I received an electronic ARC from Quarto Publishing Company through NetGalley.
Clever method to provide informative text about a wide variety of animals. Freeman presents awards to animals who meet the criteria in 34 categories. Each award is presented on a page spread. Information is presented in short bullets, captions and short paragraphs. The illustrations are done in cartoon format and bring each animal to life.
Elementary readers will enjoy the fun pictures and the simple to follow text while learning about all sorts of animals.

Frances Lincoln Children's Books and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of The Animal Awards. I was under no obligation to review this book and my opinion is freely given.

The Animal Awards is a fun children's book with props given in such categories as the tallest, the amazing architecture award, and the air speed record. As the awards are handed out, the author gives some pertinent facts about each animal. The animals are categorized as to type, where they are located, and how long they live. Children will learn many interesting facts about the animals contained within these pages, as well the parents or teachers that may read to younger children.

It may seem like a silly idea, but the animal awards are an effective tool in getting children interested in animals and their amazing achievements. The artwork is very simplistic and whimsical, with the animals not always being anatomically correct. I wish that the illustrator had taken more time to complete each animal in a more realistic manner, giving children a clear picture as to the animal's shape and size. Overall, The Animal Awards is a clever book and one that I would recommend to children and their parents.

This is a cute book! I like how it is organized. It gives a lot of great facts about different animals. Kids will enjoy reading and learning about the animals in this book.

I just can’t go past a kid’s book that tells me fun facts about animals. This fascination has led to me knowing the most random and strange little tidbits about all sorts of animals, and I can’t stop. So, here’s another one! Unlike others I’ve read, this one presents awards to the winners in each category.

Each award is granted two pages, incorporating information and illustrations. Beside learning the name of the animal that has won each of these prestigious awards, I also learned the type of animal they were (insect, bird, mammal, reptile, etc), where they live and for how long, and what their diet consists of. Then there’s information specific to the award they’ve won and other interesting facts.

Relevant information about other animals was also included. For example, while the chimpanzee won the coveted ‘Nifty Tool-User Award’, other animals that also use tools are mentioned, including sea otters.

A couple of times there was no overall winner for the category but instead several winners for its subcategories, such as the ‘Family Awards’, where winners were selected for the ‘cool dad award’, ‘mom-of-the-year award’, ‘loyal couple award’ and ‘great-grandmother award’.

My favourite awards were the:

* ‘Enlightenment Award’, which was won by the Deep-Sea Anglerfish. I am fascinated by bioluminescence and I have a soft spot for strange animals that are unlikely to win any beauty pageants.

* ‘Deep Sea Diver Award’, which was awarded to the Cuvier’s beaked whale, who was also awarded my ‘Favourite New Fact Award’ for this marvel: “Its longest and deepest dive recorded so far lasted for an amazing 2 hours and 17 minutes, with a descent of nearly 10,000 feet below the surface of the sea.” The runners up in this category were also given medals.

I usually prefer fact books to include photographs of the animals but I had fun looking at Tor Freeman’s illustrations. The animals were expressive and had character, and I loved the winners pictured with their award on display. Their poses often reflected the attribute that won them their award and the backgrounds were effective, simple enough to place the animals in their native environment but not so detailed that they took away the focus from the stars themselves. I particularly loved the chameleon, who looks very proud to have won its award.

I learned some new facts about some of my favourite animals and encountered a few animals that I previously knew very little about. If this book had been available when I was a kid I definitely would have borrowed it from the library for a school assignment. The information would have made me sound smarter than I was and I’m almost positive I would have traced some of the illustrations to spruce up my assignment as even drawing a legible stick figure has only ever had a 50/50 shot of success with me at best.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group - Frances Lincoln Children's Books for granting my wish to read this book.

Quaranta premi per quaranta animali speciali: il Miglior Architetto, Il Più Dedito alla Famiglia, la Picchiata Più Veloce...

Una panoramica di talenti incredibili, alla scoperta di animali spesso meno conosciuti ma dalle capacità eccezionali - anche se ogni animale, anche il più comune, è eccezionale in sé.

Un volume pieno di fatti interessanti  e curiosi, un'esplorazione dei veri e propri miracoli della natura. ^^

Written by Jenkins and illustrated by Freeman, this is a fun and educational book about animal world record holders. Some of the records are less to be desired than others, but are nonetheless interesting. The book covers axolotls to vampire bats, and scores of others in between, but it features only those who are outstanding in one way or another - and their closest competitors. It might be that they live longest - like an estimated 400 years for a Greenland shark! - or that they are the fastest on land - like the cheetah, or the fastest in the air, like the peregrine falcon.

Maybe they have the goofiest mating dance, or can make the loudest noise (from one of the smallest animals, too!). Maybe they dive deeper or travel further, or have the most boring diet. Whatever it is, they're very likely in here. The record holders are not always cute and cuddly-looking mammals either. They could be vertebrates or non-vertebrates, fish, molluscs, birds, insects, mammals, amphibians. They could live anywhere on land or sea, or in the air. They could live in the hot or the cold, the jungle or the plains. But they're out there, and this books tells you what's special about them, and with enough text to educate, without lecturing, and with colorful and useful illustrations.

We puff ourselves up with human achievements, and often forget that these animals were first in the field (and elsewhere!). I commend this as a worthy read.

Lately I'm all into illustrated books that also educate the reader. And this book is no different. As the blurb says you get to read about a certain number of animals and their abilities. The illustrations are charming and I really enjoyed looking at them. They do help to explain and to show fun facts about the animals. All in all I quite enjoyed this read. I'm sure that this book is suited for all ages, so if you like animals and don't mind finding out more about them, then this book is a good fit for you.

I just learned that there is an earth worm in Australia that can grow over 10 ft. I am torn on how I feel about this.

What a great book. Taking a book about animals and turning it into an awards ceremony is fresh and fun. It was full of interesting information on a bunch of different animals who won awards in different categories.

All of the informs provided was written in an easy to follow way and the illustrations were cute and colourful.

Anytime I get a title from Quarto Publishing Group - Frances Lincoln Childrens I know it's going to be great. That is the expectation I have from this publishing company. They publish great books for kids that are fun, creative, educational and have great illustrations. This one is no different. It isn't my favorite of theirs that I have reviewed (although I really like the idea), but it is still a great pick for a young person's library.

Featured on each page is a particular animal that is "the best" at something. For instance, a spider wins the "spinning award", the poison dart frog wins the "beautiful but deadly" award and the Giant Panda wins the "fussy eater" award. I think each page is full of great pictures and very interesting facts as to why that animal wins the award. I learned about things I never knew about or heard about and that's what I love about children's non fiction.

The illustrations weren't my favorite, but that is pure personal preference versus any lack of quality.

Thanks so much to Netgalley, Quarto Publishing Group - Frances Lincoln Childrens and Tor Freeman/Martin Jenkins for the opportunity to read and provide an honest review of this book!

Review Date: 08/08/19
Publication Date: 09/03/19