Masters of Disguise takes animal adaptation to a new level. By introducing readers to the scientists (and the science) behind each of the stories, I can imagine children putting themselves in the scientist’s shoes, making an observation and following it up with documentation, video or audio recording to test if their inkling of why an animal does what it does was in reality the reason. The fascinating thing about each of these stories is that the scientists even found the creatures at all. Some of them blend in so well with their surroundings that discovery itself seems improbable. Akin to the movie Jerry Maguire’s “You had me at hello,” Rebecca L. Johnson “had me at coat of many ant corpses”. Joseph’s technicolor dream color coat couldn’t possibly compare to the assassin bug’s ant corpse coat. Talk about a hook for a reader!!
Want to see what an Assassin Bug looks like wearing a “backpack of ant corpses?” Check out the books, websites, and videos included in the back of the book, like this one:
I love that scientists working on multiple continents are included and that both female and male scientists are involved in the projects represented on the pages of “Masters of Disguise.”
Here is another video included in the backmatter, this one with Phil Torres explaining his research of the puppet building spider.
This book is well researched with source notes, photo acknowledgements, and a selected bibliography.
Title: Masters of Disguise: Amazing Animal Tricksters
Author: Rebecca L. Johnson
Published 2016 by Millbrook Press
ISBN: 978-1-5124-0087-8
This book was borrowed from the public library for purpose of review.
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