Rock? Plant? Animal? How Nature Keeps Us Guessing

Telling the difference between a rock, a plant and an animal is not as easy or obvious as one might assume. This highly entertaining, interactive nonfiction picture book invites nature detectives to put on their thinking caps and prepare to be amazed – and learn something new.
An opening page provides some concrete clues to get the guessing game started. Short, pithy definitions explain terminology: “A rock is a solid, nonliving thing that is made up of one or more minerals”, “A plant is a living thing that grows in one spot and makes its own food using sunlight”, and “An animal is a living being. Animals use their bodies to move around.” Readers are then given 14 question-and-answer puzzles to ponder.

The well-designed page layout adds to the fun and piques curiosity. Each right-hand page showcases a large, up-close, full-colour illustration, along with the prompt, “Rock? Plant? Animal?” Upon turning the page, the answer is revealed, along with a paragraph full of fascinating facts. For example, I spied what I thought was a purple plant with spiky petals. After the page turn, I discovered, “It’s an ANIMAL!” The purple sea urchin uses its spiky spines for catching food.

Readers aren’t the only ones fooled. Predators also mistake the giant Malaysian leaf insect for a green plant. Other curiosities explored include the reef stonefish (a motionless rock-shaped fish that has “thirteen spines along its back that can stand upright and shoot out venom when it’s threatened”), the orchid mantis (an insect that looks like a blooming flower), and the cobra lily (a plant with a long tongue-like leaf covered with nectar).

Detailed illustrations by Brittany Lane, a former wildlife biologist, present a variety of unique perspectives. A magnified cross-section view of the ant plant’s bulbous stem shows smooth-walled chambers that provide hotel-like lodging for ants. The delicate nature drawings offer another layer of scientific study.

Award-winning author and science educator Etta Kaner writes with lively, conversational panache. A wealth of information is shared in each profile, from habitats to food chains. Meaningful comparisons also help kids wrap their heads around the content: the satanic leaf-tailed gecko doesn’t have eyelids “so it uses its tongue like a windshield wiper to clean its eyes.” A short glossary of “Words to Know” is included in back matter. A concluding message to readers offers a thoughtful summation: “In nature, things aren’t always what they seem at first glance. And this is also true with one specific animal – humans! You can’t tell what a person is like just by the way they look. You need to get to know them.”

Like the best puzzles, Rock? Plant? Animal? encourages close inspection and is packed with plenty of surprises.