Hidden Planet: Secrets of the Animal Kingdom

by Ben Rothery

Overview

A Kirkus Star

This 96-page large-trim-size book features gorgeous pictures by an illustrator for London's Natural History Museum to explore the hidden interactions and survival strategies of our planet's animals.

The creatures in this book are hidden in various ways. Some survive by means of symbiotic relationships with other creatures, like the clownfish living among an anemone’s poisonous tentacles. Some are closely related to seemingly unconnected animals, like the elephant and the manatee. Some use hidden abilities to do amazing things. Some change color. Some change sex. Some disguise themselves. Some secrete themselves but remain nearby. The stunning illustrations in this large-format book reveal nature’s magnificence, which often hides in plain sight.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780884488750
Publisher:	Tilbury House Publishers
Publication date:	03/02/2021
Series:	Rothery's Animal Planet Series
Pages:	96
Sales rank:	1,024,897
Product dimensions:	10.70(w) x 14.70(h) x 0.70(d)
Lexile:	1230L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Ben Rothery is a detail-obsessed illustrator from Norwich, England, via Cape Town. He combines multiple processes to create intricate and delicate illustrations and repeating patterns, full of fine detail and vibrant color. Much of Ben’s work is inspired or informed by his love of nature—he grew up wanting variously to be a shark, a dinosaur or David Attenborough crossed with Indiana Jones, but settled on illustration as a way to bring those fantasies to life on paper. Ben works from a small studio in London, which he shares with an unnecessarily large collection of very sharp pencils.

Interviews

“These are my love letters to Planet Earth, celebrations of her amazing creatures—those that are breathtakingly beautiful and those that are homely, bizarre, or rarely seen at all. I’m not content to produce a technically accurate picture of an animal; I hope to animate my illustrations, to suggest what’s happening beneath the fur and feathers.” — Ben Rothery

Editorial Reviews

"If there’s an animal enthusiast on your holiday list, have a look at Ben Rothery’s books about the natural world. These are beautiful works of nonfiction, large in size—always nice in a gift—and rich with illustrations that are so finely executed that you may mistake them for photographs. In “Hidden Planet,” “Ocean Planet” and “Sensational Butterflies,” Mr. Rothery writes as engagingly as he draws. “Who would think, to look at them, that the elephant’s closest relatives are the manatee, the dugong, and the rock hyrax?” he asks. “Or that seals, sea lions and walruses are not related to whales, dolphins or manatees, but rather to bears and weasels?” Children ages 7-13 (and their parents) won’t merely enjoy themselves with these books; they’ll also learn something."

Holiday Gift Books Review 2021-Children's Books - Wall Street Journal - Meghan Cox Gurdon

"Exploring hidden aspects of the animal kingdom, this oversized picture book brims with photo-realistic illustrations and descriptions of some of Earth’s most interesting creatures and their unique abilities. Most useful for fostering a budding interest in animals with older children, the book examines hidden elements of nature in both a literal sense—such as the camouflage of the chameleon—and the figurative, like the process of convergent evolution. Younger children will enjoy the illustrations, which bring them face-to-face with everything from toads to lions."

Hidden Planet - Forward Reviews - Danielle Ballantyne

★ 2021-02-09
A detail-obsessed illustrator’s “love letter” to Earth’s wild fauna.

Though the art’s the thing in this outsized album, Rothery supplies relatively copious descriptive and behavioral notes about dozens of meticulously depicted creatures (nearly all, from mosquito to elephant, land dwellers) plus a gallery of feathers and a complex schematic view of an African savanna food web. He also organizes many of his portraits thematically to highlight “hidden” features or relationships, such as camouflage strategies or examples of convergent evolution. Still, rather than straining to be systematic he is plainly following his own interests in choosing subjects—and his instincts are sure ones, as nearly every page turn brings images into view that are at the least always technically accomplished…and very often riveting. These latter include a tiny hermit crab cozily tucked not into a shell but a plastic squeeze-bottle cap, a probably life-size (!) Komodo dragon head, and a tightly bunched herd of zebras filling a full spread to demonstrate how their stripes create a predator-confusing “motion dazzle.” In an aptly named companion volume the artist presents arrays of Sensational Butterflies in, often, larger-than-life glory, with close-ups of significant body parts, range maps and life-cycle charts, and chapters on both moths and the strange, in-between Hedylidae family, also known as “moth-butterflies." Measurements in both of these British imports are metric; a guide to conversions can be found on the copyright page.

Lovers of animals and of animal art alike will pore over both this showcase and its companion. (index) (Nonfiction. 8-13)

Kirkus Reviews