Planning to Write a Book About the Animal Kingdom

[Wildlife Watcher]

For a while now, I've been throwing around the idea of making a big animal-themed book for children, containing fun facts about each species as well as my own original drawings. More recently, I decided that I want to make two of these books: one that organizes animals by classification, and another that organizes them by ecoregion.
There's still I lot I haven't figured out yet, so I was hoping for some advice about what I could do with both projects.

As far as the "Animal Kingdom" book goes, I do have a somewhat solid idea of how it should go, since nearly all books on the subject follow the Mammals-Birds-Reptiles-Amphibians-Fish-Invertebrates format. The main thing I was wondering for this project is what specific species I should feature in the book.
There's well over a zillion species in the world today, and obviously I would not be able to fit them all into the same book. That's why I wanted to know what species would be "top priority" to include in this kind of project.

I've looked at a couple DK Smithsonian animal books for inspiration, and for my own project, I've narrowed the sections down to the following categories:

INVERTEBRATES

• Cnidarians
• Mollusks
• Crustaceans
• Insects
• Arachnids
• Echinoderms

FISH

• Sharks and Rays
• Saltwater Fish
• Freshwater Fish

AMPHIBIANS

• Frogs/Toads
• Newts/Salamanders

REPTILES

• Snakes
• Lizards
• Turtles
• Crocodilians

BIRDS

• Ratites
• Gamebirds
• Waterbirds (flamingos, penguins, pelicans, shorebirds, and other orders)
• Birds of Prey
• Owls
• Kingfishers/Hornbills
• Toucans/Woodpeckers
• Parrots
• Passerines

MAMMALS

• Marsupials/Monotremes
• Toothless Mammals (sloths, anteaters, and armadillos)
• Elephants
• Rodents
• Rabbits
• Monkeys/Lemurs
• Apes
• Insectivores
• Bats
• Felines
• Canines
• Bears
• Other Carnivores (mongooses, hyenas, raccoons, mustelids)
• Pinnipeds
• Odd-Toed Ungulates (horses, tapirs, and rhinos)
• Giraffids
• Camelids
• Cervids
• Bovids
• Pigs/Hippos
• Cetaceans

I'm not sure if I'll go with all these sections in the final product, so for the time being, they're mostly suggestions. Normally I'd just choose whatever my favorites are from these categories, but I thought it would be cool to ask the community for feedback on this. What specific animals would you choose to represent if you were making this project?

I'd appreciate ideas on what species to include in each section, but if that's too much, I would also appreciate some tips on formatting. Any feedback is welcome.

 

[Dassie rat]

There are several books on the subject, including some recent ones. Your selection resembles that seen in several books, including the bias against small mammals, such as bats and rodents, as well as missing several phyla of invertebrates. Please look at books at bookshops and libraries and see if you can change your ideas so that cover the same territory and if you have something new to offer. I am planning to write a series of systematic books about animals and I realise that there are competitors, especially in children's books that now feature a variety of species that wouldn't have appeared a few decades ago. It may be difficult to get a book published if you are a new author and you need to be careful about paying a lot of money for self publishing. I wish you lots of luck..