Actual Size

From Barnes & Noble

Caldecott Honor winner Steve Jenkins delivers this mammoth-sized animal book that shows moths, ostrich heads, anteater tongues, and other animal features in actual size. Working with stunning torn- and cut-paper collages set against stark white backgrounds, Jenkins briefly describes exotic animals -- listing their length, weight, and other stats -- as he showcases what makes each of them so remarkable. Whether it's a Goliath birdeater tarantula at a gargantuan 12 inches across, a pygmy mouse lemur at 2½ inches tall next to a gorilla's hand, or an eye-popping fold-out of a saltwater crocodile's head, Jenkins's life-size depictions of animals -- accompanied by extended blurbs in the back -- are a wondrous treat.

From the Publisher

"Jenkins' imaginative paper collages work their usual magic in transcending their medium to capture the spirit and detail of their subjects. The real triumph here, however, is the compositions...the book makes brilliantly creative use of its tight focus, resulting in startling closeups." The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, Starred

"Jenkins' artwork is gorgeous (a gatefold of a frog in midleap is particularly memorable)... An unusual, unusually effective tool for connecting children to nature's astonishing variety." Booklist, ALA, Starred Review

"A thoroughly engaging read-aloud and a must-have for any collection." School Library Journal

The Washington Post

As in his earlier books...Jenkins builds richly textured images from torn and cut paper. Meticulously constructed, they capture details down to the last whisker of a Siberian tiger...Young zoologists will enjoy seeing how they measure up with the creatures on each page.—Jessica Bruder

From The Critics

It's one thing to read that the giant squid is 59 feet long, but staring into its basketball-size eye puts it in perspective. Every animal in this oversize book appears at actual size, showing its true enormousness or, in the case of the one-third-inch dwarf goby, its minuteness. (Ages 4 to 6)
Child magazine's Best Children's Book Awards 2004

Publishers Weekly

Animals in Action A trio of titles explores the animal kingdom. Actual Size by Steve Jenkins is the Caldecott Honor artist's latest foray into the natural world. Here, his signature cut- and torn-paper collage artwork depicts animals to scale, imitating fur and skin remarkably. The title page shows a "pygmy shrew, 2 inches long" and readers can view only one 12-inch eye of the giant squid (it can grow up to 59 feet long); the man-eating saltwater crocodile requires a three-page foldout to depict its toothy countenance. (May) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Children's Literature

The biggest new name in children's early nonfiction is Steve Jenkins. This collage artist uses few words and fascinating lay-outs to describe absorbing topics. In his latest, Jenkins delivers a book that lives up to its title, presenting animals (or sometimes parts of animals) in life-sized collages and offering measurements and short commentary on each. Jenkins fills one page of this oversized book with a staring giant squid's eye while the facing page gives size and explains how the large eye is needed to see in dim light. On another page, a smidgen of a white shark's teeth fill a page. A crocodile's head stretches over three fold-out pages. While the overall book is ripe for comparisons, Jenkins offers some pages which give immediate contrasts—a gorilla's hand fills a page and a pygmy mouse lemur takes center stage, filling only a small bit of a facing page. Jenkins steers us through the animal world with surprising life-sized illustrations and fascinating visual data that makes sense to young children. He gives more in-depth facts at the book's end. 2004, Houghton Mifflin, Ages 3 to 7.
—Susie Wilde

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 5-In striking torn-and-cut paper collages, Jenkins depicts 18 animals and insects-or a part of their body-in actual size. One illustration compares an atlas moth with a 12-inch wingspan to a dwarf goby fish, which is 1/3-inch long. The eye of a giant squid, at a foot across, occupies a spread to terrific effect; only the snout and tongue-curling its two-foot length across two pages and littered with termites-are visible in the picture of the giant anteater. The hand of a gorilla fills a page opposite the entire pygmy mouse lemur with its tiny human-fingertip-sized palm. The saltwater crocodile grows to 23 feet, so tremendous that its head occupies a three-page foldout. On the reverse side is the rat-eating Goliath frog, a staggering 36 inches long in full hop. One or two lines of text briefly introduce each animal and give specific measurements, e.g., the gorilla stands 5 1/2 feet tall and weighs 600 pounds, while the mouse lemur is 2 1/2 inches tall and weighs 1 ounce. The end matter offers full pictures of the creatures and more details about their habitats and habits. Mixing deceptive simplicity with absolute clarity, this beautiful book is an enticing way to introduce children to the glorious diversity of our natural world, or to illustrate to budding scientists the importance of comparison, measurement, observation, and record keeping. A thoroughly engaging read-aloud and a must-have for any collection.-Dona Ratterree, New York City Public Schools Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

A new exploration of the biological world, from one of the current masters of collage, features life-size-not scaled-representations of the extremes of the animal kingdom. Wonderfully textured collages are set against a white background, accompanied by a minimal text gloss about the animals, and their sizes. Some are so huge that only parts can be seen (the one-foot-diameter eye of a giant squid) and others require some squinting (the 1/3-inch dwarf goby). It's a fascinating subject, and one that will resonate with an audience for whom relative size is a matter of daily interest. Jenkins exploits it for all its worth, including a fold-out of a crocodile's jaw and a snarling tiger whose face spills off the page. Four concluding pages provide more information about the featured animals, along with reasonably sized, full-body reiterations of the illustrations. Sadly enough, however, in a book that is so intimately concerned with measurement, only English units are used, seemingly ignoring the fact that the metric system is the universal language of science worldwide. A regrettable flaw in an otherwise outstanding offering. (Picture book/nonfiction. 5-12)