We CANNOT get enough of Jess Keating’s The World of Weird Animals series and were so excited to get our hands on the newest addition, Big as a Giant Snail with illustrations by David DeGrand.

There are a ton of large animals in the world and I particularly love how Jess Keating didn’t just feature the biggest animals in all the world, but animals that are large for their species as well. Compared to your average moth the Atlas Moth is enormous but next to a polar bear, not so much. Readers get to learn A TON about these giant animals from their complete details like species name, size, diet, habitat and predators and threats. We also get to learn some super fun facts too. We get to know a little bit more about different animals for all parts of the globe as well, making Big as a Giant Snail a trip around the world. Cleverly embedded into all of the profiles are hints to lead discussions about stereotypes around size as well as endangered species and climate change.

For those who love math, Jess Keating provides a unique measurement scale for each animal so young readers can get a better sense of their size, she uses a banana scale! For older readers and adults, there is a fantastic glossary at the end for all of the new science vocabulary readers will learn throughout the book.

David DeGrand’s illustrations lend additional interest and humour to each featured animal and keep the information interesting and highly appealing.