"The Secret Lives of Animals" - Blog Tour & Publisher's Giveaway!

Do you have a child who loves random facts about animals?  I'm happy today to be one of the stop-offs along a blog tour introducing a brand new not-to-be-missed book, The Secret Lives of Animals.

The book's intriguing subtitle will grab the attention of its target audience: kids aged 6-12...

1,001 Tidbits, Oddities & Amazing Facts about North America's Coolest Animals

I just love this book.  When my review copy arrived, I thoroughly enjoyed reading through it and immediately sought the opinions of four experts: my three home-schooled goddaughters and their mom.  They all agreed that it's a fun book, and one they would enjoy sitting down together with! 

The authors, Stacy Tornio and Ken Keffer have done an excellent job with the text which is at once informative and engaging. Their enthusiasm for the world of animals and nature is contagious! (This is their second book collaboration.  Their first was The Kids' Outdoor Adventure Book.)  

Having written a volume that's perfect for home schooled or traditionally schooled children, Ken and Stacy are inviting kids to become privy to lots of lots of random amazing facts and secrets about North American animals.

Take for example, the OWL:
Owls fascinate people all over the world.  They have gained a lot of popularity in the past several years, maybe in part because of Harry Potter.  Actually, there have been lots of owl characters in movies and literature over the years...

Little Known Facts
1. While owls mostly stick to themselves, a group of owls is called a parliament.
2. It might seem that owls can turn their heads all the way around, but that's not really the case.  They can turn their heads about 270 degrees but not a full 360 degrees.
3. Some owls often have to survive in the cold because their range goes well into northern areas.  One thing that allows them to do this is having feathers that go all the way down on their feet too.
4. Owls don't create (or excavate) their own nests out of trees.  Instead they find nests that have been created by other birds...
...and it goes on and on!  Twelve facts in all for the owl!

The chapters are organized by animal classifications. There are a couple of pages devoted to every animal, with a nice illustration by Rachel Riordan for each one. At the back of the book there's also an index of animals by state and province. 

In addition to the "little known facts" about each animal, your child will read about the animals' sizes, what they eat, who eats them, and where they hang out.  There are also science Q&A's, animal "all star picks" from around the world, and "go outside" challenges.

WIN A FREE BOOK AND A PAIR OF KEEN SHOES

Shoes, book, and t-shirt giveaway! Click to enter publisher's giveaway.

GO HERE TO ENTER

The publisher is doing a cool giveaway, which you can learn about and enter by going HERE.  (There’s an added fun part…whoever wins gets to choose a friend to send a book and t-shirt to as well!)

The Secret Lives of Animals is available on Amazon and from Barnes and Noble.