The Best Book of Nighttime Animals

Evocative text and fantastic illustrations draw young readers in to the mysteries of the night. Realistic artwork captures the beauty of nighttime creatures, including coyotes, raccoons, owls, monkeys, and wolves, and helps the reader understand more about the life, habitats, and behavior of animals that are active at night. Follow the hunters and the hunted as they go about their secret lives, and find out how they have adapted to live in a nocturnal world.

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Realistic illustrations and fascinating text capture the nature and beauty of such nighttime animals as coyotes, raccoons, owls, monkeys, and wolves, revealing their lives, habitats, behaviors, and survival tactics.

Belinda Weber is an author and editor and has written many children's books about natural history, science, and history including including The Kingfisher Children's Atlas, The Best Book of Nighttime Animals, and Kingfisher Young Knowledge: Reptiles. She has a lifelong interest in wildlife and the environment and previously directed the Adopt an Animal fundraising program for the Zoological Society of London.

Gr 1-3 Familiar features of nocturnal creatures and their habitats are sketchily explored in colorful paintings and generalized brief text. Full spreads portray nighttime life in the jungle, desert, woodlands, ocean, wetlands, and Australian bush. The realistic illustrations show animals in their natural environments but not all of the species depicted are discussed in the text. For example, in Desert life, nine different creatures are pictured but only the skunk is described (its ability to squirt a jet of smelly liquid from underneath its tail is the only attribute mentioned). In addition, skunks may not be the best choice to represent the desert since they are also commonly found in woodlands and rocky terrain. The word nocturnal is used often and not defined in the glossary. Although the book is attractive, the amount of information does not sufficiently illuminate the subjects to be useful in report writing or to elicit browsers' interest.Nancy Call, Santa Cruz Public Libraries, Aptos, CA

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