Baby animals, stories, pictures, video, and computers are things that interest today’s children. Smart Kids Publishing has combined all of these elements in its My Animal Family series for children aged three to eight. Each book in the series tells the story of a day in the life of a baby animal in the wild and comes with a secret passcode that allows access to online “habitats” where children can play games and earn points, plus a DVD with live action footage of the baby animal, shot by the BBC.
Smart Kids Publishing, based in Carlsbad, California, was created in the mid-1990s. It publishes about thirty books per year, many of which contain educational elements. Others are simply “really sweet and good for one-on-one cuddle time,” publisher Paula Fitzgerald told FTW.
“The idea for this series evolved about two years ago,” she said. “Someone sent us the BBC footage and we were very impressed. We were also fascinated with the way kids were using the Internet. We wanted to bridge print with the Internet world. Kids are so media-oriented. They’re natural born clickers and they’re used to movement.”
Nanuq: A Baby Polar Bear’s Story (978-0-8249-1818-7) is the latest book in the series. It follows Nanuq and her brother Suka as they accompany their mother across glaciers and through snow and wind. The baby bears hunt, swim, and play: “We rolled and slid and growled like grownup bears. Suka held me down and pretended like we were fighting,” Nanuq tells young readers.
When kids receive the book, they are invited to register online at the safe Web site. Each new book allows users to access new habitats and play new games.
Kathleen Duey (whose 2007 young adult book won a silver medal in the National Book Awards) authored the first four books in the series. She did extensive research on the animals that are the subjects of these books, and even read recent dissertations.
Her research led to some of the interesting details contained in the books, like the fact that elephants can “hear” other stomping elephants through the ground. They use
their toes to sense when herds are approaching and to communicate when they are separated from their own herd. These details are incorporated into Ella: A Baby Elephant’s Story (978-0-8249-5584-7). Ella and the female members of her family travel together across the African Savannah from grassy patch to grassy patch. Ella protects her newborn cousin from hyenas and hopes to someday be the leader of her own pack, like her grandmother.
Illustrator Lara Gurin worked on all four of the first books in the series, using digital fine art, which gives the animals and their environments dimension and warmth.
The other two books currently in the series are Leo: A Baby Lion’s Story (978-0-8249-1817-0) and Korow: A Baby Chimpanzee’s Story (978-0-8249-1816-3). Fitzgerald says the complete series will contain about twenty-four books. The remaining twenty will be released over the next two years. The next two books will focus on hippopotamuses and snow geese.
“We really wanted to enchant children with the beauty of the natural world, and educate them because they are the next generation of conservators,” Fitzgerald said. “But we didn’t want to be dry and pedantic. The Web site is very interactive, and every page includes schooling in keyboarding and skills they need. All the pages use math a
nd reading skills.”
She says that one of the best things about the series is that kids can have fun both independently and with their families. The Web site is safe and contains no ads, so once children are logged in, they require little supervision as they explore and play games. Fitzgerald also says that her two teenage sons love the DVD footage, which small kids can watch with their whole family.
“The DVDs tell another story about the baby animal featured in the book,” she explained. “They are narrated by a child, and there’s a slideshow of facts and a sing-along song that uses the rhythms and instruments of the country the baby animal comes from.”
Fitzgerald said the feedback about the series has been great. People are very taken by the illustrations. They also like that the DVD is narrated with a child’s voice.
Like other books from Smart Kids Publisher, proceeds from these books will be donated to help underprivileged children in the U.S. The company plans to allow libraries to get one copy of any book in the series free when they buy one copy.
by Whitney Hallberg , Managing Editor
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