Exploring Mentor Texts: WHAT IF YOU HAD ANIMAL EYES!?

Picture Book: WHAT IF YOU HAD ANIMAL EYES!?
Author: Sandra Markle
​Illustrator: Howard McWilliam

Part of Markle's "What If You Had..." series with Scholastic, the cover of this wonderful non-fiction picture book alone, grabs your attention and makes you want to dive in to find out more!

Things I love about this book:

• The in-your-face layout is bright, colorful, and amazing! On the left page of each spread you have a real life photo of an animal and on the right, a caricature-like illustration of a child with the animal's eyes.
• With an average of 70 or so words on each page, the facts are presented in very kid-friendly, engaging language.
• The bottom of each animal page also contains an interesting one-sentence factoid.
• The only thing that appears (besides the amazing full-page illustration) on the kid page is a circle in the bottom right corner with an example of something you could see (or do) if you had that animal's eyes. All of them are related to things in which kids have an interest: shopping at a toy store, seeing in a haunted house, winning at laser tag, etc.
• The final few spread are all about how, yes, it would be cool to have those different eyes, but human eyes are just right and special in their own way!

Some of my favorite lines:

• "A golden eagle's eyes have a third eyelid that sweeps across the eyes like windshield wipers, keeping them clean."
• "When there is danger, its special eyes also help it spot escape routes!" (Yellow Mongoose)
• "A tarsier's eyes are a huge part of its little body."
• "Each eye is as big as a soccer ball!" (Colossal Squid)

What a great book for teachers whose curriculum includes animal adaptations! Running to the library to check out others in the series. Have you or your students read these? I'd love to hear your thoughts!