I think my favorite thing about this is that even as an adult, I learned something I didn’t know before! 

We are taken pretty much all over the globe, from North America to Europe, even to Antartica. 
We meet all kinds of animals whose noses have excellent sENSe (get it??). 

I think my favorite that I learned about was probably a Coati and also a Bilby. Prior to this, I didn’t know they even existed. 

The illustrations were perfectly executed and I loved how it explained everything so well.

A fun book for kids to learn about cute animals. Animals they may not read about everyday. It’s a great nonfiction book with brilliant illustrations. It’s not often you read a nonfiction book with illustrations rather than pictures. I think this will appeal to a new reader.

As always, animal books are a solid choice. Featuring the amazing ways animals use their bodies allows a kid to learn small amounts about a wide range of critters. We learn here not just about smells but other ways that noses can sense things. Specific but interesting.

‘Genius Noses: A Curious Animal Compendium’ by Lena Anlauf with illustrations by Vitali Konstantinov is a non-fiction picture book about animals with unusual noses.

This book explores the unique noses and smelling abilities of animals like the pig, the musk weevil and the saiga antelope among many others.  Some of the animals can smell underwater or use their nose as a snorkel.  There are many noses for many different habitats.

This was an interesting book and had quite a few unusual animals.  The facts are great as are the illustrations.

Book Review: Genius Noses: A Curious Animal Compendium by by Lena Anlauf (Author), Vitali Konstantinov (Illustrator)

⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of 5 stars

“Genius Noses: A Curious Animal Compendium” by Lena Anlauf and Vitali Konstantinov is an enchanting illustrated collection that explores the intriguing realm of animal noses and their remarkable functions. In this early STEM book, children are taken on an educational adventure around the world, discovering the diverse noses of various animals and unraveling the secrets they hold.

The book captivates readers with its stunning cover, which is a delightful foreshadowing of the visual feast that awaits within its pages. The soft pencil-like illustrations by Vitali Konstantinov bring each animal to life, showcasing their distinctive features with great attention to detail and a touch of whimsy. Coupled with Lena Anlauf’s engaging storytelling, this book creates a perfect blend of art and knowledge.

The authors take us on a global journey, introducing us to a wide range of animals, from the humble musk weevil to the majestic elephant, the adorable pig, and the unique saiga antelope. Each animal is accompanied by fascinating facts and stories about their noses, shedding light on their habits and habitats. Readers will be thrilled to learn about the extraordinary abilities of these creatures and the diverse functions their noses serve in their lives.

One of the highlights of “Genius Noses” is the way it encourages readers to think beyond conventional ideas about noses. The book challenges us to ponder questions such as which animal can smell underwater or use its nose as a snorkel. Through these intriguing inquiries, children are encouraged to think critically and expand their understanding of the natural world.

While “Genius Noses” is an enthralling read, there is one minor drawback that should be mentioned. The text, albeit informative and well-written, is somewhat small in size. This can make reading a little challenging, especially for younger readers or those with visual impairments. However, this minor flaw does not overshadow the overall appeal of the book.

In conclusion, “Genius Noses: A Curious Animal Compendium” is an outstanding addition to any child’s library. Its adorable cover and captivating illustrations will instantly catch the attention of young readers. The well-organized layout and interesting facts make it an educational resource that seamlessly blends entertainment with knowledge. This book would be a fantastic gift for any young animal lover or nature enthusiast, sparking curiosity, and inspiring a deeper appreciation for the wonders of the animal kingdom.

Disclaimer: This book review reflects the personal opinion of the reviewer and is based on subjective experiences with the book.

**ARC Via NetGalley**

I had some extra time one evening so I started reading Genius Noses to my younger children. I soon realized it was much longer than I had thought it was, so we read several pages and then stopped for the night, but over the next couple of school days, we finished reading it for our Science time. What a fun book! Everyone, from my 13-year-old son down to the 3-year-old, loved it. My youngest asked me this morning when we would finish reading the noses book!
Many different animals are highlighted in this picture book. Each animal has a unique nose in some way. We were fascinated by the variety of noses. Some noses are used for snorkels, some are shovels, some are hands or fingers. A lot of the animals have a full two-page spread, although there are several pages that have an assortment of animals together. All the pictures are beautiful! They are full-color paintings, and the text is very interesting.
What types of animals have made it into the pages of this book? There are the obvious ones, like the elephant with its trunk or the anteater with its long snout. We also enjoyed learning about some lesser-known animals like the elephant seal and flying foxes. I had never heard of the desman before, but it is a fascinating little creature that lives in Russia. And what about the stink badger? Or the leaf-nosed snake and the Pinocchio chameleon from Madagascar? It was amusing to see the proboscis monkey on one page and the snub-nosed monkey on the next!
Genius Noses is a great book for animal lovers. Any child who likes to learn about nature will love studying the pictures in this book. Actually, all ages will like this one; I had the ebook open while I was working on this review and adult members of the family stopped by my desk to have a look and exclaimed at the beautiful pictures and clever theme! (One more interesting fact about this book: it was translated from German!)
I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley, and these are my honest thoughts about it.
WARNING: No warnings!

A sweet book with funny illustrations about animal's noses. It's one of those books that answers to curious questions and i had fun.
I think it will be appreciated by children
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

In a Nutshell: A good compilation of facts connected to animals with “genius noses.” Liked the content, not so much the presentation.

As the title clearly indicates, this is a book about animal noses. And not the ordinary ones but the whimsical ones that have rightly been tagged as ‘genius’ in the name. While such books are usually my cup of tea, this book was a bit of a mixed bag.

The content is outstanding, no doubt about that. The animals range from the popular ‘elephant’ to the I-knew-a-little-about-this-fellow ‘star-nosed mole’ to the I-never-knew-such-an-animal-existed ‘desman’. The range of animals was a treat!

Most pages focus on a single animal, with the left hand side having a large illustration along with the animals’ common name and zoological name, and the right-hand-side having some smaller illustrations and multiple text boxes replete with informative tidbits that blow your mind at times. Instead of being merely educational, the trivia also includes some fun facts about the animals or their habitats or other such related information. 

There is a glossary at the end explaining the biological and zoological terms. I loved the inclusion of binomial nomenclature in this list. As the scientific names of the animals are mentioned in the main content, it is nice for kids to understand how the naming process actually works. (Then again, just a few days ago, a newly-discovered snake species was named after Harrison Ford, who already has an ant and a spider species sharing his name. So I too am not sure if there is a scientific logic to zoological names! 😂)

Here’s where the book could have worked better for me:
-	There is too much text on the page. Younger kids might be overwhelmed with the cluttered information. 
-	The font style and its tiny size didn’t help matters. I also couldn’t figure out why the text was green in colour – leaf green is so difficult to read, all the more when placed against light green or yellow or orange backgrounds!
-	I prefer actual photos of the animals to illustrations alone in books containing factual details. No matter how well the sketches are created, they still don’t match the impact of photos, and for content where the focus is primarily on physical features, photos would have functioned far better. The current graphic style didn’t represent all the animals accurately, nor did it do justice to all the genius noses. The cartoonish look spoiled the impact of the animal trivia.

All in all, excellent information, but the presentation didn’t work that well for me. I think the physical copy of the book will be easier on the eyes in terms of colour as well as layout, so it will still be a good option for classrooms. The official target age for this book is 6-12 years.

3.5 stars.

My thanks to North South Books Inc. and NetGalley for the DRC of “Genius Noses: A Curious Animal Compendium”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

I wouldn't consider Genius Noses necessarily a children's book unless it was a child with a higher reading level and a high interest in the topic. The book was extremely detailed and I learned many things I didn't know. The drawings were great but maybe there should have been more drawings or photos and shorter descriptions for this to be considered a children's book. Definitely not meant for independent reading, some portions were textbook like.

I loved this educational book comprised of beautiful illustrations and entertaining in-depth information about a world of creatures and the capabilities of their noses.  Many of these animals were completely new to me and I enjoyed learning how they used their snouts to survive.  

The author, Lena Anlauf, was extremely knowledgeable. I feel certain that children will thoroughly enjoy learning about these animals and their creative noses.  I foresee this book becoming a favorite that children will request over and over again.  A copy belongs in every classroom, school library, as well as the bookshelves in every child’s and grandparent’s homes.

This book offers many possibilities for the elementary classroom.  It could be utilized in modules in science, animal life, health, and ecology.  The projects could be modified based on grade levels.  

I want to thank Author Lena Anlauf, Illustrator Vitali Konstantinov, Northsouth Publishing, and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this Advanced Reader’s Copy. This is a voluntary review, and all comments and opinions are entirely my own.

Thank you to the author and illustrator, NorthSouth Books and NetGalley, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. 

This is a great children's book - good, funny and at times slightly horrifying hook with the noses, which appeals to the target audience, well-written little packet of facts to each animal, wonderful illustrations. The kids I read this with - and I - spent lots of time tumbling down internet rabbit holes while reading this and learning lots of interesting facts that we would otherwise not have come across, which in my books makes this a highly recommended read!

This is an interesting book that would be great for kids with a love of animals and who are captivated by interesting facts.  It is well written and easy to understand, but contains a lot of scientific information. Budding scientists interested in biology and animal sciences will love it.

I love the illustrations for this book. The illustrator included fantastic details about the noses of all the creatures while making the illustrations inviting and entertaining.

I loved learning all the interesting facts included by Lena Anlauf in this book about genius noses. The Dik Dik is one of my favorite animals and I learned some new facts about their noses. It is always great when a children's book is able to teach adults cool and interesting facts as well.

The vocabulary was quite interesting. I loved Desman “it sometimes sticks its nose out of the water”. The book has an entertainment element as well written and educational.

There were so many different animals, many of which I have not heard of. The images add to the education portion of the book. Lena Anlaf has introduced the young reader to STEM. and Vitali Konstantantinov’s uses images, which added to the entertaining factor. The book was  beneficial to young readers and the person that was reading the book with children .

This was the most incredible kids book that I’ve read. I would recommend the book to any age reader. Genius Noses was a good fit for the adult reader exploring the book with the younger reader.

Thank you Lena Anlauf and Vitali Konstantantinov, Northsouth, and NetGalley for the privilege of reading and reviewing this delightful book.

An unexpected book – this publisher is more one to turn to for fiction and perhaps verse, the concentration is on the unexpected as regards to animal noses, and it contains a welter of things you didn't know when you woke up this morning.  Did you know aardvarks chew only with their stomach muscles, and not the mouth?  This is not purely about nasal matters, either – the desman entry covers all about its eating and habitat, for this particular mole-like aquatic beastie, the stink badger (not a badger) gets its defensive weaponry out on display, and so on.  Seemingly missing a beat with a few odd-shaped sharks, we get the world's superlative schnozzes, all with characterful yet scientific-seeming portraits, along with all relevant Latin names, and just enough information to keep this a welcome browse.  In fact we learn so much that is not nose-related the purpose of this selection may be lost at times, but I was glad it was made.

I’m very torn on my opinion regarding Genius Noses: A Curious Animal Compendium written by Lena Anlauf and illustrated by Vitali Konstantinov. The illustrations are done in a beautiful color scheme and overall style. There are many animals covered and the factual information is thorough. My concerns have to do with the actual readability of the text and lack of headings or apparent organization in how the text is laid out. I read the book electronically and even with zooming in, I had difficulty reading the text mainly because of the font choices. I’m worried that a physical copy will be difficult to read as well. I also wish that the information about each animal was organized with headings or something because I wasn’t sure what to read first. Even if the order of the paragraphs doesn’t matter, having headings is also helpful for finding the information you’re looking for on the page. All in all, I would give this 2.5 stars but am going to round down to 2 for accessibility concerns.

Genius Noses


 I examined an edition  of this book that  did not migrate well to my Chromebook Kindle app, so I am not sure about the artistic quality of the  layout of this book. It was jumbled in peculiar ways on a number of pages. I would only get this in paper copy. 

This being said, the contents, particularly the drawings and illustrations, were marvelous. 
Yes, it was plainly meant for children. but the drawing and text were detailed and expressed in such an interesting way that I think most people would enjoy looking at it. 

As a librarian, I was gratified by the careful research and documentation that went into this.
I particularly liked the index. Most indexes for children's books are not nearly so detailed. 

I am very impressed by this book. This author knows (no pun intended) a great deal about animals and I am glad that it was all shared with the rest of us

This is a really well written book for children for science. I think it would be great to introduce it to schools. For science for the younger G r a d e. I like how she categorizes these different animals and with the different names in different languages. The drawings are really helpful too how she explained these animals noses. I think it was a fun book to read and I had a great joy. Learning about different animals, noses.. I think it was really good too because the language was interesting too. Especially like the Otters. At the end of the book, she also did a dictionary of those words as well. I thought that was pretty impressive.. Show children you can have fun with science.

Cute book, my 4 year old enjoyed hearing me read it, we’ll definitely check it out when it’s released so we can enjoy it even more!

Who'd have expected a book about, well, noses to be both informative and downright entertaining? Not me, to be honest. It was the animal angle that drew me to this one, genius noses or not, and I'm glad it did. I met some animals that, quite frankly, I'd never heard of, and more about how not just their noses work but how different species contribute to the well-being of others as well as the environment. All illustrated with whimsical yet realistic illustrations that often made me grin. In other words, I had fun reading it and learned new things, a win-win for me. 

This should definitely be on the book shelves of science teachers and those who have inquisitive children who love science and animals. You'll even be able to impress them by knowing that elephants have over 40,000 muscles in their trunks and can pick up some 660 pounds of weight with them almost as easily as they can a peanut. Bet they'll be as amused by the name Pinocchio Lizard and Stink Badger as I was, not to mention be amazed where those frequently tongue twister scientific names are derived from. And, that's only the very tip of all the fun, intriguing info within. Toss in a glossary, index, and notes on sources, not to mention a fun world map showing the primary location of the animals discussed and you've got a winner. 

Thanks #NetGalley and #NorthSouthBooks for giving me a sneak peek at these "Genius Noses" critters. I honestly changed my mind a dozen times on which one was most fascinating, a good sign that they all had something of worth to offer.