Wild Ones: Observing City Critters

• Moonbeam Children’s Book Award (Gold)
• 2016 Next Generation Indie Book Award (Finalist)
• 2016 Green Book Festival Award (Winner)
• 2016 Foreward INDIES (Finalist)
• Animals, Animals, Animals Book Festival Award (Winner)
• Purple Dragonfly Book Award (Honorable Mention)

A new children’s picture book called Wild Ones, Observing City Critters offers readers a tour of wildlife that can thrive in urban areas. The main character is Scooter, a dog who wanders away from home. Readers are invited to follow Scooter’s neighborhood travels and use their senses to discover city wildlife. Scooter uses his eyes, ears, and nose to help detect the wildlife around him. On a few occasions he even uses his senses of touch and taste, too! Readers play a game of I Spy along with Scooter, using this book’s colorful illustrations to find urban wildlife that Scooter both does and does not detect. For example, Scooter does not seem to notice the bald eagle taking flight near the safe habitat created by a city bridge, but readers won’t miss it. The bald eagle pictured in this book was inspired by the mating pair that currently resides on the riverbanks of Washington, DC. These bald eagles have nested in the same tree two years in a row, hatching two juveniles just this month (March, 2016). Their nest can be viewed online via a live camera feed, 24 hours a day.

— Jaclyn Stallard, Project Learning Tree e-newsletter, Literature Connection (Spring2016)

Nature and its variety of animals are everywhere, even in the city. The author follows a dog as he explores many of the scenes present in every city. A squirrel and an opossum lurk near a shed. Ducklings are in danger on a ledge. A beaver and a gull are busy near the water. Starlings raid a trash bin. A rabbit snacks in a garden. Geese gather near a pond. Foxes, owls, and bats fascinate the dog. This approach is both captivating and enlightening. As always, Morrison’s illustrations are lively, accurate, and fun to look at. With each illustration, more details are revealed about the natural world of the city. Second graders will learn a lot about the critters they pass every day. In addition to learning more about the creatures, many reading activities are suggested by the text, including looking for squirrels and their activities on every page. Kids can make observations and maps in their own backyard. Many facts and resources for further learning are listed after the story ends.

— Sue Poduska, — 2ndgrade learning.net (2016)

“Nature is all around us, even in the city.” And when Scooter sneaks out the back door, we head off with him on his city tour of critter discoveries.
What I like about this book: Scooter starts off chasing a squirrel. Of course! But he doesn’t notice the raccoon, or the possum. On each page we see what Scooter doesn’t notice as well as what he does notice. Which makes you wonder: what am I not noticing around me? In this book you’ll learn about gulls that sneak off with chip bags and bats that live under a bridge. While Scooter explores, his family is searching for him – and that story is told through illustrations.
I also like that Dawn books come with “back matter”: pages of activities and more stuff to explore. For example, “squirrels are everywhere in the city…” and there’s one on every page of this book. Go back and see what it’s doing. What a great way to help kids develop their skills of observation.

— Archimedes Notebook Blog (2016)

Finally, there is WILD ONES: OBSERVING CITY CRITTERS by Carole L. Malnor and illustrated by Cathy Morrision. This educational picture book takes readers to an urban setting and shows what kinds of animals live in cities.  Not exactly your typical science book, right? I really enjoyed WILD ONES: OBSERVING CITY CRITTERS. I can’t remember seeing a book book like this one, and I love that kids who live in more urban settings can still learn about the nature around them. Not to mention, the illustrations are terrific! There is just so much to look at on each page!

I will admit that I quickly turned to the back of this book to see what supplemental material the author chose to include. In WILD ONES, there are lists of items/animals that the kids can find on each page. My kids loved hunting down clues and searching through books, and I can only imagine how much fun it would be to find these animals in the midst of these fantastic drawings.In addition, there is a section called “Is it Really True?” that brings to life some of the fun aspects of the book. There is also a section that explains how “wild” animals are able to adapt to city surroundings. And of course, there is an activities section for WILD ONES which is full of ideas for further enrichment!All three of these picture books are fantastic and must-have for science teachers and elementary school libraries. Highly recommended!

— Booking Mama.com (2016)

We love all Dawn Publications books but this was a favorite of ours. Each page tells you something the main character of the story (a curious, lovable dog out on an adventure) doesn’t see, along with something he does see. Which prompts you to look all over the page to see what the dog sees and what he is missing. Plus it manages to work in the word “poop” in a kid friendly way that had my kids giggling like crazy and asking for it to be re-read immediately. Great story, awesome pix and  lots of education woven into this book. 8 thumbs up from  me and the three kids.

— Erin, top review on Amazon.com (2016)