Kratt, Martin and Chris Kratt. Wild Animal Babies. Random House, 2016.
Wild Animal Babies! is written and illustrated by Martin Kratt and Chris Kratt. It is a non-fiction book that introduces readers to baby animals in the wild and teaches them what they do. It is targeted for beginning readers (grades preschool through first grade). This seems appropriate, but the vocabulary includes numerous new terms and words with more than one syllable. In addition, the sentences average around 8 – 9 words so this book could be a good match for students beyond grade 1.
The story begins with Martin & Chris Kratt, the authors, introducing themselves and the topic “Creature Powers” of baby animals. Baby animals are cute. They also develop special powers such as eating, climbing, and swinging. The readers meet Stuffo the giant panda, Maze the zebra, a baby orangutan, Spotswat the cheetah, Cork the sea otter, Grabsy the spider monkey, Howler the wolf, and Clingon the ring-tailed lemur then learns about each animals’ special skill.
About half of the text in Wild Animal Babies! are Dolch sight words. A majority of the sight words are pre-kindergarten (K) or K. The non-sight words include character names (e..g, Chris, Martin, Stuffo), single syllable (e.g., love, wild), contractions (e.g., it’s let’s), and words with more than one syllable (e.g., swimmer, together). There are a few words with more than one syllable (e.g., follow, sparkle, rushes). The images are generally helpful. They depict each animal and the special power they are learning. There are an average of 8 words per sentence. There are a mix of simple, complex, and compound sentences. The story includes character quotes so readers get a sense they are with Chris and Martin. For example, in the section about Maze the zebra’s running skill, the text includes, “‘And here’s why!’ Chris shouts. ‘Hungry lions are coming! Let’s get out of here fast!’”
The book is a nonfiction book. The front cover is very colorful and shows two men, the Kratt brothers, with little animals around them. The first two pages introduce the brothers, the next two describe the book. Each spread includes action and highlights one baby animal. The readers see the animals eating, running, hanging, swimming, swinging, howling, and jumping. The text introduces the baby animal, highlights the animal’s skill, notes why it’s important or a fun quote from the brothers. The formula gives a sense of predictability to the reader but the bit of information is a nice surprise.
Wild Animal Babies! has 24 pages. The font size is about 20-point. The line length averages 4 words per line and ranges from 1 to 6. The font spacing between words and lines is about 20-point. There are generally 4 to 5 lines of text per page and it ranges from 2 to 6 lines. There is a good amount of white space mixed in with the text and images so the reader’s eyes can rest. The art is realistically drawn with a cartoon feel.
Wild Animal Babies! is an introduction to baby animals in the wild. It is a fun story about baby animals and what they learn to do and could supplement a science curriculum.
Book Notes 