Really Weird Animals. Tammy Everts and Bobbie Kalman. Niagra-on-the-Lake, ON: Crabtree Publishing Co., 1995. 32pp. Paper, $7.95 / library bound, $20.95 ISBN 0-86505-627-7 (library), 0-86505-727-3 (paper) Grades 1 - 5 / Ages 6 - 10. Review by Harriet Zaidman.

excerpt:

The hagfish has no bones! Its muscular body has only a long piece of tough, bending tissue called gristle, which acts as its spine.

The hagfish is sometimes called a ``slime eel" or ``slime hag" because of the thick layer of slime, or mucus, that coats its skin. Glands down the sides of its body constantly produce mucus, making the hagfish so slippery that it can crawl inside its prey. When the single nostril of the hagfish becomes clogged with slime, it simply sneezes to clear its nose.

Really Weird Animals is another of the Crabapples series created by Bobbie Kalman. It contains glossy two-page spreads including text and large photographs, and some smaller drawings of unusual-looking animals, including the armadillo, the hagfish, the capybara, the zorilla, and the wombat.