Awards

Reviews

Using a rhythmic text and a turn-it-over format, this offering explores the concept that some forest animals are diurnal while others are nocturnal. The details of the lush, almost surreal, illustrations realistically convey the creatures’ appearances and activities. The imaginative interpretation of the landscape and its inhabitants offers youngsters an unusual perspective of forest life. During daylight hours, they can observe deer splashing through a stream while an owl dozes in a nearby tree, snakes staring at sleeping foxes, and blue jays squawking as skunks snooze in a hollow log. After turning the book over to the “forest night,” readers see the deer bedded down while the owl searches for food, the foxes on the prowl as the snakes rest in a tangled bunch, and the skunks scurrying about while a jay sleeps with its head tucked beneath its wing. The strong artwork will hold children’s interest as they search for all of the hidden animals. A fun introduction to nature.

— School Library Journal (October 2005)

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Forest Bright Forest Night is a beautifully illustrated book that is ideal for reading aloud to kindergarteners studying cycles or communities of organisms. Begin with the book “right-side up” and share a simple, four- or five-word rhyming phrase to describe forest organisms during the day. Then, turn the book upside down and explore the night time forest with the same delightful poetic text.

The engaging graphic design is an ideal, hands-on way to show that there is a difference in what is happening during the day and during the night. Integrating science and language arts, the author provides young children with a good introduction to animals in the forest and lets children know about what can happen to nocturnal animals during the night.

Teachers will enjoy using this book to integrate literature and science for children aged 3 through 8. If I were using this book in my classroom, I would focus on the movement and sounds of the animals to begin a nonfiction study of the forest. I would use the text as an introduction and then quickly move to informational reading about the same organisms. This book would be a good addition to a literature and science center and a motivational start to a standards-based unit.

— National Science Teacher’s Assoc. website (www.nsta.org)
Marilyn Cook (July 2005)