Ultimate Spotlight: Polar Animals, by Sandra Laboucarie/Illustrated by da-fanny, (Aug. 2021, Twirl Books), $16.99, ISBN: 9791027608782
Ages 5-8
As kids area getting ready to put on sweatshirts and jackets, the Ultimate Spotlight: Polar Animals are here to show readers how they handle the extreme weather in the Southern Hemisphere. Five spreads, loaded with flaps, pull-tabs, pulls, and fold-out spreads illustrate how penguins, orcas, whales, musk oxen, polar bears, and more animals eat, travel, and live on land and in the ocean. A brief, factual paragraph introduces readers to the subject matter on each spread: Born in the Cold, Eating Underwater, Traveling Underwater, Winter and Summer in the Tundra, and On the Ice Sheet. Interesting facts run through each spread: penguins use their wings to swim, not fly; humpback whales have baleen plates, not teeth; a seal’s clawed front flippers help it cut breathing holes in thick ice. Sturdy flaps and pulls will stand up to multiple reads; the illustrations and facts will make this an interesting book that will keep toddlers happy during a read-aloud, and preschoolers and emerging readers fascinated as they discover and learn about life in the Arctic and Antarctic.
Cool Antarctica has beautiful photos and facts about Arctic and Antarctic animals, as well as recipes, PowerPoints, and other school resources.
The Ultimate Book of Animals, by Anne-Sophie Baumann/Illustrated by Éléonore Della Malva, (Aug. 2021, Twirl Books), $22.99, ISBN: 9791027610006
Ages 5-8
This oversized beauty is chock full of activities for curious little minds and hands. With more than 50 flaps, pop-up, pull-tabs, mini-books, and more, kids won’t know where to look first! A great starter animal encyclopedia, The Ultimate Animal Book has spreads on Animal Bodies, Birth and Growing, Body Coverings, movement, the five senses, movement, and more. Each spread is loaded with manipulatives for kids to explore: lift the wings of a seagull or a macaw or pull a tab to learn how horses, cats, bees, and bald eagles see; pull a tab to see a snake’s slithery tongue, and lift flaps to discover the inner workings of all sorts of animals, from a pigeon to a dolphin. Loaded with facts that let kids learn hands-on, this is going to be a popular book in your collections. Preschool shelves should absolutely keep one of these on-hand for their science/STEM stations.
Put out the animal coloring sheets and display with other interesting animal books – maybe take a spread to draw attention to related books in your collection! If you were doing a spread on Animal Hearing, you could feature books like What If You Had Animal Ears?, by Sandra Markle; the immortal Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? by Bill Martin Jr., and Caroline Arnold’s Did You Hear That? Animals with Super Hearing.
Magnetology: Animals, by Maud Poulain/Illustrated by Camille Tisserand, (Sept. 2021, Twirl Books), $22.99, ISBN: 9791027609987
Ages 3-5
If you have play areas, this is the book for you! Perfect for science stations and play areas (and a pretty darn nice gift), Magnetology: Animals includes 45 magnetic pieces and a strong cardboard envelope, built into the book, for storage. Five magnetic spreads let readers create their own animal habitats across the Arctic, a forest, the Savanna, the rain forest, and a coral reef. A few lines on each biome gives readers an overview of each area; short fun facts across each spread give readers more to read and learn. Let kids create their own habitats, mix and match animals, and create their own stories! Consider putting a rubber band around the top of the page to keep pages open and offer some toy animals, too, if you have them available. Illustrations are colorful and eye-catching. Toddlers can easily get in on the fun. Make animal board books available around the play area, if you’ve set one up. Some recent favorites of mine include Giuliano Ferri’s Go Fish and Lo Cole’s Ten in a Hurry; Turn Seek and Find Habitats, and Brita Teckentrup’s Little Animal series.
Mom Read It 