Happy Birthday to Whooo?

Over the years, I've come across several animal baby books. Some talk about the relationship between mother and baby, while others focus only on the babies. But until I came across this book, I'd never seen one quite like it. Happy Birthday to Whooo? By Doris Fisher, is a delightful animal riddle book that includes birth announcements within the text! Each set of pages in the book focuses on a particular animal. On one side of the page, there are clever facts about the animal. On the other side of the page, there is a colorful birth announcement for the animal baby. Fisher cleverly designed the text to provide interesting and often unknown facts about animals. For example, did you know that in the first few weeks of his or her life, a baby whale drinks, "...enough milk to gain 200 pounds every day?" The birth announcements are wittily constructed to allow children to guess the baby animal before looking at the pictures. For example, the announcement for the baby giraffe names the mother as, "Mrs. On Stilts," and gives a weight of 150 pounds and an initial height of 6 feet. The illustrations in Happy Birthday to Whooo? by Lisa Downey, are lovely. The birth announcement pages are constructed so that the child doesn't have to guess "too" hard to figure out who the baby animal is, because various parts of the animals are sticking out behind the announcement. The pages are colorful but soothing, making this a lovely bedtime story as well as a great read-aloud story any time of the day or night.

Each page of this delightful book presents a riddle; can you guess what baby animal was just born? Everyone has a birthday, baby animals do too. Your child will enjoy guessing the baby animal from the clues in these announcements. Proud parents of baby owls, lion cubs, and baby elephants include the weight, length, and number of babies in their announcement. When turning the page your child will see a colorful illustration of the described baby. Did he/she solve the riddle and guess the name of the baby animal? Presenting The Newest Pea In Our Pod! Born: January 16, Weight 5,000 pounds, Length: 25 feet, Proud Mother: Mrs. O. Sean Blue. What is the name of this quite large baby animal? Turn the page and see a colorful illustration of a baby blue whale. Did you know he can drink enough milk to gain 200 pounds every day for the first few weeks? Not all baby animals are delivered by the mother. The seahorse DAD gives birth to between 50 to 200 babies at a time, depending on the species. Baby kangaroos grow inside its mother's pouch; they all have the same name, Joey. By the time a baby giraffe is one year old, it stands 10 feet tall. Parent and child will find this book entertaining as well as informative.

This book is wonderful for little ones and independent readers as well! My second grader loves reading it aloud and making everyone guess what the animal is. A wonderful way for kids to learn about animals. Besides, who DOESN'T love a baby animal?

Eagles and Leopards and Elephants, Oh My! Birth announcements in the form of riddles for twelve different animals will have your kids solving them and sharing the joy of arrival with their parents. This book provides a perfect way for siblings about to experience a new arrival at their home to get comfortable with, and look forward to, the event. Happy Birthday to Whooo? is beautifully illustrated and a delightfully educational tour through the animal kingdom.

Practically all kids love animals, babies, and riddles. So what could be more appealing to them than a collection of animal baby riddles? In her imaginative, charming new book, author Doris Fisher cleverly presents the reader with birth announcements from proud animal parents whose names give clues to the type of animal just born: "Mr. and Mrs. Night Hunter" suggest owls while "Ms. Ivor E. Tusks" hints at elephants. Ms. Fisher also give two more important clues: each baby's height and weight. A clever child can figure out that the new arrival weighing 5,000 pounds is more likely to be a whale than the one barely tipping the scales at 3 ½ ounces. Words like "pride," "herd," and "hoot" woven into the announcements also point the reader to which baby's birth is being heralded. Lisa Downey's beautiful full-color illustrations dramatically confirm the reader's answers to the birth announcement riddles once the reader turns the page. As a teacher for over forty years and the author of non-fiction books that try to combine rhymes, riddles, and jokes with educational objectives, I especially appreciate the "For Creative Minds" section in the back of this, and all Sylvan Dell books. The owner of the book, either a teacher or parent, can photocopy the "For Creative Minds" section or download it from the publishing company's Web site and use it for at-home learning or in-school instruction. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO WHOOO? is a delightful, fun, educational book that will be sure to entertain any young reader who likes a good riddle about a favorite subject. Adults will learn a few fascinating facts about animals too.