Our Forest Friends

“Animal lovers will love to read this book day or night,” says guest reviewer Debbie Glade.

Kids aren’t the only ones who enjoy books with foldout pages and detailed illustrations of animals. Parents can be thoroughly entertained by this too. Day and Night in the Forest by Susan and Peter Barrett introduces readers to how the entire ecosystem of a forest works including the life forms that vary between day and night.

The book starts out with a simple page that tells you how to best use the book. Following the two fabulous foldouts of the Daytime and Nighttime Forest (with keys to help you identify the animals) are pages separated by Conifer Forests, Dense Forest, Mixed Forest and the Forest’s Edge so that readers can understand how and why different animals live in different forest locations during either the daylight or nighttime hours. Each page has illustrations of animals along with short descriptions of its habits and survival techniques. There is a helpful index in the back of the book along with a glossary of terms.

What I like about the book is that many of the animals described are those that children are familiar with and have seen in their backyards or local parks – butterflies, chipmunks, squirrels, woodpeckers, owls, deer, raccoons and more. It is wonderful that the readers can learn about these creatures’ homes and the importance of preserving our forests for their survival. It is obvious that the Susan and Peter Barrett spent a great deal of time researching and writing this valuable book to educate young readers. The only thing that could have made Day and Night in the Forest even better would have been the use of brighter colors for the incredible illustrations.

Editor’s Note: This book is recommended for ages 7-10. If you like this, there’s also Day and Night in The Swamp.

Debbie Glade, today’s guest reviewer, is the author, illustrator and voice talent of the award-winning children’s picture book The Travel Adventures of Lilly P Badilly: Costa Rica, published by Smart Poodle Publishing. She visits South Florida schools with her reading, writing and geography programs. For years, Debbie was a travel writer for luxury cruise lines. She writes parenting articles for various websites and is the Geography Awareness Editor for WanderingEducators.com. She blogs daily at smartpoodlepublishing.com.