The Who, What, Why of Zoology - Jules Howard - ★★★★

AUTHOR: Jules Howard

ILLUSTRATOR: Lucy Letherland

GENRE: Children's Nonfiction, Science.

RATING: 4 stars.

In a Nutshell: An enlightening read for youngsters who are interested in animals and zoology.

Most children love animals. However, a few want to take their passion beyond pets, and have a career connected to animals in the wild. How should they begin? What does a zoologist actually do? Where does a zoologist work? You will find answers to all this and more in this educative and entertaining book.

The books begins with an introduction of zoology. It then covers various types of biomes such as temperate & tropical forests, the tundra, the grasslands, and even underwater reefs and the deep ocean. For each region, the book explores the kind of region, a few of the animals who dwell therein, some interesting facts related to the animals, and the work zoologists do in that region, and how they go about it.

While there are many books that provide amazing facts about wild animals, this book is different because it explores many aspects from a zoological perspective and provides us an insight into the role played by zoologists in today’s world. Rather than restricting the content to animals alone, the text also covers many complex terms such as invasive species, fossil fields, ethics, and the role of zoos in animal research.

At the end, there are a few pointers about what children can do at their age to further their interest in zoology. There is also some nice (and entertaining) advice on zoology from some contemporary zoologists. A helpful glossary provides the meanings of all the difficult terms.

While the book is planned for readers aged 6-9, the complexity of the content makes this a suitable work for the older ones in that age group. It will even work wonderfully for tweens and younger teens. Pre-teens might enjoy the animal facts and some part of the zoologists’ work, but the rest might be a tad too difficult for them to grasp as intended. They will love the art though.

The artwork is exactly as needed for the topic: colourful, accurate, fun. I didn’t like the sketches in the zoologists’ section at the end, but the rest of the illustrations were nice. They are quite intricate, and some pages even include some fun elements within the drawings.

All in all, this would be a great addition to every animal lover’s library and even to classroom libraries.

My thanks to Quarto Publishing Group and Edelweiss+ for the DRC of “The Who, What, Why of Zoology”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.