Review: Orangutans are Ticklish

Orangutans are Ticklish: Fun Facts from an Animal Photographer
By Jill Davis, photography by Steve Grubman
Published 2010 by Schwartz & Wade

I promise you that non-fiction picture books are not the only things I read! They are just very easy to finish in 15 minutes during slow times at the elementary school. But soon, I will have lots of time on my hands and I can get back to reading many different children's books! So, back to this one, the photos are very lovely and the book is filled with interesting facts but I think it's a little deceptive. The photographer is clearly not the one providing all the factoids about the animals - in fact, it's pretty clear that he only has one little tidbit on each page about how he photographed them. I think this book could have been really fun if Grubman had provided more details about working with and photographing the animals and then saving the science-y facts for the back part of the book. I don't know if maybe they thought information like that wouldn't appeal to kids, but I have a feeling it would. Lots of kids love animals and think they want to work with them when they grow up, so providing some first-hand knowledge of actual experiences working with animals would be great for them. Additionally, this book lacks a list of sources and doesn't really explain where the "fun facts" come from. The photos are great, but I expected this to be better.