Night Animals (Usborne Beginners)

Usborne Beginners

by Susan Meredith

Which animals come out at night? How do they find food in the dark? Where do they go during the day? In this book you'll find the answers and lots more about the secret world of night animals. The easy-to-read text has been specially written with the help of a reading expert. Suggested websites add to the adventure.

Genres: Nonfiction, Animals, Science, Childrens, Picture Books, School, Kids

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Susan Meredith grew up in Yorkshire, and when she wasn't playing out or dancing, she was busy reading or making little books of her own, mainly about ballet. She's now written more than 20 real books for Usborne, on subjects ranging from saving the planet to playing football, from world religions to the human body. Her book Growing Up won the Times Educational Supplement's senior information book of the year award but her own personal favourite has to be Hamsters.

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is very informative and its readability is great for young readers.

[Courtney · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought that this book was very informational on what some types of animals do at night and how the animals survive in the dark.

This book talks about some of the traits that a person would need if they were a night animal. Having big bulgy eyes helps night animals see things clearly at night. This book also talks about night animals being nocturnal, this means that these animals sleep all day so that they can stay up all night. Daylight can hurt a lot of night animals' eyes, so in their eyes the black part becomes very tiny during the day so they can see. Another trait a lot of night animals have is good hearing because some animals do not have as good of eyes as others, so they need to be able to hear the slightest movements around them.

Some of the characters in this book are: hippos,bats, night monkeys, and owls. At night hippos feed on the grass because they cannot stand the heat of the sun during the day. Bats makes lots of high squeaks as they fly along, these noises bounce off insects and then the bat can hear this and scoops up the insect to eat it. Night monkeys do not like other animals coming too close so they chatter at them until they go away. Finally, owls cannot move their eyes but they can turn their heads all the way around to see what is behind them this helps them when they are trying to hunt.

This book talks about current day animals and the book setting takes place mostly at night.

I would recommend this book to boys and girls in the grades of 3rd-7th. I chose these grades because I don't think that older kids would enjoy reading this book since it is mostly a little kids book.

[Donna Gallant · Rating 4 out of 5]

This informational nonfiction book is a part of a Beginners Nature nonfiction series from Usborne Books, copyright 2007. It is full of various sized photographs, along with some illustrations and small digital cartoons. It is within the comprehension and interest range of very young and older children, ut I would venture it has a Fountas & Pinell reading level of J-M, to be read by 6-8 year olds.

Characteristic of genre: It is an enjoyable read and the subject of nocturnal animals is well-covered with many subtopics including busy at night, keeping hidden, night noises, light messages, etc. This informational book fosters the spirit of inquiry by including interesting information and unique animals--black dragonfish, glow-worms.

Characteristic of genre: Information is presented in a clear and visually appealing format. The book is well-organized with content, glossary and website to visit pages.

It designed to provide science content to young children about nocturnal animals and serves its audience well.

No awards or published reviews known

[Kristin Nelson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unpopular opinion: this book is not that good. The info is not presented well. It's organized oddly. There's a table of contents, but it jumps around (headings: bushbabies, big eyes, listen and sniff, owls, too hot, daytime sleep, keeping hidden, bats...). Some of the illustrations and pictures are really quite small, especially because the book is only 6x8. Definitely not good for a readaloud, but also just too cluttered in general. I'll check my library for better books about nocturnal animals!

[Bryce Akey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I though “Night Animals” was a very informational book for children. I read this book to my little cousins, Natalie and Olivia, over Christmas break. They loved looking at all the different pictures of the animals. This book is all about animals that are awake during the night. It talks about what animals are nocturnal, such as raccoons and bush babies. Each page of this book talks about a different animal, and what they do during the night. Some animals have to make noises to move around in the night, while other animals have big eyes that makes it easy to see. There are over twenty animals talked about in this book.

This book does not contain main characters. Instead it has over twenty animals that make up this book. A few of the animals in this book are koalas, tarsiers, owls, and bats. There are many other animals that I did not name. Each animal has a short fact about what they do during the night.

The setting of this book takes place during the night. There are a few pages that talks about the daytime, but most of it is during the night. The time period of this book is not mentioned.

The theme of this book is education. This book does a good job of teaching children all about nocturnal animals. What is also great about this book is that in the back there is a glossary of terms that are hard for children to understand. There is also a list of websites that children can visit to learn more.

This was a great children’ book. The pictures of the animals were good. I enjoyed reading this book to my cousins, because they enjoyed learning about all the different animals. I would recommend this book to younger children who are just beginning to read. This book is easy to read and has a great educational purpose.

[Ashlee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Man there are some creepy pictures in this book. And did you know an owl can move his head all the way around.

[Vanessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great series for early readers. Great pictures, very educational and engaging. My son loved this! Can't wait to read others in the series.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

The books in this series are really wonderful for introducing simple science topics to young learners. The internet links are a nice way to supplement any interest a child has.

[Esmay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this alongside my night animal course I am doing.

[Anna Farris]

This book talks about different nocturnal animals, their characteristics, and their habits. A lot of nocturnal animals come out at night because it is safer for them to hunt at night. Nocturnal animals tend to have bigger eyes than daytime animals because they need to see in the dark. They have heightened sight and hearing because of this lack of sight in the dark. Some animals are nocturnal because it is too hot during the day for them to come out. Most of these animals sleep during the day and have various ways to camouflage themselves so they do not get eaten while they are sleeping. Some examples of nocturnal animals are bats, owls, hedgehogs, koalas, and bushbabies.

This is a good read for younger readers because while it provides a plethora of information about nocturnal animals, it is presented in a way that heightens understanding and is simple. There are a lot of pictures and diagrams that also increase understanding of the subject. I like that this book has a glossary and index in the back. It is almost like an introductory science textbook.

I would definitely use this book during a science lesson about nocturnal animals. This not only has the animals themselves but explains different things about each animal and why it is nocturnal. Using this to help during a science lesson would be beneficial to students because they could see a variety of animals they might not have seen before and it opens them up to learning. The resources included within the book can help the students start to conduct research about the animals on their own and understand words they might not have known before.