Far Out!: Animals That Do Amazing Things

by Ginjer L. Clarke, Pete Mueller (Illustrator)

Did you know that the European eel can migrate far distances simply from memory? Did you know that chimpanzees can learn sign language? Far Out! is packed with interesting facts about animals that can do amazing and humanlike things, such as the dolphin, silverback gorilla, Egyptian vulture, and monarch butterfly.

Genres: Animals

48 pages, Paperback

First published July 9, 2009

About the author

Ginjer L. Clarke writes fun, fact-filled nonfiction beginning readers about weird, wonderful animals. Her love for strange creatures started early, as the first story she remembers writing in the third grade was “The Strange Animal” about a small, pink-spotted imaginary creature called a Woofa. She loves that her job entails visiting zoos and aquariums, reading lots of books, and even watching TV for research. And she can work at home in her pajamas, which is a lifelong dream!

Ginjer’s books, most of which are part of Grosset & Dunlap’s All Aboard Science Reader series, have sold a combined total of more than 2 million copies worldwide. Her books Freak Out! and Gross Out! were on Publisher’s Weekly’s 2006 and 2007 lists of top 100 best-selling children’s books. Her books have been favorably reviewed in Booklist, Horn Book, School Library Journal, Children’s Literature, and regional newspapers and magazines, and are featured in Scholastic and Bedford Falls Book Fairs. Her book Platypus! (Random House Step into Reading) was awarded the Maryland Library Association’s 2005 Blue Crab Young Reader Award for Nonfiction and was selected by the National Science Teachers Association as recommended classroom reading.

Ginjer is an experienced and lively school, library, and conference presenter, who has appeared at more than 100 elementary schools, regional reading and writing conferences, statewide book festivals, many bookstores and libraries, and even a zoo. She is a graduate of James Madison University and lives in Richmond, Virginia, with her husband, young son, and several silly-looking pets.

Reviews

[Sherry Thornberry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has a lot of different information about animals all over the world. Animals that work, use tools, migrate. Its a bunch of information that gives the reader a look into just how much animals vary but how they are smart like people and have feelings like people. A great book for new vocabulary too.

[Brianna Morris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun informational book about how animals can do some of the same things as humans, such as communicate and use tools. Would be a great way to introduce text features in non-fiction.