Odder is a curious and spunky sea otter in the ocean, spritely enjoying water play with her more cautious older friend, when she is bitten by a shark. Now Odder is fighting for her life. Thankfully, in the middle grade novel Odder by Katherine Applegate (Feiwel & Friends, September 2022), this memorable otter is rescued

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With a wordless story frame illustrating a family going for a walk in the park with their dock, A Mammal is an Animal by Lizzy Rockwell (Holiday House, January 2018) explains the differences between mammals, birds, and other animals. In the picture book, the illustrated family explores the unique creatures around them and learn about

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Making More: How Life Begins by Katherine Roy (Norton Young Readers, March 2023) is a middle-grade nonfiction tome about animal reproduction, plant reproduction, and even fungi reproduction. In short, it will help every young reader gain a better insight into just how living things “make more” and continue the life cycle. The first and last

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Did you know that there is a mammal that has scales? I didn’t until I read Operation Pangolin by Suzie Eszterhas (Millbrook, 2023). This book refers to one man’s mission to save the dwindling population of pangolins from human poachers. I hadn’t even heard of this small reptile-looking, ant-eating mammal. Surprisingly, it is more closely

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Dolphin, Fox, Hippo, Ox by Brian Cleary (Lerner Publishing, 2012) and other books in the Words are CATegorical. These books are clever. Using fun rhymes, they teach about concepts that children are still learning about: parts of speech, mathematical concepts, or, in this case, animal groups.  Dolphin et al is about mammals. I liked this book enough

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