Why Are Animals Purple?

Why Are Animals Purple?

by Melis­sa Stewart

Enslow, 2009

for Grades 1–3

ISBN 978–0‑76603–254‑5

Pur­chase this book at your local inde­pen­dent book­seller or Amazon.com.

Ani­mals come in all col­ors of the rainbow—and with good rea­son, too. Being pur­ple helps pur­ple herons and crowned wood nymphs, pur­ple emper­or but­ter­flies and crab spi­ders sur­vive in their habi­tats. This book clear­ly explains the sci­ence behind ani­mal col­oration with easy-to-read text and stun­ning full-col­or pho­tographs that are sure to delight and edu­cate young readers.

Honors and Awards

  • Nation­al Sci­ence Teach­ers Asso­ci­a­tion Rec­om­mend­ed Title

Reviews

“… vibrant col­ors and fun facts take read­ers through the world and explain how col­or helps crea­tures sur­vive. They are intro­duced to a vari­ety of ani­mals, from finned to feath­ered. [Then] read­ers are intro­duced to two new ani­mals and get to see if they can fig­ure out how the ani­mals’ col­or helps them sur­vive in their envi­ron­ments. [W]orld maps show where each ani­mal lives … and would make a nice start­ing point to dis­cuss affects of envi­ron­men­tal changes and how they might affect the ani­mals. Each vol­ume pro­vides a beau­ti­ful intro­duc­tion to ani­mal adap­ta­tions … High-inter­est con­tent, bright col­or, and con­trolled vocab­u­lary will draw read­ers in.” (NSTA)

“The world is a rain­bow of ani­mals, and these books set out to explain why … This unusu­al, appeal­ing series is easy to read and will be a sol­id selec­tion for reluc­tant read­ers.” (School Library Jour­nal)

Behind the Book

“Before research­ing and writ­ing this group of books, I enjoyed the vast vari­ety of ani­mal col­ors, but I nev­er real­ly thought about their impor­tance as adap­ta­tions for sur­vival. An ani­mal’s col­or can help it blend with its sur­round­ings, warn preda­tors to stay away, or let a mate know its where­abouts. Col­or makes the nat­ur­al world more beau­ti­ful to us and they send oth­er crea­tures all kinds of impor­tant messages.”

Series at a Glance

You’ll also enjoy …

A Rain­bow of Animals

Why Are Animals Purple?

by Melis­sa Stewart

Enslow, 2009

for Grades 1–3

ISBN 978–0‑76603–254‑5

Pur­chase this book at your local inde­pen­dent book­seller or Amazon.com.

Book Extensions