Who Would Win? Blue Whale vs. Mosquito

This nonfiction reader compares and contrasts two unlikely animals: a blue whale and a mosquito! Readers will learn about each animal's anatomy, behavior, and more. Then compare and contrast the battling pair before finally discovering the winner!

Back in 1985, Jerry Pallotta (whose full name is Gerard Larry Pallotta) was an insurance salesman, looking for creative ways to teach his children their ABCs. He wondered why most of the alphabet books he was reading to them sounded very similar, “A is for apple,” and “Z is for zebra.” During his childhood he had spent many summers at the beach in Scituate, Massachusetts (a fishing town), which helped nurture his love for the ocean - lobsters, seaweed, and boats were always a part of his life. Was there a way to combine his passion for the underwater world and teach children the alphabet? At the age of 32, his imaginative ideas led to him to write and publish his very first book, The Ocean Alphabet Book. He originally sold 5,000 copies to the New England Aquarium, where it became a best-seller. He has since created more than 20 alphabet books, including: The Airplane Alphabet Book, The Bird Alphabet Book, The Butterfly Alphabet Book, The Flower Alphabet Book, The Furry Animal Alphabet Book, The Icky Bug Alphabet Book, and The Vegetable Alphabet Book - to name a few! Soon Pallotta expanded from just writing alphabet books and tried his hand at mathematics books. Popular favorites include The Crayon Counting Book, The Icky Bug Counting Book, and for those who have a sweet tooth, Hershey's Milk Chocolate Fractions Book, Hershey's Kisses Addition Book, Reeses Pieces: Counting by Fives, and Twizzlers Percentages Book. Pallotta was born on March 26, 1953, in Boston, Massachusetts . He has four brothers, two sisters, and 72 first cousins! He attended Georgetown University, in Washington, D.C. where he majored in business, and met his wife. He currently lives in Massachusetts and is married with four children.