I received an arc of this book from NetGalley for an honest review. Great book for kids about animals. The cover reminds me of Zootopia and I think kids would pick that up for that reason alone.

I LOVED this book! I laughed a lot and the illustrations are definitely PERFECT for the narrative. A polar bear cop looking at other animals' mug shots is hilarious.

Librarians hoping to get readers ages 8-12 to try some non-fiction won’t have to try hard at all with this one! The bright, cartoon style illustrations will grab their attention and the humorous “rap sheets” describing real life animal behaviors such as illegal fishing by the ingenious monkfish will keep kids laughing and learning til the end. The vocabulary used may be a bit challenging for some on the lower end of my suggested age range, but the context is rich and should not frustrate the younger students. Older and more advanced learners may assume that the book is for those more immature, but the creativity involved in the writing should be obvious after only a page or two and many of the featured animals are likely to be new to most readers. Highly recommended!! Thanks for the dARC, NetGalley.

Was finally able to open this - what a wonderful book for children of all ages. My 5 year old grandson loves looking at the pictures and learning about each new animal. Illustrations are fabulous.

A different view of animals in a fun way for kids. This book takes some of the animal kingdoms not so nice creatures and turn them into criminals. Kids get to learn more about these animals from the viewpoint an animal police. The illustrations were more cartoon like but it worked well.

This was a super cute and informative picture book. Information on animals was posed in a humorous way. This is definitely one I will be adding to my classroom library soon. My students are sure to enjoy it!

I love this book with all of my heart!
It’s educational & hilarious (I laughed SO much!!!). It makes learning very fun. I found myself researching more about these animals btw 😊 This is the kind of book that every library need to have and parents to pick. It’s a pure joy. I love love love love it!

Blurb: A crime wave has hit the animal kingdom, and Detective X is on the case! Meet some of the animal kingdom’s most wanted offenders. Their rap sheets are filled with beastly infractions such as theft, deception and spitting! Yes, spitting! Join Detective X as he investigates thirteen rascally critters and their distinguishing features including their diet, life span, habitat and more. Will the animal kingdom ever be safe again???

My thoughts: This fantastic book educates without the reader even being aware of it! Each double page introduces a ‘criminal’ and gives details of their ‘crime’, for example, the cuckoo who steals other bird’s nests and ‘lets the other mother do all the work to hatch the eggs’, and my absolute favourite, the caterpillar who sticks petals to his body to camouflage himself! How cool is that?

Each animal has a ‘rap sheet’ which gives lots of details on their appearance, distinguishing features, their lifespan, habitat, diet and ‘gang name’ e.g. herd, shoal. The illustrations are absolutely charming and I Iearned loads too! Did you know that mole rats have hair in their mouths? No , me neither! Or that wood frogs stop their hearts and freeze solid in winter before thawing out in the summer?

An absolutely fascinating book which is illustrated beautifully. A real treat for kids (and grown ups!) with an interest in nature, bugs or animals.

I would like to thank both Net Galley and Kids Can Press for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoy picture books about animals. Wanted! Criminals of the Animal Kingdom is a fun way to introduce some very unusual animals. We read a two-page spread of this book each day as part of our morning read-aloud time recently; I try to read something science- or history-related each morning. These were nice, bite-sized bits of fun, random information about creatures we hadn't necessarily heard about before.
Each of these pages tells about a different animal. Each one gives a funny name to the creature, such as Ms. Jagged Jaws, who is wanted for illegal fishing. A description of the crime is given, and a warning for your own safety—what you should or shouldn't do when dealing with this dangerous criminal. Then, there is a rap sheet, with the facts about the creature (and its real name), given in quite a humerous way.
Quite a variety of animals are introduced in this fun, well-illustrated book. They range from the anglerfish to the cuckoo, to the llama. Their crimes? They range from disturbing the peace to mischief, to outright theft! Very few witnesses are ever available, however. They have been eaten or charmed by the villain.
This is a great book to give to children who love animals. It's also a good one to leave laying around for children to pick up when they don't have anything else to do. I would love to have a print copy of this book!
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley, and these are my honest thoughts about it.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Wanted!: Criminals of the Animal Kingdom follows Detective X as he investigates the “criminals” (Or quirky creatures) of the animal kingdom. While this may not work as a story book (This book is one that I, personally, wouldn’t pick to read aloud to my class), I do think it makes a perfect read-to-self book for a slightly older audience, especially those interested in animals! It provides interesting facts about a handful of animals in an extremely fun way for children. All in all, this wasn’t my favorite children’s book that I’ve ever read, but I did love it for what it was!

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you NetGalley.

In our house, we LOVE books about animals. This book was unique and added a fun twist to animal facts and knowledge.
We learned some new facts, looked at some fun photos, and honestly,w e may even purchase a copy of this book for our bookcase!

A must read for every family gathering. We read the book first to our group of mixed age youngsters, then took it to a church setting where we read it with a bigger group and have been reading it whenever a group of children come together. The giggles and laughs and "read it again" requests stand as an excellent opinion of all readers. This book was so very entertaining...what's next?

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* This was a really cute book, I really loved the art! There's so much to look at and its full of animal facts from some lesser known animals, and the ending is cute lol

This is a highly entertaining picture book that the kids will love (and mom and dad too!) If your child loves animals they will love this book and even learn something about the different animals featured.

The illustrations really enhance the facts and fun to the book, going with the theme of these ‘bad animals’ including the last one who is the ‘Most Wanted’ and also has the worst crime….

The only critique I can give is that I would have loved a photo of the actual animal to go along with the rest so children can see what these creatures actually look like.

The one was a pleasure to read and review and many thanks to the publisher Kids Can Press for granting me an e-arc.

We enjoyed this book so much! The illustrations are adorable! We really liked how each animal had a funny description of the animals crimes, as well as actually facts. The FYI section had some great interesting facts that as adults we learned something new as well. My daughter really liked the funny pictures. Very enjoyable book that teaches about some lesser known animals.

Thank you Kids Can Press and Netgalley for the ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

Wanted! Criminals of the Animal Kingdom is a cute illustrated nature book for young readers. Due out 3rd March 2020 from Kids Can Press, it's 32 pages and will be available in hardcover format.

This is a whimsically illustrated list of 13 animals 'wanted' for different crimes (the cuckoo leaves an egg in other birds' nests and gets them to raise the chicks, anglerfish trick prey into their jaws with bioluminescent light appendages, wood frogs 'fake their own deaths' every winter, and 10 more). The layout is colorful and appealing and author Heather Tekavec's writing is both engaging and scientifically accurate. The 2 page layout 'wanted' poster for each animal is full of well drawn whimsical illustrations by Susan Batori. They combine into a whole which will be loved by young nature fans and the rest of the family as well.

This would make a superlative classroom read (in fact the author has coordinating classroom resources available on her website) as well as a fun bedtime or read-to-me read. It's nice to see fun nature books for children which are science based and accurate (as well as being fun).

Five stars.

This book is so funny while being informative at the same time! It's a great children's nonfiction picture book.

A very cute presentation for nonfiction about animals. Each "file" includes a psuedonym, crime, mug shot illustration, names, animal type, scientific name, features, what they eat, life span, and other useful animal information. The pages are entertaining and accurate.

I loved this book. Informative but so interesting! What a creative way to teach children about the lesser known creatures in the animal kingdom!

The illustrations are perfect. I can’t wait to share this with my son. Job well done!

This new take on the classic non fiction layout is original. Each animal is a perp with a mug shot and a rap sheet. The sightings section is really just a habitat description. While the alias section is just the animal's scientific name. Kids will giggle along with you as you read the "criminal activity" and take a look at the evidence. Perfect for any future scientist age 5 - 10.