The Animals Come Out

Do you ever wonder what could happen if we all hid away? If we stayed in, we just might see … the animals come out!

A delightful series of poems describes the many animals that emerge from the woods, the hills and the skies when we are not around. Peek out your window and watch the deer grazing under the streetlights, the rabbits hopping through our vegetable gardens, and the ducks quack quack quacking along the sidewalks. 

The Animals Come Out was inspired by the wildlife seen in quieted urban areas during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, a situation that young readers may well remember. But this book also encourages readers to be aware that, in fact, we share the outdoors with these animals all the time, and to consider the impact that we have upon them.

 

Key Text Features

illustrations

 

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.3

Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.4

Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.4

Describe how words and phrases (e.g., regular beats, alliteration, rhymes, repeated lines) supply rhythm and meaning in a story, poem, or song.

Susan Vande Griek started writing for children after she had four of her own. One of her books, Loon, was named a USBBY Outstanding International Book and won the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children’s Book Award, the Norma Fleck Award for Canadian Children’s Non-Fiction, and the Children’s Literature Roundtables of Canada Information Book Award. Others include Go Home Bay, An Owl at Sea and Hawks Kettle, Puffins Wheel. She has also written poems for Cricket magazine. With degrees in English Literature and Education, she has worked in several schools and libraries. Once a resident of St. Andrews, New Brunswick, Susan currently lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Josée Bisaillon is an award-winning Canadian illustrator living near Montréal, Québec. Since 2005, she has illustrated more than 40 picture books and has done numerous editorial illustrations for magazines and newspapers. Her work, a unique mixture of collage, drawing and digital art, takes us into a poetic, colorful and whimsical world. When not making picture books, Josée finds her happy place when traveling, in nature, and when she's reading a good novel with her cat on her lap.