Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday - Koala 8.09.17

Every Wednesday I join Alyson Beecher from kidlitfrenzy and other

kidlit bloggers to share wonderful nonfiction picture books.

The intention of today's blog post is to give professionals that work in the
education field new nonfiction reading material and ideas to use 

with students to promote a love of reading nonfiction materials.

I really enjoyed Claire Saxby's book, Emu.  The blend of a narrative nonfiction story and expository facts make it a great hybrid book for readers.

Koala

written by Claire Saxby

illustrated by Julie Vivas

published by Candlewick

September 5th

I was excited to see Koala on Candlewick's fall list.  Koalas are well loved among kids and I thought this book would entice many readers.  

This book focuses on what a koala does when it's time to its mother and learn to live a life on its own.  I thought this was an interesting focus for the book because you typically find books about when an animal is very young and how it grows or its life as a grown adult.  This book specifically focuses on the time when it must learn to live on its own.  Saxby shows that at first the koala has some growing pains.  It's hard to find its own tree - if a tree is already "marked" by another male, it cannot stay there.  It's hard to find food - a koala must eat over 300 grams of eucalyptus leaves a day and koalas must discern good leaves from the poisonous leaves.  They must stay away from other male koalas - koalas are solitary animals unless looking for a mate.  I had no idea that koalas had it so rough once they leave their mother!

I think young readers will enjoy this book because it will surprise them as they learn this new information.  The narrative and expository format also make this book fun to read for young readers.  Claire Saxby is a nonfiction writer whose books I will continue to look for to get kids reading more nonfiction!