This book leaves a lot to be desired. I was not all impressed with the illustrations, which consist of a black outline of the animal making the shape of their "letter." There is also not much information listed about the animals, and the info that is there is not of much use for younger readers. For example, will kids be interested that the spotted owl's scientific name is "Strix occidentalis" and that it belongs to the "aves" class?Sometimes I think that the Caldecott awards go to picture books with illustrations the judges deem "different," rather than ones that actually contain quality artwork. ( )

Gone Wild is a book with creative pictures. They are single letters that have the features of an animal incorporated into them. The book list twenty-six different endangered species. It lists the class, habitat, range, threats, and status of the animal. Although throughout the whole book it only list these specific items about the animal at the end of the book it gives a brief drscription of each animal. There is even sites listed at the end of the book to find out more about what organizations are helping out.

This book gave me a lot of knowledge on endangered species. I thought the pictures where very creative. I like how this book is an alphabet book but also has a lot of useful information in it. This book makes me want to join an organization and help out the endangered species.

Since this book is an alphabet book I can have the students make an alphabet book of their own. I also can have them look up an endanged species that is not listed in the book and write a small summery about the animal that they picked.

Gone Wild

Gone Wild Features the alphabet, with each letter being the first in an animal species name. Each page contains and artistic and somewhat tribal looking impression of an animal in bold black on stark white. Some facts about each species are listed for inquisitive readers, to include habitat, characteristics, and common name.
I like this book because it is a fun way to provide children with information. I think that younger children who are getting stronger in their letter recognition skills would think that it is great fun to identify animals twisted into the shapes of letters that they are learning. I do not think that this would be a good book for children that have no background in letter formation and recognition as the pictures are too complicated.
Teachers and parents could use this book as a research tool, peaking a child’s interest and prompting them to “know more”. I would group this book with internet searches and other books that feature the same animal that the child has chosen, guiding them into a writing exercise or story telling narration as the age/ability allows. Younger children may think of different objects to form letters with, noodles, crayons, beads, yarn, and practice their letter formation skills in a more tactile manner.

Gone Wild Features the alphabet, with each letter being the first in an animal species name. Each page contains and artistic and somewhat tribal looking impression of an animal in bold black on stark white. Some facts about each species are listed for inquisitive readers, to include habitat, characteristics, and common name.
I like this book because it is a fun way to provide children with information. I think that younger children who are getting stronger in their letter recognition skills would think that it is great fun to identify animals twisted into the shapes of letters that they are learning. I do not think that this would be a good book for children that have no background in letter formation and recognition as the pictures are too complicated.
Teachers and parents could use this book as a research tool, peaking a child’s interest and prompting them to “know more”. I would group this book with internet searches and other books that feature the same animal that the child has chosen, guiding them into a writing exercise or story telling narration as the age/ability allows. Younger children may think of different objects to form letters with, noodles, crayons, beads, yarn, and practice their letter formation skills in a more tactile manner.

A very informational alphabet book about endangered animals. The letters of the alphabet are cleverly crafted to resemble a part of the animal it is referring to. Each page has a box that gives a brief description of the animal's class, habitat, range, threats, and status. The last pages of the book give further information about each animal in sentence structure.

My first reaction when I opened the book and flipped through the pages was one of astonishment. The book was nothing I thought it was going to be like. Honestly I was a little disappointed. Most of the alphabet books I have read have big, colorful pictures, however, the author only uses the colors red, white, and black in his illustrations. After reading the book I was rewarded with an abundance of insightful and interesting information.

This would be a good book to read while studying a lesson about endangered animals. A teacher could get a map and the class could put pins in all the places that the animals are from. This could help the students visualize the wide range of the endangered animals. Students could also pick a letter of the alphabet, research a threatened animal that starts with that letter, and make their own illustration with pertinent information like the story. ( )