Ben Rothery's Deadly and Dangerous Animals

"The illustrations in this book are not only anatomically accurate but so delicate and detailed that they are honestly difficult to distinguish from photographs. Ben Rothery has written and illustrated several other beautiful books about animals (covering creatures on land, in the sea and in the air), but if you are looking for a science book with almost guaranteed appeal to a 9-12 year old, you are unlikely to go wrong with this topic. The book (54 pages) is organised into sections such as teamwork, speed, stealth and mimicry, and makes readers think analytically about what makes something deadly and dangerous. Not all the deadliest animals are obvious hunters such as the leopard on the cover. For example, the poison of a golden frog can kill several adult humans, an adult dragonfly catches up to 95% of the prey it chases, and the Sargassum fish can swallow creatures larger than itself. This book was shortlisted for the Royal Society Young People’s Book Prize 2023 ."

"This is a great book. The picture of the tiger! I think any child would pick this book out of the shelf. Yes, they’re fantastic. He drew them all himself. It’s an amazing production, and very good information. It’s got the right anatomy, it’s got the Latin names, and it’s a really interesting way to present it. The idea that these animals are deadly is quite exciting and scary for children, isn’t it? And then you look in the book and you find they’re not all big tigers, some of them are little toads. That’s a good point. It makes you think about how to be deadly in a more analytical way. You might be an ant, but if you’re the fastest to strike then you’re going to get your prey. It has shades of Steve Backshall-type adventure and natural history television programmes about it, of going out there and exploring, but having it in a book. And it’s got really stunning illustrations. I would say this book is aimed at children age five and up."