Best Middle-Grade Nature Books of 2021, Kirkus

The birds and the bees, literally. A fully illustrated compendium of fascinating and astonishing facts about animal reproduction for the whole family.

Bats give birth upside down. Swifts can mate while plummeting through the air. Scorpions attract their partners with a romantic dance. Male humpback whales sing together for days to bring females from many miles away. Dolphin babies come out tail first.

From sex education expert Katharina von der Gathen, Do Animals Fall in Love? is a compendium of all the weird and wonderful ways the animal kingdom reproduces - courting rituals both elaborate and devious, extraordinary physiology, cleverly planned pregnancies, the most devoted fathers and the sweetest animal babies on Earth.

With frank and honest illustrations - some full frontal - there's something to amaze on every page, making this an excellent resource for parents and teachers to explain puberty and sex education through the more neutral animal kingdom, to children age 6 and up.

Comic illustrations bring humor and contrast to the factual and frank text, exploring all the most fascinating and astonishing facts about animal reproduction, from seduction methods and anatomy to family life and animal babies, in a compendium for the whole family.

Structured from seduction and mating through family life and ending with a page of delightful animal babies, this is a topic that will guarantee to interest children and reads like a David Attenborough documentary on the page. Designed to be read alone or together with the family, this striking hardback compendium holds all the answers to questions children ask.

"Irresistible in tone and content." - starred review, Kirkus

Shortlisted for the leading German children's book prize and other awards.

Katharina von der Gathen works in the area of sex education with children and adolescents from a wide range of backgrounds. Katharina is also the author of Tell Me.

Anke Kuhl, born in 1970, is one of Germany's leading children's book illustrators, whose awards include the German Youth Literature Award in 2011.

Praise for Do Animals Fall In Love?
"What she [von der Gathen] does do is to demonstrate the wonder of species reproduction as well as her respect for her audience with frankness and good humor. They will find it irresistible in tone and content." - Kirkus, starred review

"I found myself wanting to turn to those around me and ask, 'Did you know...?'" - Children's Book Council of Australia