The Robot Zoo: A Mechanical Guide to the Way Animals Work

by John Kelly, Philip Whitfield, Obin

Cutaway images of robots and their animal partners explore the intricacies of each of the animals depicted, using a mechanical approach to clearly and vividly explain the digestive and circulatory systems, movement, and adaptation process.

48 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Librarian's note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. This is John^^^Kelly.

John Kelly is an illustrator, writer and designer who has worked for Scholastic, Macmillan, Hodder, Simon & Schuster, Aardman animation, Lucasfilm, Radar pictures and many others. He has been shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway prize twice (Guess Who's Coming For Dinner and Scoop!). The Beastly Pirates is his first picture book for Bloomsbury.

Reviews

[Rene · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really amazing book for use with grades K-5 as a science informational text. There is animal anatomy and plenty of very detailed illustrations and cut aways to allow children to see the physical composition of their favorite zoo friends. But there is also a very precise engineering aspect as the robotic illustrations show readers how mechanisms could be designed to function in the same manner as the animal's natural structure. This book is perfect for STEM classrooms and allows for the exploration and discussion of various robotic functions and how to imitate life. The computerized animals are fun and curiously frightening at the same time.

[Kelsey Yates · Rating 5 out of 5]

My 7 and 5 year olds loved this book. It is quite a bit of reading. Not a story book. It has cut-away illustrations of animals as if they were machines with parts explained in mechanical terms, such as food processor (stomach) or hinges (joints).