Actual Size

Jenkins, Steve. 2004. ACTUAL SIZE. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Jenkins creates a compelling book that looks at the actual size of different animals or animal parts that will cause readers to not only anxiously turn pages to find out what size will appear next, but it will also cause them to look for further information on the animals found in the book. Not only is the actual size of items such as a giant squid eye or the saltwater crocodile’s mouth shown, but interesting factual tidbits are included with the illustrations. The illustrations created from torn paper add an fascinating depiction of each animal. The book lacks traditional non-fiction access features such as a table of contents or an index that assist the reader in locating information more easily. There are extensive notes included at the end of the book on each of the animals that is featured in the text, however there are no sources cited for the information given.