The Encyclopedia of Elephants, Big Cats, Bears & Whales

by Gary Paulsen

Like Taylor's encyclopedia, Paulsen is meticulous about how animals actually behave and survive in their environments—but here you're learning through a boy's desperate need to understand the wilderness around him. The detailed observations of animal behavior become survival tools rather than facts on a page, making that knowledge feel urgent and alive.

by Brian Murphy

This is your surprise pick—it's a picture book for older readers that combines your love of animal behavior with something more philosophical. A robot learns to survive on an island by observing and respecting the creatures around her, and Brown's illustrations rival Taylor's photography in showing you exactly how animals move and interact with their world.

by Georges Perec

Published in 1978, this is a completely different approach to cataloging the natural world—instead of animals, Perec catalogs human lives and objects with the same obsessive detail Taylor brings to her creatures. If you love how encyclopedic knowledge can be both comprehensive and deeply strange, this will rewire how you think about organizing information.

by Ann M. Martin

Keating writes about real marine biologist Eugenie Clark with the same infectious enthusiasm Taylor brings to her subjects, but adds narrative tension and personality. You'll get the animal facts you crave alongside the story of someone who dedicated her life to understanding creatures everyone else feared—it's like Taylor's encyclopedia met a biography and they had an adventure together.

by John D. Lock

Flanagan weaves animal knowledge throughout his adventure series—tracking, understanding animal behavior, reading signs in nature—the way a real ranger would. You'll recognize the same respect for how animals actually behave that Taylor shows, but now it's embedded in a story where that knowledge helps characters survive and solve mysteries.