African Animal Alphabet

by Beverly Joubert, Dereck Joubert

Antelopes leap! Elephants roam! Lions stalk and zebras gallop! Wild creatures from all over the African continent scamper through the pages of this delightful book, giving beginning readers a fascinating way to learn the alphabet while discovering some of their favorite animals. Award-winning filmmakers and photographers Dereck and Beverly Joubert bring their vivid images of African wildlife to this superbly engaging alphabet book.

Readers will find brief that text offers basic information about each animal alongside each letter and the corresponding wildlife photo. In some cases, more than one creature represents a particular letter. In a market filled with animal books, this high-interest choice stands out for the power of its photography, the track record of its authors who have won critical acclaim for previous children's titles, the tremendous kid-appeal of African animals, and the proven reliability of the National Geographic brand.

Genres: Animals, Picture Books, Nonfiction, Africa, Childrens, Science, Education

48 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Beverly Joubert was born in South Africa in 1957. She began her career in photography in Botswana's famous Savute region where she and her husband, film director Dereck Joubert, started making natural history films.
Beverly's work has appeared in many issues of NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC magazines, including the cover story ''Lion of Darkness''. Her work has also been published in over a hundred magazines including Geo, African Wildlife and of course NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC.
Beverly is co-founder of Wildlife Films, which has produced ten films for National Geographic Television over the past 18 years. Some of these have received cult status, and it is estimated that the film Eternal Enemies reached and continues to reach more than 100 million people. She has received two Emmy awards and a Peabody Award for her production and sound recording role on their film Reflections of Elephants. She is also credited as the producer of the recent Walt Disney Pictures feature film, Whispers: An Elephant's Tale. Beverly has won various categories of the BBC wildlife photography competition over the years.
There is little doubt that Beverly is an icon among woman photographers of Africa. Her knowledge of the place and its spirit comes out in her work. Her conservation involvement extends to being a member of the Chobe Wildlife Trust and a founding member of the Wild Places Foundation.
Beverly specializes in capturing a moment of natural history that crystallizes the action and power of animals doing what they do without their being aware of us. Her recent exhibit in France was about poaching and what Botswana's military is doing to stop it. Here she used the hidden camera techniques to let soldiers and poachers interact naturally treating them as equals to her usual animal subjects.

Reviews

[Anthony]

An A to Z book detailing different animals located and living on the continent of Africa. Interesting facts are shared about each animal.

[Mystic]

There is a simple reason why I love this book. The photography is beautiful and lovingly done. This is not a surprise when one considers the talent behind the camera, Dereck and Beverly Joubert are simply phenomenal. The information about the animals should also interest the kids but the main draw for me is the photography. My nephew is usually a fan for surreal fiction but his face LIT UP when he saw the animals(especially the cheetah, his favourite!). Because of the sweat smile this gave my nephew I definitely recommend this book.

[Karla]

This is so good! I had to have a copy for my classroom. Great animal photos, with a little "did you know" blurb too. Just a line or two about the critter. Alphabet is enlarged as you go along too.
Love the animal facts ABC at the end, as well as more info options. A+

[Michelle]

Has awesome informative facts for every animal.

[Fernando Silva]

this book is perfect

[Nichole]

I think an earlier design challenge I'm going to set for my students is to make a picture book using images from Creative Commons (or their own photography??)

[KaitandMaddie]

We read this years ago and revisited it to test our French animal vocabulary. We didn’t do so well because so many of the animals were specific species, but we looked all those up as well.

[Inger]

Animals I've never heard of, beautifully illustrated!

[David]

African Animal Alphabet by Beverly Joubert, illustrated by Dereck Joubert, features both well and lesser known animals in an alphabet format, with information about each one. The book includes an introduction, Africa map showing habitats, Animal Facts pages, Did you know features, a glossary, and page of book sources and websites. Lesser known animals featured include Dung beetles, Impala, Kudu, Nile crocodiles, Tsessebe, Umbrette, Vervet monkey, Xenopus bullfrog, and Yellow-billed hornbill.

Joubert's photographs are brilliant. My very favorite images include baboons, cheetahs, Dung beetles, giraffes, jackals, lion, squirrels, vervet monkeys, warthogs and zebras. The baboon, cheetah and zebra action pictures are superb.

This is a high-quality ABC and informational animal book with excellent photographs. The Animals Facts pages and Did you know features for each animal give interesting and unusual facts. My only improvement would have been for another map showing where these animals roam. The suggestion in the introduction to count the number of times the featured letter is used in words on that page lends an added vocabulary and counting feature to the book. This is highly recommended for school and public library collections.

For ages 4 to 8, Africa, abc, animals, adventure, informational, travel, and fans of Beverly Joubert and Dereck Joubert.

[Lauren Rhodes]

Literature Requirement #24 Picture Book Concept Book

Award Winning photographers and film makers Beverly and Dereck Joubert take the reader through an African safari and subsequently the alphabet. There are lovely vibrant and graphic pictures of animals that make it seem like you have taken the safari trip along with them. The book has lovely text features including short and sweet did you know facts about each animal, a map of Africa perfect for blowing up and taking the safari adventure along as you read the book, a handy glossary of terms and page of book sources and websites to check out for additional information. While the book includes known such as elephants and cheetahs it also includes wonderful lesson known animals for example, Dung beetles, Impala, Kudu, Nile crocodiles, Tsessebe, Umbrette, Vervet monkey, Xenopus bullfrog, and Yellow-billed hornbill. This book is fun, lovely and vibrant and must read to enjoy again and again.

[Doren Damico]

This ABC book utilizes the same smart design features as Ocean Counting that make it valuable for ongoing enjoyment and exploration. The authors use alliteration to present several wonderful vocabulary words for each letter, along with interesting facts.

When reading this book with one of my 4 year old private coaching students, we had a stimulating discussion. She was intrigued by the 4 different antelopes that she had categorized as “deer.” (I learned there are 72 species of antelopes on the continent of Africa.) We discussed their foreign names and identified differences in their horns and hides. She also finally understood why I call her little stuffed cat, “leopard” when we compared its spots to the cheetah in this book.

See enhancement resources and links, as well as 9 other reviews of National Geographic Kids books at: http://www.dorendamico.com/10-awesome...

[Cemeread]

A map of Africa with a key is included just before the introduction. Very similar to the counting book in the same series so it can be used on many levels. Did you know? boxes with an additional, interesting fact sentence. In this title the letter and the animal representing it are highlighted in a different color and larger font. I do wish the lower case letter had been used instead of upper case since children will see more lower case in print. The photographs are just a good as those in the counting book. Books for more information and websites are given just after the glossary. How much of the book is read can be adjusted to fit each age level listed.

toddler
preschool
elementary

[Jenilyn Willis]

I thought this was a great informational book for children. Each letter of the alphabet was represented by a different animal from Africa, but there were lots of other cool things about it too. It also dealt with sounds; for example, on the cheetah page there were a few words that started out with the "ch" sound. It would be good to have children pick out the words on each page that start with the same sound. I also liked the little "did you know" questions on each page, and the extra information and glossary at the end.

[Dona Gay]

African Animal Alphabet is a really great book. The photos are fantastic. There is the expected, "A is for Antelope, B is for Baboon" with simple explanations about the animals but there is also an interesting fact about each animal. "Did you know? An ostrich's eye is 2 inches (5 centimeters) across. It has the largest eyes of any land animal." Children will LOVE this book and so will parents.

[Jessi]

Really beautiful pictures, easy to read, and includes some great little facts about African animals. Did you know that a porcupine's teeth are so strong, they can eat elephant ivory if they happen to find it lying around? I didn't know that, and I know a LOT about animals.

[Barb Keister]

Informational book with fascinating photographs and interesting "Did you know?" facts on each page. Lots of great text features for using as a mentor text for primary students. Nice balance of familiar animals as well as more obscure ones. What exactly is a tsessebe?

[Brittney Daniel]

I like this story because it shows culture as well as teaches phonemic awareness. The children learn letters as well as animals that begin with that letter. The book also shows different places that animals live in our world.

[Kristen]

Love the National Geographic photos that make this alphabet book stand out.

[Amanda_DJ n' Zac]

Both the boys were all into the animals.. an then we watched Animals United an DJ was yelling out what the african animals were named. lol

[Karen Arendt]

Gorgeous photographs give close up pictures of African animals. Each page includes a did you know question. Glossary and additional information included.

[Sharon]

Tommy selected this book in his last batch from the 2012-13 school year. We've read it a couple of times, but it has gotten lost in the shuffle.

[Tanya (mom's small victories)]

My animal lover in elementary school liked this book because it taught him "new animals he didn't know before and the letter it starts with".

[Jill]

An excellent book for first graders when learning about animals from Africa. We read a couple pages each day.

[Laura Haske]

This is on the longer side for an alphabet book, so it's probably best suited to an older toddler. It has fun facts about each of the animals and uses a lot of new vocabulary.

[Vilo]

Beautiful photographs of African animals that my students were highly motivated to read with me. It was a fabulous introduction to the new African safari exhibit at our local zoo.

[Julie]

Pretty pictures, science, ABC's and some alliteration.

[Jim Sibigtroth]

I have the iPad Reading Rainbow version of this book and I use it with PK and K students.