Description
Do you know?
- The North American porcupine possesses approximately 30,000 quills.
- Porcupine quill tips are made of little hooks that make removing them difficult.
- Porcupines do not throw their quills.
- Thanks to their quills, porcupines can float on water.
Find out all sorts of interesting things about porcupines and enjoy a chuckle along the way.
Contributor Notes
Alain Bergeron
is a Quebec writer born September 24, 1957. Before becoming a full-time youth author in the fall or 2005, he was a reporter for twenty years in Victoriaville. The least we can say is that it is a very prolific writer, with over 130 books! He writes for various youth age groups, and publishes between 15 and 20 titles a year.
Michel Quintin
Michel is a veterinarian, publisher, author and wildlife photographer. He is originally from Montreal but has lived in Quebec's Eastern Townships for over twenty years.
Wildlife, ecology and the environment are his favorite subjects. He has a kitten, a litter of raccoons, a fawn, baby jaguars, dogs, pet cats, and other orphan or sick animals. Aside from his pets and the fact that he still practices veterinary medicine, Michel Quintin is now content to observe deer, foxes, wild turkeys and other animals that come to the window of his house the country. Nature, as you may have guessed, is his greatest source of inspiration.
Samuel Parent,
Pen name Sampar, was born in 1973 in Victoriaville Quebec. He is a self-taught illustrator and cartoonist. He made his mark in recent years in the publishing world by being a winner of the New York Times top 10 illustrators of the year for 2014 and by being a finalist for the Governor General of Canada 2004 (Youth illustration). He has also been a Mr. Christie's Book Award 2002 finalist Awards, a favourite books Youth Communication-Jeunesse finalist, and a Hackmatack Award finalist in 2003 and 2004.
Sampar's illustrations fascinate and capture the imagination of young and old alike. He is the father of three children and admits: "My dream is to make sure that my children can have something from me when they are old enough to be interested in reading."
Recommended Age, Grade, and Reading Levels
- Age:
- 7 to 11
- Grade:
- 2 to 6
Editorial Review
"All of the informational excerpts are well accompanied with comical illustrations. Informative words that are related to porcupines, words such as nocturnal, rodents, and predators, etc. are in bolded text throughout the book and are defined in the glossary. Other specific porcupine information can be found in the book's index.The graphic novel element really sets the "Do You Know?" series apart from other animal fact books. Children will be attracted to the colourful illustrations and hilarious dialogue between the comical characters."
Highly Recommended. ***1/2 out of 4
— Canadian Materials Magazine
