Today we are featuring the first in a series of fabulous STEAM picture books that are coming out this month, Night Creatures: Animals That Swoop, Crawl, and Creep While You Sleep by Rebecca E. Hirsch and illustrated by Sonia Possentini.
Even though we don’t see them as often, about half of the animals on the planet are nocturnal (active after dark). This book is a wonderful introduction.
The book starts in a soft, lyrical settling-down-to-bedtime voice.
A cool night breeze
blows softly on your face
As night creatures wake…
Soon, your heart begins to race as bobcats leap, owls pounce, and rabbits run away. No worries, however, because the quiet descends again as night turns into day.
Young readers will enjoy Sonia Possentini’s marvelous illustrations. Possentini uses a pallet of blues, greens and black tree silhouettes to reflect nighttime, but also capture the warm hues of a bobcat’s coat or an owl’s feathers.
In the concise and informative back matter, learn more details about the featured animals.
Night Creatures is a celebration of animals that are active when many people are sleeping. Slip into a copy and discover what you have been missing.
Related Science Activities:
Check out the incredible free activity guide to download. Seriously! Perfect for any unit on nocturnal animals. Rebecca has instructions for taking a night hike, as well as activities that reflect how your senses change in the dark. What might you touch and feel? How might your color vision change? What might you hear? What might you smell?
In this video, listen to some of the sounds you might expect to hear at night. Note:Â The video is silent except for the parts with the animal sound recordings.
Consider having a moth ball, which is a nighttime moth watching party (previous post).
See our growing list of children’s books about nocturnal animals at Science Books for Kids.
Reading age †: ‎ 5 – 10 years
Publisher: ‎ Millbrook Press ™ (September 7, 2021)
ISBN-10 : ‎ 1541581296
ISBN-13 : ‎ 978-1541581296
Disclosure: This book was provided electronically by the publisher for review purposes. Also, I am an affiliate with Amazon so I can provide you with cover images and links to more information about books and products. As you probably are aware, if you click through the highlighted title link and purchase a product, I will receive a very small commission, at no extra cost to you. Any proceeds help defray the costs of hosting and maintaining this website.
Looking for more children’s nonfiction books? Try the Nonfiction Monday blog.
