Midnight Madness at the Zoo

by Sherryn Craig, Karen Jones

Overview

The bustle of the crowd is waning and the zoo is quieting for the night. The polar bear picks up the ball and dribbles onto the court; the nightly game begins. A frog jumps up to play one-on-one and then a penguin waddles in to join the team. Count along as the game grows with the addition of each new animal and the field of players builds to ten. Three zebras serve as referees and keep the clock, because this game must be over before the zookeeper makes her rounds. This fictional story with rhyming text includes a 4-page For Creative Minds section in the back of the book and a 34-page cross-curricular Teaching Activity Guide online. Midnight Madness at the Zoo is vetted by experts and designed to encourage parental engagement. Its extensive back matter helps teachers with time-saving lesson ideas, provides extensions for science, math, and social studies units, and uses inquiry-based learning to help build critical thinking skills in young readers. The Spanish translation supports ELL and dual-language programs. The enhanced ebook reads aloud in both English and Spanish with word highlighting and audio speed control to promote oral language skills, fluency, pronunciation, text engagement, and reading comprehension.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781628557510
Publisher:	Arbordale Publishing
Publication date:	02/10/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	6 MB
Age Range:	4 - 9 Years

About the Author

Author Sherryn Craig says that writing is like exercise-it's important to stretch the creative muscles daily. A family love for basketball combined with a trip to their local zoo provided the inspiration for her debut picture book, Midnight Madness at the Zoo. Sherryn lives in Virginia with her husband and two children. Visit her website: www.sherryncraig.com.

Award-winning illustrator Karen Jones began her career as a storyboard artist and editorial illustrator but it wasn't until she had children of her own that she discovered her true artistic passion: children's illustration. In addition to Midnight Madness at the Zoo, Karen has illustrated One Odd Day, My Even Day and My Half Day for Arbordale. She has also written and illustrated ABC Safari. Karen and her family live outside of Raleigh, NC. Karen's children join her on many research trips to museums, zoos and aquariums-a tough job, but someone has to do it! Visit Karen's website: http://www.karenjonesillustration.com/

Editorial Reviews

"Craig's sturdy rhymes are faithful to the rhythm she establishes, and the occasional use of basketball jargon (defined in a glossary, included along with supplemental activity suggestions) adds welcome dashes of irreverence. - Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

2015-12-08
Math, basketball, and a trip to the zoo. "The sun goes down at eight o'clock. / The zoo begins to close. / The crowds are thinning out as all / the people leave for home." Out come all the animals from their pens as they answer the call from the elephant. They'll need 10 players for a basketball game, but first they need to warm up. One polar bear goes on the court for some layups, followed by a frog. "Two players stay close to the net. / They play some one-on-one. / Just then a penguin darts inside— / her waddle's now a run." The zebras referee (of course), as a camel, monkey, and more join in the game until they have enough players, the text counting up all the while. When they have two teams of five, they play their game…just squeezing it in before the zookeeper makes her rounds. "So if you see the animals / doze off or start to yawn, / you'll know they all were playing games / of basketball till dawn." Craig's couplets are nothing special, but Jones' animal players, though smeary and with a digital look, are appealing enough to make the picture-book portion of this package palatable. The aftermatter—basketball glossary, math activities, and information on endangered animals—makes this a solid-enough purchase for classrooms. It may not be great literature, but it's a valuable STEM and Common Core tool. (Picture book. 3-7)

Kirkus Reviews