Nature's Ninja: Animals with Spectacular Skills

Rebecca L. Johnson

Aug 2020 · Millbrook Press

About this ebook

Audisee® eBooks with Audio combine professional narration and sentence highlighting for an engaging read aloud experience!

Ninja were skilled warriors in medieval Japan. And now you can find ninja in comics, movies, and TV shows. But what about in nature? Real animals aren't anything like ninja . . . are they?

A stealthy lizard that can climb walls and hang upside down by its toes? Yes! A sea creature that defends itself with weapons that look a whole lot like throwing stars? Definitely! An insect that blends in so well with its enemies that they never even know it's there? Yes again!

Encounter geckos, sea urchins, rove beetles, and many other living things that have more in common with ninja than you might expect. And hear from the scientists who are working to understand just how these animals are able to do what they do.

Science meets martial arts in this fun and fast-paced look at some truly incredible animals.

Ratings and reviews

Interesting Critters, But Bad Narrator Audiobook Review: The basic information in this book about animals’ ninja offensive and defensive moves is interesting, but I found the narrator annoying. The book teaches about several animals that employ ninja tactics. Funnily, at the start of each chapter, we are actually told what specific ninja tactic a particular animal does, like spying or throwing stars. The author shares a fictionalized account of how this animal employs the maneuver and then gives more factual information about the tactic as well as shares how scientists figured out how these animals do their ninja tricks. I like that aspect of this book, and I think it's great to show children the scientific process of figuring out things in the natural world. I found the narrator, though, absolutely distracting. He had an odd way of talking that I'm not quite sure how to describe precisely. He didn't just talk naturally, as if he were sharing some cool facts that interested him (which I’ve heard other children’s nonfiction narrators do). It's almost as if he's trying to wind up the kids like some sort of carnival barker—as if he feels like the only way to get and keep interest is by using this odd, disruptive speech patterning—but that just does not work in a children's nonfiction book like this. If you have a child who is interested in ninjas or the wacky but cool sides of animals, she or he may appreciate this book—so long as they don't find the narrator too irksome like I did. This book does introduce some difficult words, so I recommend getting the eBook or physical book along with the audiobook so that the child can see how these words are written. Of course, I imagine the pictures of the animals would be excellent to see, too! This would have been a 4-star review if not for the narrator issue! I received a free copy of this audiobook, but that did not affect my review.

About the author

Rebecca L. Johnson writes award-winning nonfiction for children and young adults about scientific discoveries and the scientists who make them. She hopes her books will inspire new generations of scientists by introducing readers to some of the remarkable species with whom we share the planet. Learn more at www.rebeccajohnsonbooks.com.