Supersquads!: Animal Heroes

There’s strength in numbers out there in the wild! In a lively comics-style format, the creators of Supermoms! and Superdads! deliver a funny, fascinating look at some ingenious ways that animal squads survive.

Did you know that when honeybees find a food source, they do a dance to convey the direction, distance, and yumminess level to their hive mates? Or that chickadees add extra ＂dees＂ to their calls to warn their flock of danger? Or that a meerkat standing like a sentry may well be guarding its mob while they eat? Sometimes the key is divvying up tasks, like when beavers build a dam, or it’s combining differences--like when a sea anemone protects a hermit crab with its stinging tentacles, then gets a ride and some tasty tidbits from the crab. Or it’s power in numbers, as when hundreds of thousands of starlings fly in a murmuration, foiling predators trying to lock in on a target. With fun, fact-filled panels, Heather Lang and Jamie Harper delve into the ways animals band together to stay safe and thrive, from orcas to ostriches, spiny lobsters to snow monkeys, leaf cutter ants to zebras and more. Aspiring naturalists can find out more about the animals in the back matter, along with an array of resources for continuing to explore.

Heather Lang is the coauthor of the Animal Heroes series, the first of which, Supermoms!, was a Bank Street College Best Children’s Book of the Year. She is also the author of The Leaf Detective: How Margaret Lowman Uncovered Secrets in the Rainforest, illustrated by Jana Christy, and Swimming with Sharks: The Daring Discoveries of Eugenie Clark, illustrated by Jordi Solano. She lives in Massachusetts.

Jamie Harper is the coauthor and illustrator of the Animal Heroes series, the first of which, Supermoms!, was a Bank Street College Best Children’s Book of the Year. She is also the author-illustrator of four books about the feisty flamingo teacher Miss Mingo as well as the Baby Bundt board books and the picture books Miles to Go and Miles to the Finish. She lives outside Boston.