Lights Out, Night's Out

Using some of the same technology they used in "Baby Turtle's Tale" (Workman Publishing calls it "Scanimation" when they use it in their books) Accord Publishing have created an eye-catching, educational book perfect for bedtime or any time. Each double page spread features movement when the pages are opened (or opened and closed since young audiences be they on laps or in story time will want to see the animation repeated). BUT this gimmick is by far not the only thing to recommend this for a gift or for your library collection. The rhyming text by Boniface is nicely metered, short, and informative. Those double page spreads each show a creature of the night in its nightly doin's. And Kirkova's illustrations most resemble Dav Pilkey ala "When Cats Dream" a bright (and yet NIGHT) mix of blocky heavy line cartoons and realism. In addition to the regulars from animals-of-the-night books, they have chosen some different animals to present: Hippos, spiders, hedghogs, and hamsters join wolves and raccoons and bats. And the final pages feature factlettes for older readers or listeners to enjoy. WELL worth the price of admission. Be ready for repeat readings.

This book exceeded expectations as soon as I opened it. With a little one on the way myself, I've been building the bedtime reading library. I've years of professional experience through nannying and childcare, in addition to be the oldest of 7, so I've had a lot of time to spot what makes up a great night time read. This book qualifies. The simple rhyming is perfect for the young pre-reader and matches well with the images provided. I like that there's further clarification of each animal in the very back. It allows the book to grow with your child's own developing interests. The pictures are wonderful. The blend of night's darkness with vividly depicted creatures is great. And the moving bits...at first I tried to work the pages as I'm used to with the old-style hologram books, but the internal mechanism actually moves the images via the movement of the opposite page. This is great because you can actually fully appreciate the movement as its platform stays steady while you move the other page. Overall, an excellent bedtime book and I'm looking forward to exploring other imaginative AniMotion books.

And it's precious too. The poetic text is simple and perfect, the high definition fluorescent inks used to create the illustrations are fascinating (apparently, they are exclusively used in this book), and these inks are also used to create what is called "AniMotion windows," which I have never seen before, but add so much to the story, text and illustrations; they fit in aptly and naturally. It is so nice to see the creatures in motion beside the vivid illustrations of them. My one bone to pick is that I wish in the AniMotion window featuring the raccoons, the raccoons would have been a bit larger. My favorite one (and I love them all) is the indoor creature, the hamster running in its wheel. A delight! Can't find much not to praise about this book. Well written, well illustrated, well planned out. Perhaps it could have had a better title. But that is really nitpicking in the extreme. At the very back of the book, information is provided about all the creatures one has by this time looked at and read about, each a very interesting entry. The book is terrific! I'd like to see other books which employ the technique of AniMotion. I'm wondering how new a technique it is. I'll be looking forward to more books containing AniMotion by the author and illustrator of this fine one.

This is a cool book for small children. This book contains rhyming, but talks about nocturnal animals, plus uses animotion to make the animals look like they're moving. Learn about fireflies, bats, hedgehogs, owls, jaguars, frogs, raccoons, hippos, wolves, spiders, and even hamsters that can run as far as five miles on their wheel in just one night. Made sturdy like baby's cardboard books, this book will last for a long time. Very cool to look through, and fun for your child. This book is suggested for children ages 4-8, but I think 2-10 would be okay too. I highly recommend this fun book!

I bought this book at Barnes and Noble for my children, 2 and 6 years. It is a fun rhyming story about nocturnal animals. The kids were fascinated with the animotion moving pictures on each page. It was fun to see that animals come to life as we read about them.