One day on our blue planet ... in the Savannah

PreS-Gr 1-Life on the African savannah is exciting for a young lion cub. He travels with his pride, practices his roar, and even hunts for food. "But this little cub is best at playing!" The book takes readers through a typical day from morning to night, allowing them to observe the natural habitat and animals of this fascinating part of our planet. The story line is simple but informative with introductory vocabulary and concepts about the savannah. The narration could use a little more adventure to highlight the drama of being a wild animal, but the book makes up for it with brilliant illustrations that bring to life the vibrancy of the land. By far the best parts of the book are the illustrated endpapers, the beginning ones portraying daytime animals of the African savannah and the end ones showing the nighttime animals. Readers could spend hours just examining these curious creatures and learning their names. VERDICT A great addition to be read aloud or independently to expand a child's knowledge about nature.-Megan Egbert, Meridian Library District, ID © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

The African savanna, home of a tiny lion cub, is full of intriguing wildlife. The straightforward text of this appealing picture book follows a tiny lion cub for 24 hours as he plays, practices his hunting, and sleeps in his savanna world. It introduces his surroundings and his familya pride that includes aunts, cousins, and a father with a "very, very loud" roar. At night, after the exhausted cub goes off to sleep, the lionesses hunt. While the text mentions that lions are meat eaters, and they're shown stalking zebra, the kill is only suggested, with the bare hint of a zebra hide behind some shrubbery in a nighttime scene. Listeners will be reassured to hear that the cub, for now, "only needs his mother's milk." The digitally created illustrations sometimes focus in on the cub and his family and sometimes move back to display scenes in which he's barely visible among his many unfamiliar neighbors. Day moves smoothly into night and back again. Images and names of most of the animals pictured are repeated on the endpapers. The animals (far more numerous than in reality) have appealing faces and yet remain thoroughly identifiable. Listeners may be lulled to sleep by the gentle story, but they'll also want to be active participants in the find-that-animal game. A sweet ecosystem introduction for preschoolers, the first of a promising series. (Picture book. 2-5) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.