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The Chestnut Challenge: The Nocturnals
(Nocturnals Early Reader )
by
“The Nocturnals does not disappoint.” —Booklist
“Parents/grandparents will enjoy reading this book to their little one.” —Story Monsters
The Chestnut Challenge is a Mom’s Choice Awards® Gold Recipient. In this Nocturnals Level 3 Early Reader, the Brigade are playing a game of Chestnut Checkers when Chandler, a conniving chinchilla, challenges Tobin for the title of Chestnut
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Hardcover, 64 pages
Published
April 23rd 2019
by Fabled Films Press
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Start your review of The Chestnut Challenge: The Nocturnals (Grow & Read Early Reader, Level 3)

The Nocturnal Brigade returns with a new adventure and valuable lessons to be learned. On a beautiful night in the forest, Tobin, Bismark, and Dawn are enjoying a friendly game of Chestnut Checkers.
As Bismark was making quick decisions, Tobin took his time with each turn. They learned that impulsiveness and speed doesn’t trump careful thinking and patience.
As a cheeky chinchilla named Chandler challenged the Nocturnals to a game of Chestnut Checkers, many more lessons were learned. Chandler lear ...more
As Bismark was making quick decisions, Tobin took his time with each turn. They learned that impulsiveness and speed doesn’t trump careful thinking and patience.
As a cheeky chinchilla named Chandler challenged the Nocturnals to a game of Chestnut Checkers, many more lessons were learned. Chandler lear ...more

Dawn (the red fox), Tobin (a pangolin), and Bismark (a sugar glider) are the core cast of characters for the series. In this book they meet Chandler, the chinchilla. While the trio of friends are playing a game of Chestnut Challenge Chandler appears and claims to be the Chestnut Champion. He challenges sweet, passive Tobin to a game. Well, chirping chickadees”, Chandler cheats. Dawn, in her usual compassionate, diplomatic manner lets Chandler know that champions do not cheat and invites Chandler
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I love the introduction of a new character to the Nocturnals gang. Chandler the chinchilla learns a lesson about winning and losing. Dawn, ever the calming leader, does bot judge or criticize but explains why cheating is never the best solution.

Fans of The Nocturnals and their leveled reader series will easily recognize Dawn, Tobin, and Bismark. But who is this new character with them on the cover of the book? That is Chandler, a "conniving chinchilla." When he finds the friends playing Chestnut checkers, Chandler announces that he is the "real chestnut champion" and challenges Tobin to a game. The mild-mannered pangolin enjoys playing for fun, not competition. He reluctantly agrees to play this new acquaintance, but something underhan
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What do a fox named Dawn, a pangolin named Tobin, and a sugar glider with an attitude named Bismark have in common? They are nocturnal animals who become great friends and share night time adventures. In The Chestnut Challenge, the Nocturnals, as they call themselves, are enjoying their game when they are interrupted by Chandler, a loud and pushy chinchilla.
Chandler challenges Tobin to a game. The pangolin is not competitive - he just likes to play for fun. But he's a good sport and agrees to a ...more

In The Chestnut Challenge, the nocturnal trio of silly animals are off on a new adventure in their neck of the woods. While the friends are playing a game of chestnut checkers, they discover some new competition: Chandler the chinchilla. Chandler challenges Tobin the pangolin to a game to determine the true checkers champion. But it turns out that Chandler the chinchilla is nothing more than a checkers cheater. When Chandler is caught in the act, the friends are upset, but they offer the chinchi
...more

This is another wonderful adventure with our friends Bismark the sugar glider, Dawn the fox, Tobin the pangolin. In this book they meet a new friend Chandler the chinchilla, he claims to be the chestnut (checkers) champion, but after a rough start the friend come together and decide playing for fun is much better than playing for champions. I really like these book because besides meeting new animals you learn a lesson in a calm friendly way, and this is so helpful in such a angry world we live
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As a teacher, I am always trying to encourage my students to develop good play skills. I find myself mediating arguments caused by children not playing nicely or cheating to win quite often, so I was very excited to read this book at storytime. We’ve read the Nocturnals before, so the children were familiar with the characters, and as always the fun illustrations grabbed their attention and kept them engaged in the reading. As I’d hoped, reading The Chestnut Challenge together was a great way to
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My nephew and I read the book over the last two weekends. He is a big gamer and is always concerned about whether other kids are "playing fair" and about winning. The main character--Chandler the chinchilla who cheats at chestnuts is THAT kid that my nephew doesn't understand. As always The Nocturnals beginner reader books gave us a way to talk about the why! In this case we laughed at Chandler's antics to win the game and appreciated how earnest Tobin the pangolin was in trying to play fair and
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This is a children's book geared toward grades 2 to 3. The story is about a group of nocturnal animals playing a game of chestnuts. It imparts the lesson of fair play, how cheating is wrong, and games should be played for fun. A simple story with nice illustrations. Two added bonuses that I particularly liked are the fun facts about nocturnal animals at the end and the ability to download free printable games about nocturnal animals.
I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads. ...more
I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads. ...more

Great Level 3 Grow and Read book about friendship and sportsmanship. The illustrations are colorful and fun and the story is imaginative and fun. This book also includes fun facts about the nocturnals at the end. Some 2-3rd grade readers might find the fun facts section a little more difficult to read than the rest of the story. Overall, this is a fun read that I recommend. I give you a look inside the book here: https://readervacation.wordpress.com/....
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This was a really sweet read! I enjoyed the story and thought the messaged was clear and well received! I loved the illustrations and thought they were super cute. I also thought it was nice that the last few pages included descriptions about the animals in the book, allowing for children to learn even more about the forest animals. I will definitely be reading this book to my younger cousin!
[Received this book through a goodreads giveaway]
[Received this book through a goodreads giveaway]

[I received a review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]
3.5 stars. Solid story with interesting core characters. I loved that the characters have clear personalities. Subject matter of this story is cheating. Solid message about second chances, playing for fun, and practicing to improve rather than cheat. I liked learning about some unusual nocturnal animals. I would definitely check out the rest of this series.
3.5 stars. Solid story with interesting core characters. I loved that the characters have clear personalities. Subject matter of this story is cheating. Solid message about second chances, playing for fun, and practicing to improve rather than cheat. I liked learning about some unusual nocturnal animals. I would definitely check out the rest of this series.

Yet another great read from The Nocturnals. I’m always looking for ways to encourage my two kids to play nicely, and this book was a perfect way to reinforce the idea that “playing fair” is more important than winning. I read this with my younger child, who is in second grade, and it gave us a space to talk about how you can have fun even if you aren’t winning, and how important it is to not get frustrated and try to cheat your way out of a loss.

My 4 year old and I loved this book!! I loved the animals. The characters were interesting to my son and so was the story. The illustrations were great.
I'd definitely recommend this for other family's to read. ...more
I'd definitely recommend this for other family's to read. ...more

Nice lessons for students here about competition and friendship.

Higher level so your kids can grow with these characters. Deals with the theme to be a winner don't cheat and have fun when playing a game in a simple format
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THE CHESTNUT CHALLENGE is a level III reader. I’d probably call it a Level II concepts and vocabulary. I wish more info were given on the habitats of the animals to develop more background. The illustrations were quite good. I would recommend for grades 1.5-2.5. The illustrations were fabulous with great animal expressions!

I've won a few children's book from Goodreads. I think this is the first one I really, truly enjoyed and I can't wait to give it to my granddaughter. This was an enjoyable story with a moral.
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I read this book with my baby cousin the other day and I thought it was absolutely adorable! My cousin was fascinated by the pictures and the unusual animals, and the message of playing fair was definitely one that my cousin needed to hear. Overall, it’s a very entertaining book with an important message.
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Tracey Hecht has written, directed, and produced for film. The American Booksellers Association chose the first book in her critically acclaimed middle grade series, The Nocturnals: The Mysterious Abductions, as a Kids’ Indie Next List pick.
In 2017, she expanded the series to include early reader books, so that families could share the reading experience together. In partnership with the New York ...more
In 2017, she expanded the series to include early reader books, so that families could share the reading experience together. In partnership with the New York ...more
Other books in the series
Nocturnals Early Reader
(5 books)
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