Genius Noses: A Curious Animal Compendium

Ages 6 to 12, Grades 1 to 5

An illustrated collection about animal noses and their amazing functions! Early STEM has never been more fun. Everything kids ever wanted to know about animal noses around the world!

This special collection of animals takes us around the globe and amazes us at the curious diversity of nature. Whether it’s the musk weevil, the elephant, the pig, or the saiga antelope— they all have wonderful noses. In addition to a wide array of functions, noses tell us a lot about animal habits and habitats.

Author Lena Anlauf has compiled the most exciting facts and stories about noses from the animal kingdom, while illustrator, Vitali Konstantinov, introduces us to the individual animals in impressive portraits—with wit and attention to detail.

Which animal can smell underwater? Which one uses their nose as a snorkel? What can animals do with their noses besides smell? Readers will find out this and more in this entertaining collection filled with surprising and unusual facts.

“The book gives fascinating insights into the world of animal noses. Whether small, large, round or star-shaped, you learn a lot of new things here. The wonderful world of noses is clearly explained with beautiful illustrations.” –Pascal Marty, Zoo Zurich

About the Author

Lena Anlauf was born in the Ruhr region of Germany. Growing up, the Taschen-Brockhaus Tiere quickly became one of her favorite books, and she set up snail conservation areas in her backyard. Later on she studied book studies and philosophy in Mainz and Leiden and completed a further education course on pedagogy of literacy and literature as well as a remote course on children’s and young adult literature at the STUBE in Vienna. Today she lives in Marburg, works as editorial director and editor at the kunstanstifter verlag, researches historical picture books, and writes and designs her own book projects. Genius Noses is her children’s book debut.

Vitali Konstantinov was born in Ukraine. As a child he saw the desman at the natural history museum and was fascinated. Vitali studied architecture, graphic art, painting, and art history, and has taught illustration courses at universities in several countries as well as numerous workshops for children. His work has been exhibited extensively, has received many prizes, and has been published in forty different countries. Most recently he was nominated for the Deutsche Jugendliteraturpreis. Today Vitali works as a freelance illustrator and author and lives in Marburg. He drew the illustrations for Genius Noses with drawing ink and colored pencil on watercolor paper.