Jenkins defines tool as “an object that an animal manipulates and uses to affect its environment, another animal, or itself.” Each page features bright collage illustrations of the different animals set against a black background that lets the images pop. The detailed visuals also depict the animals in action, with insets of the tools. Brief text gives the name of each animal and explains how the tool is used and why. For curious readers, backmatter offers more information about each animal as well as a bibliography. (This book was reviewed digitally.) Brimming with insights into the animal world. (Informational picture book. 5-10) Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

Noting that scientists disagree on what constitutes a tool, award-winning duo Jenkins and Page explain that by tool, they mean “an object that an animal manipulates and uses to affect its environment.” Remarkable and surprising ways in which creatures do this are shown in Jenkins’ trademark vivid, collage artwork accompanied by the authors’ concise, accessible, and engrossing language. After an introduction on animal tools, spreads cover a type of animal, some problems it faces, and tools it uses to overcome them. The first such spread, for example, on birds, introduces readers to the palm cockatoo, the only animal that scientists know to create a rhythmic beat with a tool. An illustration of the bird and a stick it might use to create its music sits alongside the explanation, as does a silhouette of the bird and of a human hand, for scale. Throughout the work, readers will be rapt as they find a wealth of animals and their beautiful colors and habits illustrated. Another winner for classroom and public library use.