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Wait Till It Gets Dark
It’s night. It’s dark. It’s time to go indoors—or is it? The outdoors at night can be a scary place, but this book will help young readers investigate the mysterious nature of night.
To explore the night, it would be great to have eyes like an owl, the sensitive nose of a deer, and feet that can move as silently as a fox. Humans aren’t quite as good as nocturnal animals at navigating the darkness, but we can come surprisingly close. Our senses are much sharper than we realize, if we learn how to use them. Some scientists are even researching the sensory abilities of human hair!
Each chapter of the book spotlights a different nocturnal creature. And while learning about animals’ adaptations for navigating the world of night, young readers discover their own surprising abilities.
Years of teaching children in the outdoors has given the author, renowned environmental educator Anita Sanchez, firsthand experience in introducing students to the terrors and joys of nature at night. She has led kids on night walks in a variety of habitats, including urban settings. Based on these experiences, the book describes night-time landscapes and the nocturnal animals that inhabit them, from desert coyotes to the frog chorus in a backyard pond—and a corner of the bathroom at midnight where a spider lurks.
Readers will
--The great horned owl, who can spot the twitch of a mouse’s tail in almost total darkness.
--The Gila monster, who prowls the desert night using its tongue to locate prey.
--The super-sensitive ears of a bullfrog (yes, frogs have ears!)
--The delicate sense of touch of a spider, capturing its prey by feeling the slightest vibrations of its web.
Sidebars called “You Can Do It!” offer fun and active ways for kids to explore their own senses—learning more about their own eyes, ears, nose, and senses of touch and taste.
--While using crayons at night, can your eyes tell red from green?
--Can you hold completely still for an entire minute, like a fox stalking its prey?
--Could you follow the scent trail of an onion across the back yard?
--Can you find sounds in the dark? Learn to use the “big ears” technique to locate sounds with accuracy.
To explore the night, it would be great to have eyes like an owl, the sensitive nose of a deer, and feet that can move as silently as a fox. Humans aren’t quite as good as nocturnal animals at navigating the darkness, but we can come surprisingly close. Our senses are much sharper than we realize, if we learn how to use them. Some scientists are even researching the sensory abilities of human hair!
Each chapter of the book spotlights a different nocturnal creature. And while learning about animals’ adaptations for navigating the world of night, young readers discover their own surprising abilities.
Years of teaching children in the outdoors has given the author, renowned environmental educator Anita Sanchez, firsthand experience in introducing students to the terrors and joys of nature at night. She has led kids on night walks in a variety of habitats, including urban settings. Based on these experiences, the book describes night-time landscapes and the nocturnal animals that inhabit them, from desert coyotes to the frog chorus in a backyard pond—and a corner of the bathroom at midnight where a spider lurks.
Readers will
--The great horned owl, who can spot the twitch of a mouse’s tail in almost total darkness.
--The Gila monster, who prowls the desert night using its tongue to locate prey.
--The super-sensitive ears of a bullfrog (yes, frogs have ears!)
--The delicate sense of touch of a spider, capturing its prey by feeling the slightest vibrations of its web.
Sidebars called “You Can Do It!” offer fun and active ways for kids to explore their own senses—learning more about their own eyes, ears, nose, and senses of touch and taste.
--While using crayons at night, can your eyes tell red from green?
--Can you hold completely still for an entire minute, like a fox stalking its prey?
--Could you follow the scent trail of an onion across the back yard?
--Can you find sounds in the dark? Learn to use the “big ears” technique to locate sounds with accuracy.
64 pages, Hardcover
Published October 1, 2017
13 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 12, 2017
This book introduces the amazing abilities of various nocturnal animals with sharpened senses of smell, sight, and hearing, and also encourages readers to try out their own senses in the night. The illustrations are colorful and interesting, and each chapter gives practical advice about walking safely in the dark, how to find and observe nocturnal animals, and how to enhance your own 5 senses as you explore.
Each chapter focuses on one of the senses, showcasing an animal with a strong sense of sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste, and even awareness of the earth's magnetic field. I loved the focus on the science behind each of the senses, showing how the rods and cones in an owl's eyes are different from a human's eyes, explaining that frogs have a great sense of hearing because their entire body is like one big ear, and demonstrating the difference between the nose of a deer and the smaller nose of a human. There are clear diagrams and pictures that illustrate the science and biology of each animal's senses, and explain how that helps the animal to survive in the wild.
I love how the book is written almost like a story, describing the animals in their natural habitats, and revealing how they hunt, mate, and care for their young. There is a lot of information crowded into every page, but it is still fun and interesting to read, without feeling like a textbook.
I would recommend this book to readers ages 6-14. It would be so fun to read this as a family, and then take your kids out into the backyard to observe the night and listen for frog songs and try to hunt around as quietly as a fox. There are bunches of activities and night-time games included in the book that would be amusing for kids of any age.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts, and are not influenced by anyone.
Each chapter focuses on one of the senses, showcasing an animal with a strong sense of sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste, and even awareness of the earth's magnetic field. I loved the focus on the science behind each of the senses, showing how the rods and cones in an owl's eyes are different from a human's eyes, explaining that frogs have a great sense of hearing because their entire body is like one big ear, and demonstrating the difference between the nose of a deer and the smaller nose of a human. There are clear diagrams and pictures that illustrate the science and biology of each animal's senses, and explain how that helps the animal to survive in the wild.
I love how the book is written almost like a story, describing the animals in their natural habitats, and revealing how they hunt, mate, and care for their young. There is a lot of information crowded into every page, but it is still fun and interesting to read, without feeling like a textbook.
I would recommend this book to readers ages 6-14. It would be so fun to read this as a family, and then take your kids out into the backyard to observe the night and listen for frog songs and try to hunt around as quietly as a fox. There are bunches of activities and night-time games included in the book that would be amusing for kids of any age.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts, and are not influenced by anyone.
August 10, 2017
A great book for kindergarden children. Usually they are afraid of the dark, so talking to them about the animals that are awake at night makes them more familiar with what is going on. Children learn a lot of information from this stories, even about their own body. The illustration are nice, could have been better. Overall this book is a great tool when teaching about animal life. Children get bored if the same old books. This book will definitely spice things a little bit.
August 11, 2017
3,5/5. A book for the kids that talk about nocturnal animal and what makes them different while traveling through chapters that are separated by the five senses. It also provide little exercises that the kids can try for fun. Interesting, but something in the edition, the structure of the book, make it a little bit less attractive, don't know why, but it seem to lack something, or maybe the visual is just a bit off... not sure. While not being a great book, it's a decent one, that can be well placed in a school library.
February 18, 2018
Nighttime. Soft darkness envelopes all. This is the time of the owl, the bat, the fox. This is the time of crickets going crickee crickee. Frogs join the chorus- ribbit, ribbit. This isn't a time to fear, no, not at all. The authors introduce readers to a variety of nocturnal creatures from various habitats. Each beastie has a uniquely enhanced sense. There are exercises for readers to practice enhancing our own senses.
First up is Great Horned Owl with her big yellow eyes. Those eyes can detect the merest twitch of a mouse's tail, and her flight is silent as she strikes. Next comes the little Spring Peeper. This teensy frog has outstanding hearing! Deer come after. I had no clue they 'talked’ via scents. Gila Monster teaches us how to use taste to explore the environment. Spider teaches the finer points of touch, while Fox puts proprioception and kinesthetics on show. There's a chapter devoted to how some animals are basically living compasses, with innate knowing of magnetic north. At the end is a resource section, and a glossary.
I learned quite a bit from this book! I had no idea owls had more rods than cones in their eyes, giving them a greater ability to process things in black, white, grey, and to detect those miniscule movements in the grass. Or that deer communicated via various scents they create. Spiders can pick up the faintest vibrations, and tell a difference between food and foe.
My cubs and I enjoyed trying the exercises, with varying results. With my one eye, it didn't take much to get the disappearing head trick going. Funny that it might but have been the cause of seeing 'headless’ horsemen. Trying the scent and taste experiments were fun. The touch one were too much for me, trying to surpass what is natural for me. Losing my sight, and becoming legally, if not completely, blind heightened my sense of touch.
This is a perfect book for those who are nature-lovers!
***Many thanks to Netgalley and Rowman & Littlefield for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.
First up is Great Horned Owl with her big yellow eyes. Those eyes can detect the merest twitch of a mouse's tail, and her flight is silent as she strikes. Next comes the little Spring Peeper. This teensy frog has outstanding hearing! Deer come after. I had no clue they 'talked’ via scents. Gila Monster teaches us how to use taste to explore the environment. Spider teaches the finer points of touch, while Fox puts proprioception and kinesthetics on show. There's a chapter devoted to how some animals are basically living compasses, with innate knowing of magnetic north. At the end is a resource section, and a glossary.
I learned quite a bit from this book! I had no idea owls had more rods than cones in their eyes, giving them a greater ability to process things in black, white, grey, and to detect those miniscule movements in the grass. Or that deer communicated via various scents they create. Spiders can pick up the faintest vibrations, and tell a difference between food and foe.
My cubs and I enjoyed trying the exercises, with varying results. With my one eye, it didn't take much to get the disappearing head trick going. Funny that it might but have been the cause of seeing 'headless’ horsemen. Trying the scent and taste experiments were fun. The touch one were too much for me, trying to surpass what is natural for me. Losing my sight, and becoming legally, if not completely, blind heightened my sense of touch.
This is a perfect book for those who are nature-lovers!
***Many thanks to Netgalley and Rowman & Littlefield for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.
October 19, 2017
Wait Till It Gets Dark is a children's non fiction book written by Anita Sanchez and George Steele, and Illustrated by John Himmelman. It’s night. It’s dark. It’s time to go indoors—or is it? The outdoors at night can be a scary place, but this book will help young readers investigate the mysterious nature of night. To explore the night, it would be great to have eyes like an owl, the sensitive nose of a deer, and feet that can move as silently as a fox. Humans aren’t quite as good as nocturnal animals at navigating the darkness, but we can come surprisingly close. Our senses are much sharper than we realize, if we learn how to use them. Some scientists are even researching the sensory abilities of human hair!
Wait Till It Gets Dark is a fun and interesting look at what happens outside after dark. I like that the book is broken up into chapters which each focus on a different animals. Readers get a detailed look at how the creature uses its senses and adaptions to explore the night time. The book also explores the senses and abilities of humans, and invites young readers to explore their own abilities. I enjoyed the experiments, and the focus on animal senses, and the colors used in the accompanying artwork. The art work was good, but there were some pieces that just did not meet my expectations, but that could have been more a matter of personal style than anything else. I think the book was geared towards younger kids than I expected, so it would be useful for discussing why you do not need to be afraid of the dark, in preparation of a nighttime walk or camp out for the younger set, as well as the senses and animal skills.
Wait Till It Gets Dark is a fun and interesting look at what happens outside after dark. I like that the book is broken up into chapters which each focus on a different animals. Readers get a detailed look at how the creature uses its senses and adaptions to explore the night time. The book also explores the senses and abilities of humans, and invites young readers to explore their own abilities. I enjoyed the experiments, and the focus on animal senses, and the colors used in the accompanying artwork. The art work was good, but there were some pieces that just did not meet my expectations, but that could have been more a matter of personal style than anything else. I think the book was geared towards younger kids than I expected, so it would be useful for discussing why you do not need to be afraid of the dark, in preparation of a nighttime walk or camp out for the younger set, as well as the senses and animal skills.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews