A First Book of Animals

by Nicola Davies

Nicola Davies, the award-winning author of A First Book of Nature, presents a spellbinding treasury of poems about the animal world, illustrated in breathtaking detail by Petr Horacek. Polar bears playing on the ice, tigers hunting in the jungle, fireflies twinkling in the evening sky and nightingales singing in the heart of the woods - there are animals everywhere. From blue whales to bumblebee bats and everything in between, A First Book of Animals takes you all over the planet to visit all kinds of different creatures. This book is a glorious celebration of life in the wild in all its variety and splendour, and belongs on every child's bookshelf.

Genres: Poetry, Picture Books, Animals, Nonfiction, Nature, Childrens, Environment

108 pages, Hardcover

Published October 6, 2016

About the author

"I was very small when I saw my first dolphin," says zoologist Nicola Davies, recalling a seminal visit with her father to a dolphin show at the zoo. Enchanted at the sight of what she called the "big fish" jumping so high and swimming so fast, she determined right then that she would meet the amazing creatures again "in the wild, where they belonged." And indeed she did--as part of a pair of scientific expeditions, one to Newfoundland at the age of eighteen and another to the Indian Ocean a year later. In WILD ABOUT DOLPHINS, Nicola Davies describes her voyages in a firsthand account filled with fascinating facts and captivating photographs of seven species of dolphins in action.

Nicola Davies's seemingly boundless enthusiasm for studying animals of all kinds has led her around the world--and fortunately for young readers, she is just as excited about sharing her interests through picture books. The zoologist's latest offering puts a decidedly quirky twist on her years of experience: POOP: A NATURAL HISTORY OF THE UNMENTIONABLE is a fun, fact-filled guide to the fascinating world of poop across species. "As a zoologist, you are never far from poop!" the writer explains. "I've baked goose poop in an oven with my dinner, looked at bat poop under the microscope, and had my T-shirt stained pink with blue-whale poop. I was obviously fated to write this book."


The exceptional combination of Nicola Davies's zoological expertise and her first-rate children's writing is apparent in her remarkable catalog of award-winning titles. Her first book with Candlewick Press, BIG BLUE WHALE, was hailed by American Bookseller as an "artfully composed study" offering "language exactly appropriate for four- to seven-year-olds and precisely the right amount of information." In ONE TINY TURTLE, Nicola Davies's clear, compelling narrative follows the life of the rarely seen loggerhead turtle, which swims the oceans for thirty years and for thousands of miles in search of food, only to return, uncannily, to lay her eggs on the very beach where she was born. The author's next book, BAT LOVES THE NIGHT, is a tenderly written ode to a much-misunderstood flying mammal, the pipistrelle bat, while SURPRISING SHARKS--winner of a BOSTON GLOBE-HORN BOOK Honor Award--contains unexpected facts about another one of the planet's most infamous animals.


When she is not off on scientific expeditions, Nicola Davies lives in a cottage in Somerset, England, where she is lucky enough to have pipistrelle bats nesting in her roof.

Reviews

[Mathew · Rating 3 out of 5]

A series of beautiful double-page spreads celebrating the diversity of life on our planet is what Davies and Horáček offer here. A blend of poetry and art which puts you in mind of the remarkable The Lost Words from last year. Whilst I found Horáček illustrations to be magnificent and the information and facts Davies imparts to be of real interest, the poetry didn't quite work for me. I have always enjoyed Davies' writing but poetry is a difficult form to master and whilst some of the poems work, I sometimes felt that the metre was lost to the shape of the fact shared. Nevertheless, a wonderful sized book (great for sharing) with dazzling illustrations.

[Stace · Rating 4 out of 5]

A First Book of Animals is quite a heavy book, with thick, glossy pages adorned with colourful images. It would be perfect for the use in primary schools, or a book to flick through on the floor at home.

It contains lots and lots of factual information about lots of different animals, and is split into five sections:

Big and Small
Colours and Shapes
Animal Homes
Animal Babies
Animals in Action
Opening with the Biggest mammal in the world, the Blue Whale, we then see and read about the different sizes of other animals from around the world, including the smallest bird – The Hummingbird, to the smallest mammal – The Bumblebee Bat.

The book then moves on to teach children about the different colours and shapes of animals, such as why Tigers have stripes, and Camels have humps. Plus lots more facts from the other three sections.

With 108 pages, you get a lot for your money, toyed with beautiful illustrations and facts told in a fun way, children will love this book. From little children who will be able to coo over the drawings, to older children who will love learning new things, eager to tell their friends.

Reviewed by Stacey at www.whisperingstories.com

[Francesca Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this book a lot, it explored many animals in a great amount of depth. For example it tells you why animals have spots and stripes. Rhyme was used in a fun way. Words are repeated in verses to sound poetic. It is colourful with lots of illustrations, there are a wide variety of animals and explores the types too. Questions are asked and there is possibly lots of new vocabulary for children to learn. Lots of adjectives are used to describe what animals are like, e.g. their appearance. Alliteration was used as well to describe the movement of animals. Overall, a very informative book for young children.

[Belinda Vlasbaard · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 sterren - Nederlandse hardcover

IJsberen spelen in de sneeuw, tijgers jagen in het oerwoud, vuurvliegjes twinkelen in de avondlucht en nachtegalen zingen in het hart van het bos, overal zijn dieren.

De gedichten in deze prachtige verzameling zijn schitterend geïllustreerd en staan vol bijzondere feitjes over dieren van iedere kleur, vorm en grootte. Van gigantische blauwe vinvissen tot varkensneus- vleermuisjes zo klein als een toffee.

Met woorden van kinderboekenschrijfster Nicola Davies en prenten van een van de beste illustratoren van de wereld, Petr Horácek, viert dit boek de dierenwereld in al zijn duizelingwekkende verscheidenheid en grootsheid. En met recht! AANRADER.

[Lauren Drake · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful illustrations. This book also includes loads of great facts that i have never come across before and explores a wide variety of animals in depth. This book reads with a good flow and a good rhythm, which could be down to some of the poetry used in this book.

[BrookesEducationLibrarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my goodness, we need copies of this book for our personal collections! It is visually stunning and the poems for each animal are written so beautifully.
Read this! We got through it in minutes!

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every page is illustrated, but far too long (107 p.) to be considered a picture book.

[Petra Fuentes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Song of the Wild: A First Book of Animals is an anthology of poems. I found this title in the NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. This collection of poems describe wild animals from around the word. Some of the poems are lyrical, humorous, revealing fascinating facts. Animals that are big and small of every color and shape. The poems are also about animal homes, animal babies, and animals in action. You'll find poems with rhymes and alliterations.

The illustrations are bold, vivid and colorful. The pages are glossy. I would use this book with grades K-5. Students could pick an animal and write their own poem and draw their own picture.

I read the hardcover.

[Gabriella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nicola Davies, the award-winning author of A First Book of Nature, presents a spellbinding treasury of poems about the animal world, illustrated in breathtaking detail by Petr Horacek. A First Book of Animals takes you all over the planet to visit all kinds of different creatures. This book is a celebration of life in the wild.

It would be perfect for the use in primary schools:
It contains lots and lots of factual information about lots of different animals and is split into five sections: Big and Small// Colours and Shapes// Animal Homes// Animal Babies// Animals in Action.
The book opens with the biggest mammal in the world, the Blue Whale, children can then see and read about the different sizes of other animals from around the world, including the smallest bird – The Hummingbird, to the smallest mammal – The Bumblebee Bat. The book then moves on to teach children about the different colours and shapes of animals, such as why tigers have stripes, and camels have humps with many facts to accompany these sections.

Teaching Ideas:
- children find out more and talk about environmental issues: people’s actions affect habitats and how to appreciate, protect and conserve nature. This could be through a conservationist coming to visit the class. Prior to visit children could write down questions they would like to ask// could link it to Blue Planet videos
- Pick any animal in the book. Children could draw their own picture and write a poem about it and why it should be protected.
- Find out about the region or country where one of the animals in the book lives.
- Visit a zoo/ aquarium, could lead to a research project based on the book

[Sandy Brehl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Without a doubt this is a gorgeous book of illustrations, sized to be a colorful tabletop book and to appeal to young eyes. Its bulk (and cursive text, complex organization) mean it will work best with support from adults. Even so, the various individual entries/descriptions will be favored or less favored throughout the book. At least that was my reaction. The organizing approach should make it well-suited to the youngest (Size/Color and Shape/Homes/Babies/Action) but it offers too little for older readers (no index, resources, or other back matter) and too much for the youngest to grasp the categorical approach due to lack of relative scale among the entries.
Despite those concerns, this will hit a sweet spot for kids who are zoo fans, who can manage some independent reading, and who engage with the lush art and the lyrical lines that appear on various pages.

[Summer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED this book. It was quality, every page. I really enjoyed reading it.

The poems were fun to read and had the most interesting and important facts. Lots of good words in there, first time I came across the word ‘trawl’, learnt some new things about the many different ways frogs lay eggs.

The illustrations were beautiful, stunning. The poems and pictures work together really well.

I could imagine every single page could be discussed in-depth, because with every page and image there is so much in there.

Small children who haven’t seen the real animals would benefit by showing photographs of the real animals because children do not always link the picture to the photograph, had that problem before.

Love this book. Could be linked nicely with geography and science lessons

[Pamela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved the big trim size and heavy glossy pages, all 108 of them. Most of the spreads contain a short poem highlighting one aspect of the featured animal in simple language, sometimes pensively, sometimes enthusiastically or with humor, sometimes in rhyme. I liked the organization. Poems are grouped together in five sections: Big and Small, Colors and Shapes, Animal Homes, Animal Babies, and Animals in action. One spread per section contains explanatory information and examples, rather than a poem. Covers a huge variety of animals, such as African favorites, ocean life, jungle inhabitants, birds, reptiles, and North American natives, even snails and parasites. Poems are a little inconsistent in their quality.

[curiouskat_books · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I really appreciated this book, I'm not sure I could consider this "a first book of animals." This is because this doesnt work for really small children. The words aren't formated in an easy to read way for littles nor does it give enough details about the animals to be useful for them. The poems focus on a very specific and usually minor detail of an animal. And although it is great for poetry, it also isn't good for a beginner introduction either. Most of the poems included lack rhythm that is easier for kids to pick up. I can still see this as being a nice tool for homeschooling or teaching your kids about poetry.

[Jillian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is gorgeous! A big, heavy book that is meant for small hands to join large in reading. The illustrations are incredible, the text is informative, and together they make an engaging book. The one qualm I had was that some of the descriptions flowed much better in their poetic rhythm, so the ones that didn't felt more jarring as I read straight through. You might not notice it as much if you jump around. I appreciated the sections of the book with different groupings, and all of the information to earn about many animals.

[Heidi-Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the illustrations. I liked learning snippets of many different creatures. Just enough information for me to know what I wanted, or possibly want to research more. But not confusing facts written in such a way that I'm not sure what they're talking about. No need to explain more about each creature in an aside, which I liked. As for the poetry itself, I'm never a good judge. Some times I couldn't tell if it was meant to be a poem or not. But I do know it was easy to read and not overwhelming, which will be good to recommend to kids of many ages and reading levels.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a beautiful book with gorgeous illustrations by Petr Horacek, as usual. Text by the amazing Nicola Davies (former zoologist and BBC staffer) is both informative and narrative; most of the 100+ pages feature short poems about each animal. Topics are wide-ranging about the animal world, covering subjects including 'Big and Small', 'Spots and Stripes', 'Eggs' and 'Animals in Action'. Surprisingly there is a major typo in this first edition, although many people spell 'anemones' wrong. I was a bit shocked in this instance though.

[Shanell Camelo · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book explored many animals in a great amount of depth, celebrating the diversity of life on our planet. This collection of poems describe wild animals from around the world. Some of the poems are lyrical, humorous, revealing fascinating facts. Animals that are big and small of every colour and shape. The poems are also about animal homes, animal babies, and animals in action. The poems have rhymes and alliterations.

[Christine D · Rating 3 out of 5]

a pretty, eloquent, first animal resource for young readers.
Brevity is the name of this game with the animal descriptions, but it written in way which I think will pique curiosity to learn more.
also, obviously not every animal is featured, but it is a pretty vast in covering most animal species, for a children's book anyway.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is so much more than "a first book of animals." It has a wide variety of species, with gorgeous illustrations and poems for each animal. There is so much that can be done in a classroom with this book. It sold me with the whale shark poem - comparing her back to the starry sky, which is a comparison I have always made! Highly recommended for school and home libraries.

[Monica Hocking · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me no consider me self as a fan of poetry, but me love this book! Not because of poetry, but because it's about lots and lots of different animals in our world. And it uses poetry to introduce us to each and everyone. Some me never heard of and others me knew about, some awesome facts me didn't know!

[Lys · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you told me this book was just hundred pages of gently meandering through the animal kingdom, stitched together with short, factual poems I probably would have been skeptical. But this book totally works. The illustrations are gorgeous, and reading this had that same serendipitous feeling of flipping through an encyclopedia. Just lovely.

[Adele · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely poetry book on animals. Each page has a poem about a different animal. This could introduce a topic about different kinds of animals or introduce poetry.
• Could discuss different types of poetry as some rhyme and some do not.
• Would be good for whole class reading.
• This book could be used as examples for an art topic as pupils could use the illustrations as examples.

[MaryLibrarianOH · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book would make a great gift. Each spread introduces a new animal through poetry and an illustration of the animal. The artwork is expressive. Many times I prefer photos for books about animals but this time I felt the illustrations were superb.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nicola Davies is a wonderful author. She does a good job at writing children's books that speak to children. In this book, Davies tells of dozens and dozens of different animals. Some of the verse rhymes, some is simply descriptive, and some is downright poetic.

[Katrina Clohessy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very detailed first introduction to animals, with sections on "Big & Small," "Colors & Shapes," "Animal Homes," "Animal Babies," & "Animals in Action." Beautiful illustrations, but text is presented as poetry with some of it rhyming, and I would have preferred plain text.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book of poetry!!!! We absolutely loved this book! The poems were all about animals, which were so relatable for my boys! The illustrations were AMAZING!!!! We definitely will re-read this book!

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I absolutely loved the pictures and wanted to love this book. This book is just so gorgeous. Every page was beautifully illustrated. However, the poetry about the animals on each page lacked rhythm, was challenging to read and did not inspire interest in the young minds of my home.

[Michele Knott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing nonfiction. A must have for any young animal lovers!

[Samantha Wheeler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely beautiful illustrations. A large mix of different animals with great facts to accompany them. If you know a child who loves animals, this is a must-read.

[Jillian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stunning illustrations and text composed of poetry - poetry that still manages to be informative about the creatures it describes, even though it's more abstract than factual.