Book Review: Copycat: Nature-Inspired Design Around the World by Christy Hale
In the book Copycat: Nature-Inspired Design Around the World, author and illustrator Christy Hale uses photos of real world human made objects juxtaposed against animals/plants that inspired their design to illuminate to readers how nature has inspired the designs of humans all around the world. Hale wisely starts off the book with a common easy to understand example of a lotus leaf and an umbrella both keeping what's below them dry to set the stage for the rest of the book. Some of the other examples in the book are less common such as a futuristic looking fold up small car being compared to the overlapping scales of an armadillo. The end notes in the back of the book have information that explains the concepts of nature-inspired design and biomimicry in more detail along with information and quotes from The Biomimicry Institute. Instead of using prose to explain the nature inspired designs in the book, Hale uses a Japanese style of poetry called Tanka and the end notes also explain the Tanka poem style in more detail. Using Tanka poetry gives the book another level of beauty along with the engaging photos and illustrations. This is a great book for any child’s home library or early childhood or elementary school classroom. In addition, it could inspire a variety of activities where children explore the natural world around them and then use it as inspiration to design new things in the classroom using blocks, art supplies, and other materials.
There is also a teacher’s guide on Hale’s website with other resources and activity guides related to the book which you can find here: https://www.christyhale.com/copycat-1 and here:
