Animals Asleep [Hardcover]

Sneed B. Collard III (Author), Anik McGrory (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 5 and up | Grade Level: K and up

The average human sleeps a total of twenty-four years over a lifetime. That’s a lot of naps! Yet people aren’t the only ones who enjoy a good rest; if you look around, you’ll find that all animals have a biological need for sleep. But some animals snooze in ways that we would find startling—if not absolutely impossible. A sooty tern, an island bird, takes a nap in midair as it slowly flaps its wings. A fruit bat gets forty winks while hanging upside down from a tree branch. A bottlenose dolphin can put half of its brain to sleep while it continues to swim. What other remarkable methods of sleep exist?

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 3-This picture book presents the sleep behaviors of a wide variety of creatures from all over the world. The appealing watercolor illustrations consist of single- and double-page paintings. Soft, pastel backgrounds cradle brighter hues, bringing into focus each animal as it takes a nap, hibernates, or sleeps. The large-print text uses general terms to describe the different ways and places that these animals rest, while paragraphs written in smaller type delve into more details about each species. Though the entries are brief, the information is clearly presented. Readers learn how orangutans weave a sleeping nest, mother pandas nap with their babies, and sea otters "sack out in a nearby kelp bed." There are some interesting tidbits: the bottlenose dolphin rests half its brain while the other half navigates the deeps, and the sooty tern dozes in flight. The author also explains that scientists don't really know much about the rest habits of invertebrates, such as giant clams. A solid offering for nature lovers.
Nancy Call, Santa Cruz Public Libraries, Aptos, CA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

PreS-Gr. 3. Collard offers a dual text in this short, fully illustrated book about the sleep habits of animals, from orangutans and otters to dogs and cats. A parent or child could read just a few words appearing in large type or dip into the smaller-print paragraph of related information below. The large-type text is very general and flows well, while the small-type text is quite specific, switching abruptly from one animal to another but providing some interesting information along the way. In both cases, the tone is colloquial, with the writer referring to the reader or to himself as well as the animals under discussion. One section begins, "Do giant clams sleep? Your guess is as good as mine!" In the paragraph that follows, Collard discusses the mysteries of sleep in invertebrates with a disarming readiness to admit that scientists don't have all the answers. McGrory's paintings offer graceful, well-composed depictions of beasts, birds, and butterflies in a series of beautifully lit settings. For larger collections. Carolyn Phelan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children (March 23, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618276971
• ISBN-13: 978-0618276974
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 8.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #935,345 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Two books in one, fiction and non-fiction strands, March 10, 2011

By 

Carolyn Wilhelm (Grand Marais, MN) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Animals Asleep (Hardcover)

This book can be read on two different levels. Each animal presented in this story has a simple fiction story sentence, and by reading only the fiction parts it could be a good-night story similar to GOODNIGHT MOON. However, each animal is described at more length with non-fiction information. Reading the book that way would interest children even more. It is a little confusing to read it both ways in one sitting, until children are familiar with the book.

This is a multi-genre book, having fiction and non-fiction combined.