Monday, September 21, 2020

Actual Size by Steve Jenkins


    Actual Size by award winning author/illustrator Steve Jenkins, is a nonfiction picture book great for grades kindergarten through 4th grade. It showcases lifesize collage illustrations of animals or animal parts. The large scale format of the book allows for a good portion of the creature depicted to be present on the page. 

(Jenkins, 2004, p. 1-2)

    Children will enjoy laying their hands on the pages or holding them up to their heads to compare how their body measures up to the images in the book. 


(Jenkins, 2004, p. 15-16)

    Expository text accompanies each image to offer the name of the creature, set in bold, along with a sentence or two of basic facts about the creature. Below this in smaller font size is a measurement or two of information to get an idea about the size of the creature.


(Jenkins, 2004, p. 25-26)

    For example, seen on pages 25-26 is an African elephant foot which includes the height and weight of the animal (in United States customary units of measurement only.) I did find it odd that the text doesn't include the measurements in metric units since the rest of the world uses that form of measurement. Children from other countries outside of the United States may have a harder time for reference purposes without those units being included. 

    While the brief text allows a nice flow for younger children, not overly bombarding them with information and allowing them to simply learn the name of a creature, concentrating on the size factor, older children may find themselves wanting a little more information.

    I read this book aloud with my own children (grade kindergarten, 3rd, & 4th,) and the older children found themselves asking when they came across lesser known creatures, "Where is this creature from?" Together we found ourselves talking about wanting more information on creatures such as the atlas moth, goliath birdeater tarantula, goliath frog, and giant walking stick--all of which were new to us.

    Because of this we were feeling a little disappointed to not have that information handy. I kept thinking as we read on that we would have to find some more books to find out where these creatures lived in the world. Happily, however, we discovered the end pages of the text included a paragraph on each creature in the book. This additional information included where the creatures lived as well as a bit of additional facts. My children were very interested to find out the goliath birdeater tarantula makes hissing sounds and uses its hair as a defense sometimes!

(Jenkins, 2004, p. 27-28)

    Overall, this was a really fun book that sparked conversation about size in relations to other objects. For example, my children talked about the goliath frog and how it was bigger than their pet cats! They also really enjoyed looking at the gorilla hand to see how similar it was to their own hand; noticing the nails, the shapes of the fingers, and that the bending points of the fingers were like theirs.


(Jenkins, 2004, p. 19-20)

    I think this book works very well in a close reading environment and can see it working well in a classroom read aloud, too. I do think if used in the classroom, time should be set aside for children to approach the book so they can compare their own hands to the images. Having a table set out with familiar objects as well where they can compare the images to these objects would help give them a sense of relational size.

    Actual Size would be great to pair in a classroom setting with a measurement unit, lesson on different types of animals, or learning interesting features of animals. Incorporating oversized paper for children to trace each other against would give them a good visual to look at of their own size. They could then use rulers and yardsticks to record their measurements on the paper, measure some of the objects in the book, and draw out the lengths of those against their own bodies for comparison. This activity could also be done with sidewalk chalk on the playground as an outside activity.

Non-fiction read-alikes with life size images:
  • Just One Bite : 11 Animals and Their Bites at Life Size by Lola Schaefer: Shows life size illustrations of animals and the size of their bites when they eat. (K+)
  • More Life-Size Zoo by Teruyuki Komiya: Life size photographs of various animals at zoos around the world are shown with information in the side borders that includes facts as well as questions for young readers. Beginning and end page information showcases all the animals with their length, height, and/or weight as well as their habitat information. (K+)
  • Lifesize Ocean : See Ocean Creatures at Their Actual Size by Anita Ganeri & Stuart Jackson-Carter: Different ocean creatures are shown in full color photographs at life size in their underwater environment along with their name and a brief fact filled paragraph about the creature. (2nd grade+)
  • Wild Tracks! : A Guide to Nature's Footprints by Jim Arnosky: Focusing on life size animal footprints, a variety of animals impressions left in the ground are shown alongside a lifelike illustration of the animal as well as information about how they walk, their feet, and other facts. (3rd grade+)
  • Forest Explorer : A Life-Size Field Guide by Nic Bishop: Life size photographic scenes in various forest areas of the world are shown to see comparisons of the animals, insects, and plants in their environment to scale. Accompanying pages include detailed information about the creatures included and how they may interact with each other in the environment. (3rd grade+)

Non-fiction read-alikes about measurement:
  • Wacky Comparisons : Wacky Ways to Compare Size by Mark Weakland & Jessica Gunderson: Silly illustrations accompany animals as familiar objects are used to measure something about their height, weight, or length. Expository text gives an actual measurement as well in 2 types of units. (K+)
  • How Long or How Wide? : A Measuring Guide by Brian P. Cleary: Told in a rhyming poem, this book goes over types of measurement and how they compare. Great for a quick read aloud introduction to measurement. (1st grade+)
  • Millions to Measure by David M. Schwartz: Told with a fantastical twist, a magician takes children on a journey to learn the history of mankind measuring objects. Discusses different types of measurement and includes pages with a life size ruler and meter stick. (2nd grade+)
  • How Tall, How Short, How Faraway? by David A. Adler: Gets readers thinking about different things that might be nice to measure or know and then dives into the history of how ancient Egyptians and Romans measured. Suggestions for thinking about what units are best for measuring what are mentioned as well as learning activities to try. (2nd grade+)

Fiction read-alikes:
  • Big Bug by Henry Cole: This picture book includes very simple words showing two objects in comparison of big and little. As the pages progress, the small item becomes the big or vice versa to show how perspective changes how you perceive big and small. (K+)
  • You Are Not Small by Anna Kang: Humorous picture book showing how size is relative to the moment when measuring in comparison. (K+)
  • Ernest, the Moose Who Doesn't Fit by Catherine Rayner: A chipmunk and a moose try to figure out how to fit the moose into the confines of the book pages. Children will enjoy the fun fold out at the end! (K+)
  • Who Am I? : An Animal Guessing Game by Steve Jenkins & Robin Page: Various creature parts are shown on full spread pages, asking the viewer to guess what animal they belong to. Accompanying pages reveal the animal. (K+)

More animal books by Steve Jenkins:
  • Biggest, Strongest, Fastest by Steve Jenkins: This text showcases as the title suggests the world winner of the category of different quantities or measurements in the animal kingdom. Simple statements are accompanied by short excerpts of information on the creature. (K+)
  • What Do You Do When Something Wants to Eat You? by Steve Jenkins: Animals are shown being targeted by their natural predator accompanied by their life-saving, unique techniques they have to save themselves. (1st grade+)
  • Look Again : Secrets of Animal Camouflage by Steve Jenkins: Informational nonfiction book that includes examples of animals that use camouflage. Animals are shown against where they blend in and then without a background so viewers can get a better glimpse. (2nd grade+)
  • Animals by the Numbers : A Book of Infographics by Steve Jenkins: Children interested in numbers on a large scale will love looking through this book as an informative text. Charts, computer graphics, and Jenkins's collage illustrations combine to show off information about creatures around the world. (3rd grade+)
  • Deadliest! : 20 Dangerous Animals by Steve Jenkins: This book showcase the deadliest animals in the world of their kind (predators, venoms, poisonous spines/skins, etc). Small boxes highlight on maps where the creatures live in the world, show sizes, and give tidbits of facts. (3rd grade+)
  • Living Color by Steve Jenkins: Separated by color, the author highlights creatures of each kind and how that creature uses its coloring to blend in, attract others, scare away, or warn other creatures. (3rd grade+)

    Teachers or educators may enjoy browsing the list of activities on author Brian P. Cleary's website which has some free measurement sheet print outs and ruler bookmarks as well as some printable animal posters and coloring sheets. Teachers Pay Teachers has a measurement activity available as a $3 USD download, recommended for 2nd - 4th graders. A pdf available by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children's Book Publishers, includes activities to go along with various Steve Jenkins books. A digital ruler using centimeters and inches can be accessed online for students without one handy. The following websites could be used to explore more information about animals or learning about measurement:
    Actual Size is a 2005 NCTE Orbis Pictus Award Honor book, was included on the New York Magazine's The Best Books for 6-Year-Olds, According to Librarians list by Liza Corsillo (2019), and was a Booklist Editor's Choice book of 2004. Reviews for the book can be found at Kirkus Reviews and Publisher's Weekly.

References


Jenkins, S. (2004). Actual size. Houghton Mifflin.
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