Animal Defenses: How Animals Protect Themselves

Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian Studies at
Concordia University and an avid outdoor recreationist. She is also the
author of The Mountain Is Moving: Japanese Women’s Lives, Kurlek, and
Margaret Laurence: The Long Journey Hom

Animal Defenses offers young children a lively introduction to some
unusual animals through the aspect of their defense mechanisms. Etta
Kaner uses fear, an emotion young children understand, as the “hook”
to attract her readers’ attention.

Kaner’s choices include the blue-ringed octopus with camouflage
colors, the eyed hawkmoth, the Australian tawny frogmouth, and the
humble ladybug. The frogmouth’s brown feathers make it resemble a
broken tree branch. The hawkmoth looks like a crumpled dead leaf until
it uncovers its back wings to reveal two huge eyespots. The ladybug’s
leg joints give off a bad-tasting liquid, which such enemies as birds
and beetles know well.

The American possum, a fine actor, fakes death with eyes half-closed
and tongue hanging out. The hognose snake can also play dead, adding to
the effect by emitting a smell similar to that of a rotting corpse.
Other creatures have more aggressive defense tactics. Kaner relates each
mini-drama very effectively .

Pat Stephens’s large and colorful illustrations, fitted around the
text, combine accuracy with beauty, humor, and thrills. Her cuttlefish
has just a hint of a smile. Her soldier termites look martial.

Each double-page spread features three or four animals together with a
paragraph of text. Animal Defenses will intrigue children in the early
primary grades. Highly recommended.