Early Book Review: Howl Like a Wolf: Why Animals Do What They Do – and How You Can Do It, Too! by Kathleen Yale, Kaley McKean

Howl Like a Wolf: Why Animals Do What They Do – and How You Can Do It, Too! is a children's non fiction book written by Kathleen Yale and illustrated by Kaley McKean. It is currently scheduled for release on March 6 2018.  Kids generally love to watch, imitate, learn about, and pretend to be animals. But there’s a lot more to being a dog than just panting and walking on all fours. This book combines natural history with creative play activities to encourage children to think like an animal. For each featured animal, children learn key facts such as what it eats; where it lives; who else lives with it; and how it interacts with other animals. Creative prompts then teach kids how to mimic more subtle aspects of behavior that are central to the animal’s life and survival.

Howl Like a Wolf: Why Animals Do What They Do – and How You Can Do It, Too! is a fun and fascinating read, offering facts and activities that invite young readers (and their class or family) to not just learn about the animals but to act and think like them as well. Animals included are the wolf, penguin, elephant, bat, octopus, rattlesnake, bowerbird, beaver, leopard, humpback whale, honeybee, raven, skunk, frog, deer, and tardigrade. The information and activities are easy to understand and fully engaging. I found that the book offered a good deal of information I already knew, but I think young readers will find new information here. I thought the illustrations were well paired with the information. The images were charming and accurate in turn, offering a visual representation of the facts along some inspiration for the activities and further exploration of the topic. I think this would be a great addition to classroom and home libraries, particularly those with animal or nature lovers.