Animal Tails

Readers will be fascinated by the many ways animals use their tails: to move on land, swim, warn others, steer, hold on to things, keep warm, balance, fly, attract a mate, and even to defend themselves! Apparently, tails are not just for wagging when happy. Following Animal Eyes, Animal Mouths (NSTA/CBC Outstanding Trade Science Award-winning book), and Animal Legs, Mary Holland continues her photographic Animal Anatomy and Adaptations series by exploring the many ways animals use their tails.

This nonfiction picture book with a cuddle factor includes a 4-page For Creative Minds section in the back of the book and a 30-page cross-curricular Teaching Activity Guide online. Animal Tails is vetted by experts and designed to encourage parental engagement. Its extensive back matter helps teachers with time-saving lesson ideas, provides extensions for science, math, and social studies units, and uses inquiry-based learning to help build critical thinking skills in young readers. The Spanish translation supports ELL and dual-language programs. The interactive ebook reads aloud in both English and Spanish with word highlighting and audio speed control to promote oral language skills, fluency, pronunciation, text engagement, and reading comprehension. Tap the animals and other things that make noise to hear their sounds.

Written by Mary Holland
32 pg, 8.5 x 10, Ages 4-9, Grades K-3, Lexile: AD 770, AR: 4.6, F&P: O

Reviews:

A de-tail-ed look at an important adaptation across species.
- Kirkus Reviews

Readers who love learning about animals are sure to appreciate the detail on every page of this book. Reviewer: Mary Pearl; Ages 5 to 8.
- Children's Literature

This sweet picture book will speak to children from about four to seven or eight, with a focus on tails. Not all tails are the same, and author Mary Holland’s text highlights the important differences for young readers in simple, straight-forward language. Whether it is a beaver steering as he swims or warning other beavers of danger or a fox keeping warm in winter wrapped in a furry tail or an opossum grasping with his tail as he climbs, kids will find the ways and reasons interesting and fun to learn about. While Holland gives plenty of space to familiar animals, she throws in a few that will be quite unexpected and add to the fun of this book.
- San Francisco Book Review

Author/Illustrator Info:

Mary Holland is a naturalist, nature photographer, columnist, and award-winning author with a life-long passion for natural history. After graduating from the University of Michigan's School of Natural Resources, Mary worked as a naturalist at the Museum of the Hudson Highlands in New York state, directed the state-wide Environmental Learning for the Future program for the Vermont Institute of Natural Science, worked as a resource naturalist for the Massachusetts Audubon Society, and designed and presented her own "Knee-High Nature Programs" for libraries and elementary schools throughout Vermont and New Hampshire.

Her children's books with Arbordale include Animal Tracks and Traces, Animal Homes, Otis the Owl, Ferdinand Fox's First Summer (NSTA / CBC Most Outstanding Science Trade Book and Moonbeam Children's Book Award), The Beavers' Busy Year, Yodel the Yearling, Animal Skins, Animal Ears, Animal Tails, Animal Noses, Animal Eyes, Animal Legs, and Animal Mouths (NSTA / CBC Most Outstanding Science Trade Book). Mary's book Naturally Curious: a Photographic Field Guide and Month-by-Month Journey Through the Fields, Woods and Marshes of New England won the 2011 National Outdoor Book Award for the Nature Guidebook category. Naturally Curious Day by Day was published in 2016. Mary lives in Vermont with her lab, Greta. Visit Mary's blog at Naturally Curious with Mary Holland.