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| Dawn Publications (CA) |
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Our Winning Book Synopsis
In the forest, someone is always awake, and someone else is always sleeping. Some animals sleep during the daytime, others sleep at night. Who knew?
What makes this book's graphic design by Patty Arnold so special is that you can FLIP THIS BOOK to switch it from day to night - and back again! When you do, be sure to COUNT the animals you see. After turning the book over to the forest night, for example, readers will see the deer bedded down while the owl searches for food, and foxes are on the prowl. Counting is another enjoyable part of a naturalist's careful observation.
Author Jennifer Ward's carefully crafted, rhythmic text is sure to be memorized effortlessly by children, as this book virtually calls out for repeated readings. As a naturalist, she teaches the biological concepts that some forest animals are diurnal while others are nocturnal--but she never uses sophisticated language to do so.
Ward's other nature-oriented books include: The Little Creek; Way up in the Arctic; Somewhere in the Ocean; The Seed and the Giant Saguaro; I Love Dirt!; Let's Go Outside; and Over in the Garden.
Her text works together marvelously with illustrator Jamichael Henterly's lush and lavishly detailed artwork. His palette of softly glowing colors is truly inviting as well. Henterley, who always wanted to be a scientist, helps children see the forest like a scientist would. The book actually develops basic scientific inquiry skills and rewards careful seeing. But it also captures the forest's alluring wildness. Ecologically balanced, plant species are depicted as accurately and realistically as animal species. Animals, plants, habitat, and niche--all are clearly depicted.
This book comprises a visually rich opportunity to interactively experience a forest via the child's imagination and the poetic wordscape.
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