Critter Chat

May 15, 2022
What if animals used social media? This title speculates on this question, offering readers punny posts, fun facts, and abundant animal antics! Mosco has fashioned a tapestry of interesting tidbits and jokes about (and supposedly by) the critters themselves. The pages are a riot of color, with high-resolution photos of various creatures and funny profiles that include facts as well as mock messages from them. The male house mouse (with a microphone in his tiny paws) has posted a profile on a dating app, while the upside-down jellyfish of the Caribbean offers an explanation of its topsy-turvy life in a post on Dolphinstagram. There are several lively, lengthy text threads (hence the book's title), like the one among the grizzly bear, gray wolf, elk, and American bison who commiserate about unexpected and unwelcome human visitors. Every animal has its own unique, illustrated story. For example, the zebra in Kenya is plagued by ticks; welcome relief comes from a flock of yellow-billed oxpeckers that land on its back and devour the pesky pests. A post with the hashtag #BFFS shows a banded mongoose who will helpfully eat bothersome ticks and bugs perched atop the back of a sleeping warthog. A male orchid bee gives Wild Thing Cologne only two stars on Llamazon, explaining that his own scent created from harvested plant chemicals works much better. This comprehensive and colorful compendium will delight young browsers. A feast for the eye, the inquisitive young mind, and the funny bone. (index, photo credits) (Nonfiction. 8-12)

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