Making Sense: Animal Perception and Communication

Children's Literature - Beverly Kobrin

In effortless, amusing, down-to-earth prose precisely tuned to intrigue intelligent young readers, Mr. Brooks proves that nonfiction can be as gripping and insightful as the finest fiction. This third volume in his "Knowing Nature" series addresses animal perception and communication; the previous two, Nature By Design and Predator, are on, respectively, animal architecture and the quest for food. I've mesmerized audiences by reading aloud excerpts of Mr. Brooks' books. Try it! You'll like it-and so will your students.

Children's Literature - Marilyn Courtot

Brooks describes the variations that exist among animals with respect to their senses of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching, and feeling. Furthermore, he explores where animals react instinctively or use their senses to make choices to survive.

School Library Journal

Gr 5-8-A fine balance of vivid writing, thought-provoking discussion and theory, and excellent, full-color photography, including wonderfully detailed closeups. Brooks offers a comprehensive description of the five senses with examples covering the gamut of the animal world. He further explores what he considers almost a sixth sense-vibrational perception-which allows creatures to be aware of something distant. Brooks then encourages readers to look at an animal as a whole-a sum of its senses and intelligence-in order to understand better how it perceives the world and why it reacts to certain stimuli. This is an exceptional nature study that will pique readers' curiosity about the world around them. Jacci Cole's Animal Communication (Greenhaven, 1989) also looks at individual species and how they communicate. It provides in-depth background and research findings about dolphins, wolves, and chimps in a readable style, but its poor-quality photographs can not compare to this stunning volume.-Cynthia M. Sturgis, Ledding Library, Milwaukee, OR