Forest Bright, Forest Night
This book is an excellent example of a title that can be used across the curriculum giving you quite a bang for your buck. In addition this book is two books in one. One half shows the animals that are awake during the day in the forest and then you flip the book and the other half shows the animals that are awake at night. This device itself can be used as a topic of discussion and other books that follow this format can be introduced.
The detailed and life-like illustrations depict not only the animals that are awake, but include the slumbering animals too. Seasons can be introduced by talking about animals that hibernate. And the book contains a math component with numbers hidden in many of the illustrations and as well as the opportunity for children to count the animals on each page. Forest Bright, Forest Night makes a great introduction for animals, nocturnal animals, the forest as a habitat, and more.
Each page contains minimal text, but packs quite a punch. The language is rich – including fun alliterations such as “chatter and chase”, “scurry and scramble”, and “slither and slide”. The verbs are very descriptive such as “Nibble and crunch” and “Parade and plod”. This book would be useful in teaching verbs and for a writing lesson. In the middle of the book where both flip books end, all of the text is presented on one page – a good review and reinforcement.
On the Dawn Publications’ website you will find many resources such as study guides and activities to complement their books. There is also explainations about how to use Dawn Publications and their unique blend of fact and story (called creative non-fiction) to support the Common Core and science.
Follow Dawn’s Blog “Nature Books for Kids”.
Go to Dawn’s “Connecting Children and Nature Tip Archive” to get great teaching tips!
Find activities for Dawn books at “Free Downloadable Activities”.
Find book leveling information at “Leveled Readers”.
Dawn Publications mission statement:
“Dawn Publications is dedicated to inspiring in children a deeper understanding and appreciation for all life on Earth. We aim to help parents and teachers encourage children to bond with the Earth in a relationship of love, respect, and intelligent cooperation, through the books we publish and the educational materials we offer online.”
“We pursue quality rather than quantity, limiting ourselves to only a half dozen or so titles a year. When selecting our new project we look for inspirational content and quality art as well as solid information. We aim to reach the hearts as well as minds of children. As nature publishers our material is essentially non-fiction, but usually told with such an engaging style and illustrated with such magical art that most of our books are probably best described by that budding genre, “creative non-fiction.” Each of our products is a unique window into the web of life that, grounded in nature, weaves us all together.”
“We aspire to awaken children to the discovery that they are part of something magnificent.”
In January 2020 Dawn Publications announced on their website: “We’re happy to announce that Dawn Publications has become an imprint of Sourcebooks eXplore, the children’s nonfiction division of Sourcebooks.” “We’re excited that Dawn books, authors, and illustrators will be taking a step into the future with Sourcebooks–a dynamic, innovative publisher with the leadership, resources, and commitment to carry Dawn’s mission forward.”
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