I don’t usually review books like this on my blog, but I thought would be a fun departure just for kicks. You can also receive free books from Thomas Nelson through their Book Review Blogger Program.
I received The Wackiest, Wildest, Weirdest Animals in the World by Jack Hanna through Thomas Nelson’s “Book Review Blogger” program. I thought it would be fun to enjoy it with my son, who is 5 years old. It’s a quick read (33 pages) and features nearly 30 different animals, from the Giant Anteater, Hissing Cockroach, Tasmanian Devil, and my personal favorite, the Naked Mole Rat. (You can guess my 5-year old had some fun with that one.) The book is full-color and truth be told, I enjoyed it as much as my son did. The writing is geared toward the junior-high level, but anyone will enjoy the pictures and the fun facts about the variety of animals featured in the book.
Although it’s not intended to be a “spiritual” book, it spurred an interesting conversation about why God would create some of the animals featured in the book. You never know what will spur those kinds of conversations!
My only critique is the DVD included with the book. My impression (and a logical one, I think) is that it would feature various animals bloopers from Hanna’s TV show. While it did feature a few of these, it mostly consisted of outtakes of Hanna and his crew. I’m curious why the producers took this direction because some of the clips present Hanna in a slightly irritable, condescending light. The book would have been much better served if the DVD focused on clips of animals (i.e. all the animals in the book) rather than Hanna’s outtakes.
This criticism aside, the book itself is a lot of fun, and despite my impression that it was a book for kids, I did enjoy it quite a bit. My son certainly enjoyed the pictures…especially of the naked mole rat.
