Bone by Bone: Comparing Animal Skeletons

By Sara Levine and T.S Spookytooth

What would you be if your finger bones grew so long that they reached your feet? You'd be a bat! What if you had no leg bones but kept your arm bones? You'd be a whale, a dolphin, or a porpoise!

This entertaining picture book will keep readers guessing as they learn about how our skeletons are like―and unlike―those of other animals.

How are you similar to animals? How are you different? These entertaining picture books from educator and veterinarian Sara Levine and illustrator T.S Spookytooth explore comparative anatomy and give readers the chance to find out how their skeletons, teeth, and eyes match up with a wide variety of animals from the past and present. Packed with surprising animal facts that will delight readers of all ages!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lerner Publishing
• Release date: Jan 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781467742733

Sara Levine

Sara Levine is an author, educator, and veterinarian. Her science books for children include the Animal by Animal series, Germs Up Close, and A Peek at Beaks: Tools Birds Use. Her books have received a number of awards including AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize, Utah Beehive Book Award, Cook Prize finalist, Monarch Award master list, and Bank Street College Best Children's Book of the Year.

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Reviews for Bone by Bone

[sullywriter_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

All kinds of vertebrates.

[nbmars · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This very clever and fun book shows how different living creatures are similar and different by posing quizes on one side of a page that is answered on its reverse. For example, she asks, "What kind of animal would you be if your finger bones grew so long that they reached your feet?"On the next page, we discover the answer.Or, “What if you didn’t have any arm or leg bones? What kind of animal would you be if you had just a skull, vertebrae, and ribs?” Or: “Now let’s keep all of your bones but change the size of some of them. What kind of animal would you be if you had really big vertebrae in your neck?” Amusing and imaginative illustrations by the pseudonymous T.S. Spookytooth are colorful and funny and just right for kids. For each “what if” he shows little boys and girls with bodies distorted by the proposed changes. My favorite is this one: Next to one puddle of a boy the author asks, “Could you be an animal if you didn’t have any bones at all?” (“Yes!” is the answer: “Many animals don’t have bones. They’re called invertebrates.”) The questions are hugely intriguing and will delight children, stimulating their imaginations and teaching them something at the same time.Highly recommended!Evaluation: The author, a veterinarian and assistant professor of biology in Boston, teaches classes on plants and animals for kids. It is clear she knows what kids find entertaining. (I.e., kids and husbands, one of whom, who shall not be named herein, insisted on going through the whole book and guessing the answers for each page.) This is another book I could hardly pull away from the young readers in our lives, who in addition to reading it, felt the need to act out each possibility.