"Gutiérrez profiles five 'bionic beasts,' animals whose prosthetic body parts help them to function. Matter-of-factly, she introduces three animals that each have only three legs: Lola, a Kemp's ridley sea turtle from Texas; Mosha, an Asian elephant from Myanmar; and Cassidy, a German shepherd from New York. Pirate, a Berkshire-Tamworth pig from Vancouver Island, has a deformed leg; Vitória, a greylag goose from Brazil, lacks a beak. The animals struggled to move or eat until veterinarians, designers, and doctors teamed up to create innovative prostheses and orthoses. The prostheses' complex design processes are clearly described.... Though technology is the primary focus, the author acknowledges political and environmental issues in the animals' habitats, such as ongoing civil wars in Myanmar and oceans cluttered with plastic waste. Activities follow each profile. Some attempt to mimic the teams' challenges by constructing mock prostheses from household items and exploring strengths and weaknesses of various designs.... Scientifically inclined readers will enjoy this in-depth application of STEM to disabled animals." (Kirkus Reviews)

"This title discusses animals that have been injured and given prostheses to improve their lives. Gutiérrez highlights five different animals, educates readers on each particular species, and explains how they became injured. The narratives also detail how the prostheses were made for each animal, as making a flipper for an injured turtle is a different process than constructing a foreleg for an elephant. Readers interested in biomedical technology will appreciate the instructions for building small-scale prosthetic models using household items. Verdict: Examining environmentalism, animal rescue, and technological possibility, this science-filled book for upper-elementary to middle school readers entertains in many forms." (School Library Journal)