They Just Know: Animal Instincts
THEY JUST KNOW: ANIMAL INSTINCTS
Written by Robin Yardi
Illustrated by Laurie Allen Klein
(Arbordale Publishing; $17.95 hardcover, $9.95 paperback, Ages 4-8)
Kids are curious. They wonder about everything they see in nature, especially about living creatures. So if your child has ever asked you how animals know what to do in any given situation, it’s the perfect time to introduce the concepts of instinct and learned behaviors with They Just Know: Animal Instincts, a terrific nonfiction picture book. When those questions start you’ll definitely want to have a copy of this helpful resource on hand not just for your kids but as a refresher for you parents and caregivers
While gently teaching about instinct versus learned behaviors, life cycles and metamorphosis, the young and their parents, They Just Know shows children that throughout the animal kingdom, all kinds of creatures are growing and changing, learning and succeeding and ultimately making it on their own.
Just like no one tells a baby when to cry, “no one reminds a caterpillar to eat her leaves, or to make a chrysalis when she’s old enough. Caterpillars just know.” Using this and other excellent animal examples, author Robin Yardi, and illustrator Laurie Allen Klein, introduce us to black swallowtails, horn sharks, king snakes, ladybugs, loggerhead sea turtles and spring peepers. The light-hearted artwork that anthropomorphizes the animals, imagines them in humorous situations preparing and studying for what actually comes naturally. Kids will find these depictions so funny. My favorite is the illustration of the horn shark sitting in his inflatable wading pool, wearing a float which, in all its contrariness, captures the text, “Nobody tells a horn shark to stay in the shallow end until he can swim.”
The book’s back matter includes four pages of learning activities in a section entitled For Creative Minds and it’s also a great conversation starter for the youngest of readers. Make sure to spend some time reading They Just Know: Animal Instincts before your next visit to the aquarium or zoo and I’m sure some enjoyable and entertaining discussions are bound to happen.
- Reviewed by Ronna Mandel
Find author Robin Yardi here.
Find illustrator Laurie Allen Klein here.
Click here for They Just Know teaching activities.
They Just Know is also available in Spanish Paperback, Ebook, and Spanish EBook