Animal Planet's Animal Bites Books- Where Young Readers Discover Nature

I am so very excited to share these two, newly published books from Time Inc. and Animal Planet. These books, for the past month, have become staples in our house for reading, exploration, and contemplation about the world around us.

Animal Planet Polar Animals (Animal Bites Series)

• Author: Animal Planet and Laaren Brown
• Age Range: 7 - 10 years
• Grade Level: Preschool - 3
• Lexile Measure: 850
• Series: Animal Bites
• Flexibound: 80 pages
• Publisher: Animal Planet (March 1, 2016)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 161893161X
• ISBN-13: 978-1618931610

 

 

About the Book:

With more than 200 gorgeous animal photos of penguins, polar bears, sea lions, walruses, reindeer and others, Animal Planet Polar Animals is a fun, habitat-by-habitat guide that provides kids in the first years of schooling with the perfect bite-sized view of their favorite animals living in both polar climates. Arranged thematically with focus on animal behavior and family relationships, young readers will explore sections about animal bodies, baby animals, food, play time, conservation, and more. Special book features designed for this age group include Quick Bites sidebars with cool animal facts, simple infographics, and illustrated maps of the coldest places on Earth.

Animal Planet Ocean Animals (Animal Bites Series)

• Age Range: 7 - 10 years
• Grade Level: Preschool - 3
• Lexile Measure: 860
• Series: Animal Bites
• Flexibound: 80 pages
• Publisher: Animal Planet (March 1, 2016)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1618931628
• ISBN-13: 978-1618931627

About the Book: 

With more than 200 gorgeous animal photos of sharks, whales, clown fish, jelly fish, dolphins, and others, Animal Planet Ocean Animals is a fun, habitat-by-habitat guide that provides kids in the first years of schooling with the perfect bite-sized view of their favorite ocean-dwelling animals. Arranged thematically with focus on animal behavior and family relationships, young readers will explore sections about animal bodies, baby animals, food, play time, conservation and more. Special book features designed for this age group include Quick Bites sidebars with cool animal facts, simple infographics, and illustrated maps of Earth's watery environments.

Miss M's Review (age 8)

In both books, I really loved the real photographs. Also, I like how the pictures have labels to explain more about each of the animals. Another thing I love is that the books have activities, places to visit, other recommended books to read, and websites to visit listed at the end of each book. I really like when the books explain what animals say and how to draw animals.

My Review

With the push in schools for children to read more non-fiction titles, there are so many publishers that are rushing to print books that are a complete bore to read for the sake of saying they meet "common core" standards. I know because my daughter, who is in third grade, brings them home and complains how terrible they are to read. Nothing aggravates me more than when young children at the beginning of their educational careers lose their love of reading because of boring texts. However, this new series from Animal Planet is like a breath of fresh air in the non-fiction section of our library. The images contained within this book are phenomenal. There are large, full page photos of animals printed on thick, glossy paper. The quality is not only in the images, but also in the writing and physical pages of the book that bring these creatures to life. While the recommended ages for these books state 7 to 10 years, my three year old has spent hours pouring over the pictures and asking me to read the captions to her. She even brought them with her sister's soccer practice a couple of times and all the little kids poured over the pages of the books while their siblings played. 

The content of these books is also excellent quality. I found the captions next to the pictures to be chock full of interesting tidbits about the animals featured in the books. The information provided is not just interesting, but there is a lot of really great science hidden into the pages of these books. Kids will learn about hydro-thermal vents, the zones of the ocean, migration patterns, and so many other fantastic concepts that teachers could use to incorporate the books into their science lessons.

What makes these books even better is that the publisher sent along these fantastic printables to supplement the series.

Who doesn't want to learn all about the different types of penguins? I mean, my youngest cannot get over the fact that there is an actual Macaroni Penguin. Here she thought macaroni was just the only thing she would eat. 

And the following two images are examples of the pages my oldest fell in love with in the books.

At the end of each book there are fun activity suggestions that include arts and crafts, physical activity, and dramatic play.  My artistic kids are always looking for inspiration, and these books provide ample extension activities to allow the books to extend into hours of play.

Go buy these books because:

A portion of the proceeds will benefit Animal Planet's R.O.A.R. (Reach Out. Act. Respond.) project which partners with leading animal organization to make the world a better place for domestic and wild animals.

FTC Required Disclosures:
 *I received a review copy from the author free of charge. All opinions expressed in this review represent my honest opinions about the book. **This post contains affiliate links to Amazon. If you purchase the books through these links, I receive a small portion of the payment, which I use to support this blog. Thanks for your support!