A South African Night

A South African Night Is beautiful bedtime story, as the illustrator and Author allows you to tag along side of wild animals at night. We journey through Kruger National Park and watch as the wild animals take the night. The illustrator and author did do an amazing way of capturing the audience. It shows the contrast on how the humans and animals roam the same world just at different times. In the day we are running around getting food from the market and learning new things, and at night animals do the same thing. We see the lioness go to collect at night and en elephant bring her baby to get water. I loved the illustrations in this book more that the story, I feel as if Rachel Isadora couldn't have written more detail.

Kind of an unusual book and an unusual subject in general, but it wasn't bad for what it was. The illustrations were nicely detailed and the sparingly lyrical text paired nicely to create an aesthetically pleasing overall experience.

"A South African Night" is filled with beautiful illustrations about the contrast between day and night in South Africa. In the evening, the animals begin to wake up and look for food. Many animals are on the hunt, while others simply enjoy the water. When the sun comes up, the animals go back to sleep as the city wakes up and starts a new day. My favorite thing about this book is the illustrations. The first page immediately caught my attention because I was shocked to see such a lit up city when talking about South Africa. I think this would be a great read for students to learn a little bit about another culture and the animals that live there.

I thought this book was cute, it showed the typical day in the life of South Africa. In the day, the people ran South Africa. They went to work, school, they played outside. At night when the people went to sleep, South Africa belonged to the animals. They listed a lot of animals in the book, and what they were doing on a South African night. I think this book would be good to read to kids, especially young kids, because of the amount of new animals they could be introduced to: a black mamba, lionesses, leopards, hippopotamus, elephants. I think that young kids who likes animals will really enjoy this book.

I love this book. I think this is a very cute book to read to young students. From the cover page, I was not expecting this story to be the way it was however, once taking a second look at the cover, I notice the hint with the animals. I like how Isadora uses the entire page for illustrations in this book. A lot of the books I have previously read have not done this. Lastly, I enjoyed how the two settings connect at the beginning and the end. Overall, great book that id love to read to my students.

This book is educational. It explains how people and animals co-exist in Africa with the daytime belonging to the humans and when dusk arrives, the animals roam. My favorite part of the book were the illustrations. The animals seem to come off of the pages. I realized the edges of the animals had thick dark lines and when contrasting with the night, causing this effect.

Summary:
Children are invited to explore what activities that take place in the city of Johannesburg during the twilight and morning hours. They are also treated to a fascinating animal adventure at night in the Kruger National Park. “A South African Night” is a wonderful depiction of the landscapes, people, and animals of South Africa.
Personal Reaction:
I loved the illustrations in this book they appeared so lifelike that it felt like I was actually present in South Africa. I couldn’t get over what a wonderful job the illustrator did with each page in this book.
Extension Ideas:
1. In the classroom, I can have my students tell me more about the animals at Kruger National Park. They can draw pictures of what each animal might eat show more and where they might sleep at night.
2. I can have my students tell me what South Africa and the United States have in common. show less