Where Do Big Creatures Sleep at Night?

by Steven J. Simmons, Clifford R. Simmons, Ruth E. Harper (Illustrator)

Overview

Big animals sleep, just like you! But where? And how? Let's take a look at what some big creatures do when you are asleep and the day is through.

We're used to seeing animals during the day, but where and how do they sleep at night? From gorillas to elephants and ostriches to rhinos, plus anacondas and hippos and more, this rhyming book shows kids where big animals bed down in the wild.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781623541439
Publisher:	Charlesbridge
Publication date:	11/08/2022
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	10.80(w) x 9.80(h) x 0.42(d)
Lexile:	AD620L (what's this?)
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

Steven J. Simmons has been a professor of law and government, a White House aide on domestic policy, and a leader in the cable industry. Steven is the author of Where Do Creatures Sleep at Night? and the best-selling Alice and Greta: A Tale of Two Witches.

Clifford R. Simmons's lifelong passion for writing and love for his nieces and nephews fuels his enthusiasm for children's books and coauthorship with his father, Steven. Cliff formerly worked at Google and now runs his own business.

Ruth Harper is a self-taught artist from England. She loves to echo nature in her work. She lives in Iowa with an adorable husband—they have six grown-up kids between them (plus handfuls of grandbabies!). She is the illustrator of the NYT bestseller The Kissing Hand (with Nancy M. Leak), Sassafras, and Happy Mamas. www.rutheharper.com

Editorial Reviews

2022-09-14
Animals from lions and elephants to crocodiles and anacondas bed down.

Actually, when it comes to the anaconda, “no one really knows if it actually does sleep.” But that’s not the only poetic license the father-and-son co-authors take as they record in stumbling metrics (“An ostrich is a bird that’s incredibly tall. / Its eggs can be bigger than a softball”) and a notably loose rhyme scheme not only where, but how various animals larger than those in Steven J. Simmons’ Where Do Creatures Sleep at Night? (2021), illustrated by Harper, first spend their days and then enjoy their downtime. The connection between text and images isn’t all that firm either, as the silverback gorilla gets male pronouns and the pride of lions collective ones, but all the rest of the animals are nongendered as its even though they appear to be mothers, since Harper depicts them alone with offspring in cozy proximity. An opening spread of toy animals held by variously toned hands hints at unsurprising closing scenes of human children, including a brown-skinned child, taking the final couplet to heart: “Then at night after you’re fed, / you snuggle up in your own sweet bed!” (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Light doses of natural history, but better written and more somniferous bedtime reads abound. (Informational picture book. 3-6)

Kirkus Reviews