Survival of the Fittest: Who's Got The Best Medicine? (Family Comic Friday)

I haven't done a Family Comic Friday in a while. I haven't given up on the project. Far from it. It's just that I've not really had much time to head to my local library. Plus, for the kids section of graphic novels, they got rid of the ' New Arrivals' section, making it a bit harder to find newer stuff to review. That being said, I did find something recently new at my branch. So let's take a look at Survival of the Fittest: Who's Got The Best Medicine?

Who knew that the animal kingdom had their own version of Shark Tank? Survival of the Fittest is an invention competition where creatures create amazing new products for humans based on the special properties of their very own bodies. Judging the competition as usual are Hammerhead Shark, Cookiecutter Shark and Tiger Shark. Today's episode, hosted by Hermit Crab, the trio of predators will be shown several potential lifesaving medical marvels. 

There's the extremely sharp teeth of the sea urchin that never gets dull as a potential new type of surgical scalpel. Mosquito shares a new form of syringe that is based on the bug's proboscis and is supposedly painless. And much more innovations based on the animals in the sea, land and air are in store!

And don't think that the sharks don't get in on the act too! Great White Shark has an idea to eliminate post-operative infections by having all of the equipment in the operating room textured like the sandpaper skin of those predators of the deep.

I loved the idea behind this book. There's a design segment at the end of the book that explains how such animal based technologies are in the planning stages at current time; along with hyperlinks to help young readers learn more about these amazing inventions. (You'll have to type those out as this is not a digital book that I reviewed.)

I only wish that I could have understood what was going on between the host, Hermit Crab and contestant Octopus. Was the 8-armed invertebrate flirting with the crab as he kept changing shells during every commercial break? Was the Octopus just being friendly? Was there mischief afoot? I really couldn't tell. Those interludes were pantomimed and I really could have used some words, or narrator descriptions to fully follow along with that part of the story.

I also felt that another contestant should have won, having a much better invention than the winner. But that's more of a matter of personal preference and nothing against the quality of this entertaining and educational graphic novel.

There's at least 1 other book so far in the series. 'Who Will Come Out on Top?' is about engineering innovations . If you have a young reader in your life who loves science, especially when animals are involved, this is a series that needs to be introduced to them! The vocabulary and some of the concepts are a bit advanced. I'm thinking that without a trusted adult to read along with, this is a book suited for 4th graders through 6th. 

With the inclusion of the shark tank of judges, this series makes a great summer read!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.