Odd Bods: The World's Unusual Animals

Odd Bods: The World's Unusual Animals by Julie Murphy (Millbrook Press, USA) HB RRP $27.99 ISBN 978-1-5415-8502-7

 Reviewed by Dianne Bates

Long snouts, bright-red lips, pointy heads . . . the animal kingdom is full of critters with unique features. Learn about the incredible adaptations that help these creatures—and their odd bods—survive and thrive all around the globe!

The thorn bug shown on the cover lives on prickly plants, so its sharp spike helps it to hide. The red-lipped batfish uses its lips to attract a mate. The naked mole rat uses its long front teeth to dig an underground tunnel. These, and other weird-looking animals, are featured in this fascinating book. The odd bods are all adapted for survival, for eating, for making a home, attracting a mate, for avoiding predators, or for camouflage. The photos show them all in their natural environments, and all are amazing. In the back of the book is six pages of odd facts and a map of the world showing the animals’ distribution.

Julie Murphy is a zoologist who once worked in a zoo where she cared for many odd Australian animals, such as platypuses and stick animals.

This book would be suit children in preschool to grade 3.