Best Foot Forward: Exploring Feet, Flippers, and Claws

In a book first published in Germany in 2007, author/photographer Arndt creates an engrossing guessing game that presents photographs of animal feet against black backgrounds. Readers are challenged to identify each animal (“Whose foot is this?”), with the answer revealed on the following page, along with information about how that animal uses its feet to travel, grip, climb, swim, dig, and more. Four other animal feet appear in smaller images with captions: “This is the back foot of the Australian freshwater crocodile. The webbing helps the crocodile climb up slippery, muddy riverbanks.” Arndt rounds out this fun exploration of animal diversity with a final, more familiar-looking foot—Arndt’s own. Ages 5–8. (Sept.)