This picture book is beautifully illustrated with meticulously detailed paintings of twelve mammals, birds, fish, and insects that build structures. At each opening is a full page illustration on the right page and text on the left. Each "story" starts out by stating the animal and the reason "and so they build" in a very large font, and continues in smaller print with information about the animal, its location, how it constructs its building project and other interesting data. As such it's very well suited to read around to a child: an early reader might manage much of the large print intro and whether early or pre-readers, the parent can easily stop reading when the child's attention span is reached. Of course, the highly detailed illustrations also give the child a lot to explore on their own. A very good addition to the family "picture science" shelf. ( )

From the back:

"Bert Kitchen takes readers into the extraordinary world of animal behavior with descriptions of twelve astonishing architects and explanations of why and how they build their marvelous structure."

This non-fiction picture book demonstrates how creatures from all around the world can all have one thing in common, shelter. It shows how all sorts of different things build homes to stay safe. I like this book because it shows how we can all have one thing in common no matter how different things may seem.

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