Big Cats: Hunters of the Night

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Big Cats: Hunters of the Night
By: Elaine Landau

Publisher: Enslow Publishers, Incorporated
Copyright: 2007

Genre: Nonfiction, Animals

Grade Level: 3rd or 4th

Brief Synopsis: Lions, tigers, leopards, and jaguars are all big cats, and you would not like to meet them in the dark! They rest during the day but come to life at night to hunt. With a mighty roar, the big cats chase down their prey. Sharp teeth and claws and powerful jaws mean certain doom. Author Elaine Landau tells the reader all about these beautiful hunters: how they hunt, where they live, and what the future holds for the big cats.

About the Author:

Elaine Landau is a highly acclaimed author of over 300 nonfiction books. She has written on such subjects as terrorism, earth science, the supernatural, planets, dinosaurs, ancient civilizations, ecology and a broad range of contemporary issues.
Her most recent published books include Oil Spill!: Disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, Pluto: From Planet to Dwarf, Big Cats: Hunters f the Night, The Best Dog Ever series.
Ms. Landau lives in tropical Miami with her husband, Norman, and her son, Michael. Her husband, a top-notch researcher, works with her on many of her books. Their son, Michael, tells jokes and encourages them to take him to Disney World. When that doesn't work as often as he'd like, he suggests that they eat out. Many of Elaine Landau's books have been written under a palm tree while drinking lemonade. However, her favorite trip was going to chilly Scotland to research a book on the Loch Ness monster. She also loved visiting Alaska.

Themes: - Learning about the life of Big Cats
- What some of the aspects are we learn about in an informational book with animals
- Creatures of the Night series

Pre-Reading Activities:
- Have students analyze the differences between tigers, lions, bears, and cheeatahs.  They will write down what they already know the differences are.  They will fill out a graphic organizer to seperate these big cats into their specific categories.
- Review with students how to take notes while reading a nonfiction book.  Explain to them that while they read Big Cats they will be putting post-its on things that they have "learned" while reading.  They do not need to put post-its on things that they already know.

Post Reading Activities:
- Students will add to their graphic organizer about the difference between tigers, lions, bears, and cheetahs.  They will add the differences that they learned in the book that they did not already have.  After finishing this they may get into a group of 4 and each person in the group will choose one of the 4 wild cats to illustrate.  They will need to include specific details from their notes when drawing to receive full credit.
- Students will take out their book with the post-it notes throughout it.  They will use these notes to make a list of things they have learned in their journal.  This journal can be used during discussion at the end of the book.
- This book is broken into categories about the wild cats, and students will choose their own animal to do a project on and set their book up in the same way.  The different areas to include are; description of animal, habitat, diet, motherhood and young, threats, and routines.

Reflection: The most eye-catching thing about this book is the photographs.  They really bring the reader in to want to know more.  The black pages really make the pictures and words pop, and stay with the theme of the series; creatures of the night.  I would really like to use this book as a model of how students can set up their project and what categories should be included.  The author write in a very simple way that can reach out to many different readers.  Overall this book is a good beginner nonfiction to share with the class and keep in the classroom to use as a reference in the future.

Links:
Book Info.

Elaine Landau Bio.