Tough Beginnings: How Baby Animals Survive [Hardcover]

Marilyn Singer (Author), Anna Vojtech (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up

An entertaining and informative look at the tough beginnings some baby animals must face in their first moments of life.

"It's tough to begin on the beaches,it's tough to begin in the seas,it's hard to hang on to your mother,it's hard to jump out of the trees . . ."

When human babies are born, their parents care for them until they're old enough to live on their own. Other babies have to grow up a whole lot faster.

A baby giraffe must stand within an hour of being born, or its mother will abandon it. A baby sea turtle needs to race from the sand to the safety of the sea moments after it hatches. These are just a few of the amazing survival stories you'll find in this book.

So if you ever thought baby animals had it easy, step into their world and take a look at some really tough beginnings.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Gr 2-4-Thirteen spreads each discuss a particular hazard to a specific animal baby. Wood ducklings leave their nests when they are just one day old, sometimes dropping 60 feet to the ground. Spadefoot toads are laid in quickly drying desert puddles and must metamorphose rapidly, occasionally nourished by eating their dying siblings. Each spread contains a text box of detailed information about one species, complemented by a large, clear appealing watercolor at times verging on cute (particularly the smiling mother opossum on the cover). Read in succession, the first large-print line of each page creates a lilting rhyme about the difficulty of surviving as an animal baby. A final spread tells about 10 more species. This title could work as a read-aloud, in a science unit on adaptation, or be enjoyed by young animal lovers.

Ellen Heath, Orchard School, Ridgewood, NJ

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 2-4, younger for reading aloud. An interesting elementary science lesson unfolds via a conversational text and attractive, occasionally dramatic illustrations that explain just how tough it can be for an animal baby to survive. Baby wood ducks, for example, may have to drop 60 feet to the ground to join their mother on their first jaunt. Komodo dragon must worry about being eaten by Dad; and emperor penguin chicks hatch during Antarctic winter. It's clear that nature is geared to survival of the fittest, and mortality rates can be very high--only one in 100 baby sea turtles survives to become an adult. Thirteen babies--including humans-- appear in double-page spreads, with a dozen more animals briefly discussed in an end spread. Thought provoking in a way that will appeal to children's sensibilities. Denise Wilms
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR); 1st edition (July 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805061649
• ISBN-13: 978-0805061642
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 10.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #513,770 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Marilyn Singer was born in the Bronx (New York City) on October 3, 1948 and lived most of her early life in N. Massapequa (Long Island), NY. She attended Queens College, City University of New York, and for her junior year, Reading University, England. She holds a B.A. in English from Queens and an M.A. in Communications from New York University.

In 1974, after teaching English in New York City high schools for several years, she began to write - initially film notes, catalogues, teacher's guides, and film strips. Then, one day, when she was sitting in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, she penned a story featuring talking insect characters she'd made up when she was eight. Encouraged by the responses she got, she wrote more stories, and in 1976, her first book, The Dog Who Insisted He Wasn't, was published by E.P.Dutton & Co.

Since then, Marilyn has published over eighty books for children and young adults. Her genres are many and varied, including realistic novels, fantasies, non-fiction, fairy tales, picture books, mysteries and poetry. She likes writing many different kinds of books because it's challenging and it keeps her from getting bored.

Marilyn currently lives in Brooklyn, NY, with her husband Steve; their standard poodle Oggi, seen in the home page photo; a cat named August ; two collared doves named Jubilee and Holiday; and a starling that says, "Hi. How are you? Sweet Birdie. Okay!" Her interests include ballroom/Latin dancing, dog training, reading, hiking, bird-watching, gardening, playing computer adventure games, and going to the movies and the theatre. She's also a major Star Trek fan.

Marilyn is the former host of the AOL Children's Writers Chat and currently co-hosts the Poetry Blast at various conferences. Visit her web site: www.marilynsinger.net.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Tough Beginnings: How Baby Animals Survive, May 2, 2011

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Creamsicle - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tough Beginnings: How Baby Animals Survive (Hardcover)

This book has wrong information, but is good overall. Polar bears do not prey on penguins because polar bears are in the Arctic and penguins are in the Antarctic and other southern hemisphere locations. The book is helpful for children to understand baby animal survival and be thankful for their parents.