“Animals Nobody Loves” by Seymour Simon, 2001, Chronicle Books, $7.95, softbound, 48 pages: Before you even get to the Table of Contents in this book, you are confronted with the large, face-to-face image of some pretty alarming creatures: a spider, a piranha and a cobra first, then a vulture on the introduction page.
These are, indeed, animals people don’t usually love. They’re fearsome, strange or they’re pests, and rarely has anything good been said about most of them.
Seymour Simon, it seems, intends to change that, explaining that many animals get a bad reputation, and that people simply don’t understand them.
At roughly 10.5-by-10.5 inches, this book is oversized, and the photos are huge, taking up about a page and a half. This enables the reader to get a really close-up look at these undervalued animals. The piranha, for example, seems mostly eyes and sharp teeth; the fire ant is so big, her tiny hairs are visible; and there’s a terrific view of a rattlesnake’s open mouth.
The author relates some worthwhile information on the animals: a skunk, he tells us, is usually docile, and eats insects, fruits, berries and seeds. The gila monster doesn’t use its poison on small prey, and the hyena may play dead if attacked.
At the end of the book, Simon invites readers to make a list of animals they don’t love and to consider why they feel that way. He also asks if the reader feels differently about any of the animals in the book after learning more about them. This is surely a valuable exercise, and this book is certain to satisfy the curiosity of readers who have a fascination for fearsome creatures.
However, there is one noticeable flaw with this book, and that is that Simon doesn’t give reasons why each of these animals is misunderstood or how they might be beneficial. He does say that spiders and bats consume pests, but he doesn’t give any justification for liking the cobra, for instance, or sharks. He does give some tips, such as how to react if you come across a grizzly bear and to never try to handle a gila monster – but it might be nice for readers to learn what place these animals have in the ecosystem.
Note: A couple of the images – notably that of the vulture and the hyena with their prey – are a bit graphic.
Lee’s take: An interesting introduction to some unusual animals.
J.J.’s take: An admirably intentioned book which nearly lives up to its potential.
LEE AND J.J. MACFADDEN are twins and voracious readers living in Bristol Tennessee. E-mail them at leeandjj.doubletake@yahoo.com.
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