Jungle Jack's The Wackiest, Wildest, and Weirdest Animals in the World by Jack Hanna

With a title like that, my daughters - aged 4 and 8 - couldn't wait to grab it out of my hands and discover the gems of information hidden inside. The youngest loved the bright colours and beautiful big photos of animals and birds. The eldest couldn't wait to go on a treasure hunt to find the answers to the questions on the back of the book - Which animal can lick its own ears ? Which animal smells like popcorn ? Which animal can run as fast backwards as it can forwards ? Which animal can stick its tongue out 100 times a minute ? And, as is to be expected from a book targetting this age group, it has just the right degree of ewww - factor : Which animal eats regurgitated seafood for dinner ?





I shared an enjoyable hour looking at the pictures and reading the texts with my daughters and we all discovered some interesting and surprising facts about animals and birds, including some we'd never heard of, like the blue footed booby (it's a bird!). There are also much better known animals though, they're not all obscure ones ! Despite having read it cover to cover in the first sitting, my eldest daughter is still enjoying dipping into it from time to time to rediscover a little nugget of information ! I've had lots of "Mum, did you know ... ?" moments this week !!





The only slight letdown was the accompanying DVD. Having really loved the book, both girls wanted to sit down and watch it straight away, so we did. Judging by the content of the book, I was expecting some great animal footage but it focused instead on the presenter Jungle Jack Hanna and his various mishaps over his long TV career. Here in Europe, we've never heard of him so the girls didn't find it very interesting - they soon got bored and went back to flicking through the book instead. Which has got to be a good sign if kids choose reading over TV in this day and age !! I'd highly recommend it as a really fun, educational book.



Publisher: Thomas Nelson (June 9, 2009)
Page Count: 32
ISBN-10: 1400311403
ISBN-13: 9781400311408

star rating : 4/5