Published by Big Picture Press

Summary:  From the mayfly (5 minutes to 24 hours) and the honeybee (5 to 7 weeks) to the glass sponge (11,000 years) and the immortal jellyfish (in some sense, forever), this book takes a look at the lifespans of a wide variety of animals.  Each two-page spread shows the animal in its habitat with several paragraphs of information about the it over the course of its lifespan.  The introduction raises interesting questions about lifespans, and the final two pages show all the animals with a list of where to find them in the book.  64 pages; grades 1-5.

Pros:  This engaging book will intrigue all kinds of animal lovers.  I found the animals with the shortest and longest lifespans to be the most fascinating, but all of them had some pretty interesting information.

Cons:  One of my favorite books to read to kids is Steve Jenkins’s Biggest, Strongest, Fastest, which states that the animal that lives the longest is the Galapagos tortoise, with a lifespan of 150 years.  This book listed animals that live even longer.