A wonderful nonfiction title that has loads of cool facts and details for even the most curious of minds to learn something about how animals use science to live in this world. Fascinating stuff.

Clever Creatures: How Animals and Plants Use Science to Survive by Steve Mould is currently scheduled for release on June 23 2020. Meet amazing engineers, such as the spiders who build immense webs stretching over rivers, and funky physicists, like the geckos that can walk upside down on ceilings. Observe crazy chemists, including the sea snail that squirts a sleep-inducing liquid at passing fish, and magnificent mathematicians, like the Venus flytrap that counts to five before consuming its prey! Clever Creatures is an exciting introduction to some of nature's smartest animals and plants. It's filled with spectacular photographs of the weird, obscure and downright disgusting and the science behind each genius adaptation is explained clearly.

Clever Creatures is a well organized and formatted book that introduces the unique abilities and survival strategies of plants and animals in terms of the scientific fields of people. Each page has bold colors, combining clever illustrations, photographs, and text that explains how a variety of living creatures use physics, chemistry, and other tools that can fit into the scientific classifications we use. I thought the set up by scientific category was a little contrived and a bit unnecessary- these creatures have amazing abilities that are pure nature and instinct. I think people go a little too far trying to fit things into neat little boxes rather than simply enjoying the complexity and unique nature of the world. However, it did work and the information and layout used was all very interesting. Much of the information was things that I have heard or read before, because these types of skill and abilities are what fascinates me about nature, but I did still learn a few things and enjoyed the book.

I think Clever Creatures will be a winner with many readers that enjoy nature and science.

Clever Creatures by Steve Mould, 72 pages. PICTURE BOOK. DK Publishing, 2020. $16.
Content: G
BUYING ADVISORY: EL (K-3), EL - ADVISABLE
AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE
Mould introduces readers to animals, bugs, and even plants that are doing amazing things. These living creatures are personified as different types of scientists that use chemistry, engineering, math, and more throughout their lives. Humans have learned from and copied some of these techniques. What will you do with this knowledge?
Clever Creatures is written as a bunch of fun facts that teach about these living organisms without a storyline or an intimidating paragraph of information. While the fun facts can be read in any order, the nonintuitive layouts on each page felt confusing sometimes, as if I was reading the information out of order. Overall, though, I loved reading this book because of the “wow” moments I experienced -- and because I then felt compelled to find someone with whom to share my new knowledge and awe.
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen

This book about how animals use nature and their own innate senses to do incredible things, like math, physics, chemistry and more! This book also incorporates simple machines, engineering, and other phenomena to explain how the animal does these incredible things, and how it helps them survive in the wild. Great nonfiction title for the kids who really love animals and want to read every detail! Would be a good pair with Running Wild.

Clever Creatures is a good book for kids to learn some quick facts about, you guessed it, creatures! Hand to kids who like Weird But True Books and books by Steve Jenkins.

Clever Creatures is a book about animals that considered the smartest in each of the science fields of chemistry, physics, biology, engineering, and mathematics. My 9 yr old (3rd grader) enjoyed the book but some of the content was over his head yet so I had to simplify some of the technical mumbo jumbo. He really liked the pictures and some of the crazy new to him animals and what they could do/create.

I was provided with an electronic ARC through NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Nice addition to any non-fiction children's collection. Nice read for young ones interested in biology or animals.