Copy That, Copy Cat: Inventions Inspired by Animals

There’s no need to invent the wheel, if nature has one we can steal; Elephant or fish or cat – go ahead and copy that! 

The concept of this board book is that nature already often has the solution to a variety of human needs, from better lighting (cat’s eyes inspired bike reflectors) to how a submarine navigates through water (inspired by fish). Therefore, we can copy the ingenious elements of nature and use them in the present day – brilliant! 

Using a simple rhyming text and large lift-the-flap pages, Copy That, Copy Cat introduces young children to some of today’s marvellous inventions – flippers (inspired by frog feet), planes (inspired by bird wings) and sonar (inspired by bats), among others.  

The rhyming text intentionally leads the child towards a wrong answer every time, and then the real answer is revealed under the large flap. With repeated reading, this might mean that children will learn the correct answer, remember it, and then get the pleasure of being right when they revisit the book. 

Arguably, defining the technical term for copying what we find in nature (biomimicry), which is explained at the end of the book, is quite a stretch for the 3-5 age group that might be expected to enjoy this board book, but it doesn’t detract from a fun and colourful non-fiction read.