Built by Animals

My 7 year old really enjoyed this book! He is a collector of Ranger Rick and National Geographic Kids Magazines. He is also a collector of facts about animals.

We both loved reading through this informative brightly illustrated book and learning cool facts about animals. We saw a building in the UK that was built efficiently and strong with minimal materials to model a beehive. We also read about the diabolical ironclad beetle that has armor so strong, it can be run over by a car! Humans are trying to mimic its strong exterior to build planes and buildings.

There were so many cool facts about plants and animals in this book and my son excitedly asked about things on each page. We both loved learning about how humans are copying strategies from nature to perfect their own engineering.

Thank you to Quarto Publishing Group -Wide Eyed Editions and Netgalley for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you, Quarto Publishing Group Wide Eyed Editions, for the advance reading copy.

The book is a very informative read and I love the basic colourful illustrations.
However, the writing/notes seem a bit too crowded and I feel it would be a bit difficult for the target audience.

This is a great book for kids about builders across the animal kingdom! It covers a wide variety of animals and has great ties to our world. There are also beautiful illustrations!

Thanks to Netgalley and Quarto Publishing Group – Wide Eyed Editions, Wide Eyed Editions for a free digital copy.

I really enjoyed the learning aspects of this book as I learned about animals and how they build their homes. I thought the "what can humans learn from these animals" was very cool. I love the idea of humans studying nature to learn how to do things better.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of Built by Animals by Christine Dorion. This is an beautiful book for children that shows the amazing ways animals build, keep cool, conserve water, and inspire humans with their creativity. Perfect for elementary grade children, whether it is read to them or they can read it on their own. Wonderful illustrations add to the informative paragraphs that explain how the animals build without machines, use shapes to build stronger, and use eco-friendly packaging. There are also portions that connect what the animals have done to how humans are studying and using the building techniques and saving energy and water. I highly recommend this book for all children that love animals and/or love creating and building.

This book has so much great, interesting information in it. The illustrations support the text well and are interesting to look at. This would be a great addition to any child’s bookshelf and library.

Built by Animals is an illustrated book for middle grade readers showing how human engineering problems sometimes have solutions found in nature. Due out 3rd May 2022 from Quarto on their Wide Eyed Editions imprint, it's 80 pages and will be available in hardcover format.

This is a fun STE(A)M book with lots of facts about animals and how they can give us insights into engineering, architecture, transportation, materials sciences, and more. Author Dr. Christiane Dorion is an experienced educator and author. She writes clearly and well about the subject and kids will find much of the information engrossing and educational. I would've devoured this book at that age.

The art by Yeji Yun is colorful and full of small details which will fascinate young kids and which illustrate the engineering and design points well. The animal builders in the book are anthropomorphic and explain the concepts themselves to add a level of fun and whimsy to the experience. Corner banners on each two page spread show the category they come under: construction, materials, shapes, energy, and water.

The book includes a table of contents and index for convenience. There's also a short fun quiz at the end which invites readers to match awards (best digger, best weaver, best artist, best dam engineer) with the animals in the book who deserve each award. This can be used as a fun activity to facilitate discussions and further learning.

Five stars, a fine choice for public or classroom library acquisition, and for the home library.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Very wordy book for early readers. Would work great as a read aloud for geometry and science lessons!

This book is really neat! Each page explores an animal engineer and describes how the animal designs and builds the perfect home. It also offers connections to how we as humans may be able to learn a thing or two from these animals and apply them to our own architecture and design. This book is perfect for an inquiry into STEM or for children who are interested in animals and habitats. As a grade 3 teacher I can think of tons of ways to use this book in lessons in Science. I also think that it would quickly become a favourite in my class library because it is one that is accessible to a variety of students, with beautiful and detailed diagrams at pictures, even children who struggle with reading can gain information from this text. For those who are strong readers there are lots of small text boxes throughout the book that give opportunities for deeper reading and understanding. The text boxes, labels and diagrams also teach non-ficton text features, an important understanding for young readers encountering non-fiction texts for the first time. I would recommend this book to teachers and families of children in the 7-11 age range. I look forward to purchasing a copy for my classroom library when it is published (soon)! Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a sneak peek at this awesome new book!

Built by Animals is a fascinating reference that focuses on a huge variety of animals that have inspired building materials and techniques. It is a wonderfully illustrated book that combines genres like science and art in an accessible way. Each short section focuses on a different animal and concept. Each page features vibrant, fun illustrations and would be best for children in later elementary school and middle school. Even adults will find this fun and informative!

Thank you Quarto Publishing Group – Wide Eyed Editions and NetGalley for providing this ARC.

Thank you to the author, the Quarto Publishing Group and NetGalley, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a fun and fascinating read, both to read to younger kids, and for older kids to read on their own. It contains a wealth of information and insights into engineering, architecture, transportation, materials sciences and more that are inspired by the animal kingdom. The illustrations are colorful and catchy - personally I found it a bit too anthropomorphic, but the target audience I read it with loved it.

An excellent illustrated book for the 7-12 years age group who wants to see the extent of the ingenuity present in nature.

The book covers a wide variety of animal and even plants, revealing how each of them has some skills related to architecture, engineering, materials, conservations of resources, and so on. All these skills are much needed by humans and by an educated study of these animal habits and habitats, we can hopefully understand their approach and even incorporate a few in our lifestyle. The range of animals is vast, right from desert animals to underwater creatures to even tiny insects.

The book is 80 pages long, and each of these pages (except for a few) contains details on one specific animal/plant and a few of its important habits that we humans could learn. The content is organised into sections such as construction, materials, shapes, and so on. I liked how the content was presented from the first person perspective of the relevant animal, and in case of plats, the voice was that of an animal closely associated with that plant. This created a beautiful connect and also helped incorporate a touch of humour to the narration.

The accompanying illustrations are fabulous and show not just the animal/plant but also a detailed view of their relevant habits. Every page is completely in colour, and I am sure the physical copy would be outstanding to look at.

At the end of the book, there is a special section called “Award ceremony” where children can match the animals with a special award that they deserve for their innovative qualities. This was fun and nice way of reinforcing the learnings of the book.

Humankind has always considered itself the smartest of the species. This book shows that animals can be way smarter than us and we still have a long way to go in making the maximum use of available natural resources while causing minimal destruction to the environment.

The only complain I have is that the text is a little cramped up. I think this is because there is a lot of content per page. Though the text is definitely easy to understand for the target age group and is sectioned into logical paragraphs, it still looks a bit cluttered on the digital copy. This might not be an issue in the physical copy.

Recommended not just to every little animal lover but to anyone who wants to see the wonders of nature. Hopefully, we learn a little humility as well by reading about these amazing animals. This would be a wonderful addition to homes, schools and libraries.

4.25 stars.

My thanks to Quarto Publishing Group – Wide Eyed Editions and NetGalley for the DRC of “Built by Animals”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

This book is amazingly child friendly I will certainly be putting it on our Non fiction wish list.
I live near Banham Zoo in Norfolk where they have Prairie Dogs so this page interested me. But there were just so many others, i mean who wouldn't love a animal who square poo!
It is all based around what an animal builds, be it burrow, nest, poo, tower etc it tells that animal's story so well. The illustrations are fun and colourful and lead the information.

Built by Animals: Meet the Creatures who Inspire our Homes and Cities, written by Christiane Dorion and illustrated by Yeli Yun, is currently scheduled for release on May 3 2022. Meet the animals behind the most amazing building tech, brought to life by Yeji Yun and expertly explained by WWF educator Christiane Dorion. This book dives into the world of biomimicry and answers questions like: How can we use more solar energy to power our homes? How can we grow plants in the desert? How can we pump water to the top of very tall buildings?How can we clean polluted rivers? From the bee’s honeycomb shape that strengthens structures to termites’ that build their nests with natural air con, these creatures did it first! And, at the end of the book, find out who wins big at the Animal Builder Awards! Will it be the prairie dog, the peacock, the beaver, or the firefly?

Built by Animals is an educational and entertaining read. I thought the illustrations were absolutely charming and did a great job of holding the reader's interest while helping to clarify the text on each page. It is worth giving the book a look through just to fully appreciate the skill in the illustrations before or after reading the book as a whole. I thought the information shared in this book was well chosen, and I liked the way it tied in the animal's hard work to the efforts some people have been making to make more sustainable or efficient things based on the skills found in nature.I thought the variety of creatures included, and that plants got their mention as well. I loved the creativity and thought that has obviously gone into this book, and think it is a valuable read for interested readers. I think it would be an asset to classroom, school, and public libraries as well as the personal collection for young readers.