Almost Gone: The World's Rarest Animals by Steve Jenkins

Almost Gone: The World's Rarest Animals by Steve Jenkins

         Jenkins, S. (2006). Almost gone: The World’s rarest animals. HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN 9780060535988

In Almost Gone:  The World's Rarest Animals readers learn about animals around the world that are almost extinct.  Almost each page features an different animal and facts about where the live, their habitat, cause of deaths, and an illustration that accomapnies each animal.  

After reading Almost Gone, one emotion the reader may be left with is sadness, because the reader just learned about these marvelous animals, only to find out their numbers are still dwindling.  While there are millions of speccies of animals on Earh, Almost Gone, highlights those who are as the title states, almost gone.  This book highlights animals that may have otherwise gone unnoticed, such as Hispid Hare or the Coelacanth fish.  When people speak about endangerd animals the animal that most likely comes to mind is the Panda or the White Rhino, and in a suprising (but also not so suprising) note, Almost Gone does not talk about those two animals, most likely because those are some of the most common endangered animals people may think about.  I for one know that I learned alot more about animals that I did not even know exist, and I also feel empathy for the Abington Island Tortise, who before this book, I did not know existed but now know there is approximately only one left in the world.  

The information itself about each animal is presented in easy to read, and digestable paragraphs.  The vocabuarly used is not overly extravagent, allowing for any readers (inclduing young readers) to read this book with ease.  There is also disclaimer in the beginning to educate the readers that all the the numbers of animals left is a prediction, and goes into depth about why the numbers are a prediction and not an accurate number, which is a great explaination to have for the younger readers who may not understand why the number cannot be accurate.  Two more features I really enjoyed was that Almost Gone also included a section of extinct animals, and the very two last endpages provides a world map that is labelled with a number the corresponds to a legend that has the name and location of the animals we just learned about.  That provides a great visual example of where exactly these animals are located for readers who are not familiar with geography.  Being that this book is a Stage 2 science book, it does very well at presenting the infromation for a younger crowd.  Though do not let that fool you, even older readers will enjoy learning about there marvelous animals by reading Almsot Gone.

Steve Jenkins art style for Almost Gone is one of the most fun and unique styles I have seen in a picure book, being that all 21 animals were illsutratued using colorful cut paper collages.  This is the first book that I am aware of reading that has been in this style, and it makes it even more fun to go back and see how seamlessly Jenkins was able to make each animal look!  Each page is relaveltiy simple, with only the endangered animal being featured on the page, though that is understandable when you consider how much time it must have taken for Jenkins to recreate each animal through cutting and laying paper. 

Stephanie Zvirin notes Jenkins artistic skills in her review on Booklist Online by stating "Jenkins' artwwork is fascinating.  His papers, apprarently handpainted, are carefully matched to catch suble variations of an animal's skin or a snese of shagginess of its coat."  It is easy to see why Jenkins is a Caldecott Award winner.  If you enjoyed this book or Jenkins' art style, I recommend reading any other of Jenkins' stage two books, such as Wiggling Worms at Work, or Honey in a Hive.  If this book sparked curiosity for any readeres, I recommend having them reserach any of the aminals in this book, and have them create a short presenation about the facts they leraned.  The animls do not have to be limited to this book, encourage them to learn about other endangered animals and the negative effects extinction has on the ecosystem!

Awards:

• While I could not fine any awards specifally for Almost Gone, Steve Jenkins, the author and illustrator, is a Caldecott Award Winner

Citations

Almost gone: The scholastic teacher store. Scholastic. (n.d.). https://shop.scholastic.com/teachers-ecommerce/teacher/books/almost-gone-9780439860574.html

Almost gone: The world’s rarest animals, by Steve Jenkins: Booklist online. Booklist Online. (n.d.). https://www.booklistonline.com/Almost-Gone-The-World-s-Rarest-Animals-Steve-Jenkins/pid=1512956

Jenkins, S. (2006). Almost gone: The World’s rarest animals. HarperCollins Publishers.