Gorillas

by Seymour Simon

Overview

Classic movies show giant gorillas scaling tall buildings and swatting planes from the sky, but actual gorillas are gentle social animals that live together in family groups like humans. In fact, gorillas are one of the closest genetic matches to people. And just like humans, gorillas can shriek, chuckle, hiccup, and even burp! Award-winning science writer Seymour Simon brings you a full-color photographic introduction to these fascinating animals. This nonfiction picture book is an excellent choice to share during homeschooling, in particular for children ages 6 to 8. It’s a fun way to learn to read and as a supplement for activity books for children.

Seymour Simon knows how to explain science to kids and make it fun. He was a teacher for more than twenty years, has written more than 250 books, and has won multiple awards.

This book includes an author's note, glossary, and index and supports the Common Core Learning Standards, Next Generation Science Standards, and the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) standards.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780060891015
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	12/30/2008
Edition description:	Updated
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	9.44(w) x 9.94(h) x 0.05(d)
Lexile:	960L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Seymour Simon has been called “the dean of the [children’s science book] field” by the New York Times. He has written more than 300 books for young readers and has received the American Association for the Advancement of Science/Subaru Lifetime Achievement Award for his lasting contribution to children’s science literature, the Science Books & Films Key Award for Excellence in Science Books, the Empire State Award for excellence in literature for young people, and the Educational Paperback Association Jeremiah Ludington Award. He and his wife, Liz, live in Columbia County in Upstate New York. You can visit him online at www.seymoursimon.com, where students can post on the “Seymour Science Blog” and educators can download a free four-page teacher guide to accompany this book, putting it in context with Common Core objectives. Join the growing legion of @seymoursimon fans on Twitter!

Editorial Reviews

While the stunning, highly expressive photographs dominate in space and impact, Simon's concise and child-friendly writing means that a fairly full picture of gorilla behavior. . .is amply conveyed... —November-December 2000)

Horn Book

"The more you find out about gorillas, the more interesting and less fearsome they become" is this prolific author's theme; he makes his case by matching appealing, shot-in-the-wild photographs to a fluently informative report on the gorilla's physical make-up and typical behavior. They are not so different from us, he contends, pointing to their DNA, fingerprints, and other features, describing their daily routines in the wild, how young are raised, what gorilla sounds and gestures signify, how they respond to perceived threats, and so on. His approach is wonderfully accessible, giving his young readers connections they can recognize: "Fully grown males may weigh more than four hundred pounds, about the weight of ten second-grade children." While it's an idyllic existence—"A gorilla belch means that it is feeding contentedly or sleeping nicely. One gorilla belches, and soon all the gorillas are belching in a slow, relaxing chorus"—it is also threatened, he notes at the end. Building his case carefully and thoughtfully, Simon (They Walk the Earth, p. 485, etc.) leads the reader to understand how nearly human these gentle creatures are, thereby increasing the sense of obligation to save them by saving their forests. The photographs, most of which are closeups, capture how expressive gorilla faces can be. Who could resist their charm? Like Ted and Betsy Lewin's Gorilla Walk (1999), a sure way to turn gorilla-phobes into gorilla-philes. (Nonfiction. 8-11)

Kirkus Reviews