Hear and There Book: Night Sounds

I love this book. I bought it for my baby nephew for Christmas. He loves to push buttons and play with toys that make sounds. The book was listed as being for slightly older children, but if you supervise your child (to make sure that they don't pull out the tabs or chew on the book) they will be sure to enjoy it. My nephew was thrilled that he could push a button, repeately, and hear an exciting sound. That was the most important part for him. His daddy read the book and told him about the animal, then my nephew pulled on the tab to see a picture of the animal that he had just heard. He laughed and squealed and kept pushing the button to hear the animal "talk". When he's old enough to read, I think he will even appreciate to the book even more. Until then, he's content to push the buttons over and over again.

This book was bought as a family Christmas present last month. I thought that my boys, ages 3 and 6, would like it but jumpin' jimminy, it's become their favorite bedtime book. Basically, you have a riddle on one side of the page that gives a few hints about the creature, and then you press the color-coded button on the bar below. The creature's sound is called and the child can try to guess its name. Then he can pull a tab on the opposite page to reveal a hidden picture of the night creature. Another flap under the riddle has more information. My six year old cannot get enough of this. After we'd only read the book through a few times he started to play "guess this sound" games with me. He has all 10 creature calls memorized, as well as a lot of facts on each one. How many kids today know what a whippoorwill is, much less what it sounds like? As far as I'm concerned, Night Sounds is the perfect example of how to make learning both fun and effective for children. I am planning on getting Bird Sounds and Safari Sounds (the other two books in this series) based on the tremendous enjoyment we have gotten out of Night Sounds. Fabulous teaching tool and a highly recommended family read-aloud book. -Andrea, aka Merribelle.

This is a fun, entertaining and informative introduction to nocturnal animals for city or country kids. Each of eight animals is given a double-page spread that includes a large pull-tab that reveals the animal in a natural setting; a large lift-the-flap that reveals the animal's identity, picture and several well-chosen paragraphs of interesting information; and a 2-3 second push-button recording with decent sound quality -- the sounds are authentic but a little fuzzy. The eight animals are the coyote, spring peeper, great horned owl, American toad, whippoorwill, field cricket, bullfrog and katydid -- one mammal, two birds, three amphibians and two insects.This is the kind of book that excites children's interest in nature. It is thoughtful and beautiful.

What a fun book! The night is such a fascinating time for children (and adults). The squeaks and squawks and hoots coming from the mysterious shadows can either draw you in, or cause you to run into the house and hide. Gallo's book leads a child to do the former. He starts us all on familiar ground - guessing - what was that noise (supplied by crisply recorded sounds in the book)? Pull the tag, and your question is answered. What sets this book apart, though, is the information Gallo shares once you lift the flap. The more you know about a creature, the more you want to know, and he supplies us with the important, and often fascinating, tidbits about each animal covered. The writing exposes the author's personal experience with the animals. For example, "The song of the whippoorwill is something you will never forget." You know he's heard this bird and knows what aspects about it to share in order to engage the young reader. Using this information, the readers can then go out on that night, or the next morning, to seek out their nocturnal neighbors. A good book to kick off the collection in your child's nature library!

I am a book buyer for a community center with a large preschool program. This book is a hit! The kids can see the vivid colors bird (or other animal, reptile etc.), they can hear the sound it makes and the can read or have read to them a lot more fascinating and at least to me, unappreciated facts about nature. Their are many other activities to keep even the busiest child engaged, such as lift the flap or pull the tab. I am ordering the other title now as well as additional copies of this title and look forward to it as well. Congratulations to Mr.Gallo as well as to Ms.Lohstoeter for a book that is so beautifully written and illustrated!