I’ve been working through my stash of 2018 nonfiction books and discovered I had a set of animal books. So many great titles!

Bugs Don’t Hug: Six-Legged Parents and Their Kids by Heather Montgomery, illustrated by Stephen Stone (Charlesbridge: 2018). This book about parenting practices of insects has fantastic page turns! On one page we see what human parents do, and on the following page, we see an analogous action that bus take. The illustrations are funny and cartoonish, and there are fascinating short text blocks explaining insect behavior.

The Honeybee by Kirsten Hall, illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault (Atheneum: 2018). The rhyming text is fun to read aloud, but the standout of this book is the stunning illustration.

Lovely Beasts: The Surprising Truth by Kate Gardner, illustrated by Heidi Smith (Balzer + Bray: 2018). I love the idea behind this book–taking a common belief about an animal and then turning it on its head. We see a gorilla next to the word “Fierce” but then turn the page to see a gorilla as a tender parent.

Saving Fiona: The Story of the World’s Most Famous Hippo by Thane Maynard  (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: 2018) looks like a picture book but is really more of a middle grade read. Its dense text, written, by the director of the Cincinnati Zoo, and wonderful photographs tell the inspiring story of the birth of a baby hippo and how it survived a dicey beginning when it came prematurely.