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How to Clean a Hippopotamus: A Look at Unusual Animal Partnerships

Steve Jenkins’s trademark symbiosis of engaging text and detailed, dynamic collage images is perfectly suited to the exploration of the (usually) mutually beneficial relationships between a host of different creatures. Jenkins and collaborator Robin Page adapt a graphic novel design format, using panels on each page or page spread to tell the story of each creature’s role in the symbiotic relationship. The tiny boxer crab, for example, uses sea anemones to defend itself from large fish, waving the anemones’ deadly tentacles like a boxer waving gloves. In return, the anemones receive stray bits of food when the boxer crab eats. A book that invites dabbling as well as reading straight through includes additional information about symbiosis and each of the volume’s subjects in the closing pages. ©2919 Cooperative Children's Book Center

Illustrated by Steve Jenkins

CCBC Age Recommendation: Ages 8-12
Age Range: Grades 3-5 (Ages 8-10) Grades 6-8 (Ages 11-13)
Formats: Graphic Novel Picture book
Subject: Animals (Informational)

Publishers: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Houghton Mifflin
Publish Year: 2010
Pages: 32
ISBN: 9780547245157

CCBC Location: Non-Fiction, 591 Jenkins