BIGGEST, STRONGEST, FASTEST by Steve Jenkins

1.      BIBLIOGRAPHY

Jenkins, Steve. 1995. BIGGEST, STRONGEST, FASTEST.  New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN 0395697018

 

2.  PLOT SUMMARY

BIGGEST, STRONGEST, FASTEST is a nonfiction book about the “record holders of the animal world.”  The book covers fourteen different animal record holders from the African elephant, “the biggest land animal” to the Etruscan shrew, “the world’s smallest mammal.” 

 

3.      CRITICAL ANALYSIS

This delightful book will capture both the attention of fact lovers and art lovers.  For each animal, Jenkins describes what record that animal holds in one simple sentence.  He then has a section of the page that explains the record in more detail which sometimes gives comparisons that children can relate to.     An example of this is when Jenkins writes that “others, like the blue whale, are bigger than a house.”  Next to the section that explains the record in more detail, he includes a small picture showing the record compared to something the child would be familiar enough to tell the size, strength etc.  For example, he includes a picture of a man next to a giraffe so children can see how tall a giraffe really is!    Even though there are not many words in the book, there is a lot of information in this book!  Jenkins was very careful to be succinct and make every word count so that children do not get overwhelmed with the number of words.  

 

The back of the book has a chart which is useful for reference.  The chart lists the name of each animal with the following information for each animal:  record, size, diet and range.  The chart in the back of the book is in alphabetical order but the book does not discuss the animals in alphabetical order which might have been helpful for reference.  Jenkins included a bibliography in the front of the book that lists his sources that he used for the book.  Most of the illustrations in the book span two pages with a few illustrations that span one or three pages.   The blue whale and the sun jellyfish are intentionally over three pages to emphasize their size because they are the biggest and longest animals respectively.  The illustrations are not photos like most nonfiction books about animals.  Jenkins chose to use paper collage to make the illustrations for the book instead of photos.   The collage makes the animals seem to have different textures.  The backgrounds are not all the same and have different textures.   The book is truly a work of art! 

 

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

HORN BOOK MAGAZINE:  “A book that will stimulate thought and discussion about animals, art, and comparisons. “

Starred review in SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL: “Large, clear print; fascinating facts; and beautiful, detailed, cut-paper collages make this an excellent title a delight.” 

 

5. CONNECTIONS

*After reading the book, students can classify the students in their class.  (tallest, shortest, fastest, etc.)   

 *Other nonfiction books by Steve Jenkins:0761458115

Jenkins, Steve.  PREHISTORIC ACTUAL SIZE.  ISBN 0618535780

Jenkins, Steve.  ACTUAL SIZE.  ISBN 0618375945

Jenkins, Steve.  THE BEETLE BOOK.  ISBN 0547680848

Jenkins, Steve.  JUST A SECOND.  ISBN 0618708960

Jenkins, Steve.  NEVER SMILE AT A MONKEY: AND 17 OTHER IMPORTANT THINGS TO REMEMBER.  ISBN 06189