The (Not) Bad Animals Book Review

Learn all about those animals that were given a bad name in The (Not) Bad Animals – a perfect book for kids and adults alike.

About The (Not) Bad Animals

We all have a certain creature that makes our skin scrawl and give us the ‘heebie jeebies’. Spiders that make us scream, mice that make us jump on top of furniture until the coast is clear, or bats that make us shudder at the thought of them flapping around our hair. There are creatures big and small all over the world that make us squirm and wriggle in our seats just at the mere thought of them.

But what did these animals ever do to deserve such a bad reputation? Most of the time it’s humans that have labelled them ugly, dangerous and downright gross. But it’s one false acquisition too many for these little guys. They’ve had enough of being called scary, slimy, nasty and ewwy. They’re here to dispel these false acquisitions and set the record straight once and for all!

With laugh-out-loud illustrations from the immensely talented Sophie Corrigan, uncover the truth behind the animal and learn all about how each creature plays an important role in our world. With bitesize text that will leave you giggling and a fact box about each misrepresented creature, this is the perfect introduction to over 30 critters big and small who really aren’t all that bad at all!

Our Thoughts

This book contains many of the creatures that make my skin crawl – from spiders and ants, to mice and slugs and centipedes! The book examines common misconceptions of those animals that have gained an undeserved bad reputation and why they are really good.

There were quite a few animals that I expected to see on their list but quite a few I didn’t think of like pigeons, pigs and snapping turtles. I loved the tone of this book – it is written as though the animals were telling the story (which is super cute). They tell their tale, the common misconceptions about them and tell you why you shouldn’t believe those rumours.

Each animal has four pages devoted to it – the first two explore the common misconceptions people have about them and the second two pages give the animal viewpoint about why none of that is true. I was actually surprised at how many of the misconceptions I had heard before but maybe did not pay too much attention to or assumed it was true. I was even more surprised as we turned the page to see the truth. One that I was not aware of was that hyenas actually catch 50% of their own meals! I had no idea, I thought they only scavenged for their food.

The illustrations are spot on, I loved how the first two pages show the animals how we picture them (creepy, mean, and scary) and in the next two the animals are kind, sweet and show a truer representation of them. I could almost feel bad for the mouse (okay I did, they made them look so cute!).

The (Not) Bad Animals is a fun book to read with your child as you work through some common misconceptions and maybe talk about your own fears with your child. The book is a bit longer so we would read about a few animals at a time and then talked about how we felt about those animals and our own fears.

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon.

About the Author

Sophie Corrigan is a full-time freelance illustrator based in the UK. She graduated from University of Central Lancashire in 2013 with a first class degree in Illustration, and has recently completed a Masters degree in Children’s Book Illustration, for which she received a Distinction.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.