Children's Book Review: Big Cats by Lisa Williams

Are you looking for ways to get your kids more excited about reading and learning about jungle/zoo animals? Big Cats by Lisa Williams will get your kids turned about learning in a big way!

Synopsis of Big Cats

You probably remember the famous line from the hit movie "The Wizard of Oz" about "Lions, and tigers and bears, oh my!" While you won't find any bears in Big Cats, you'll find out lots of things you probably never knew about  cheetahs, jaguars, leopards, lions, lynx, mountain lions, and tigers.

For instance, do you know what a panther is? You'll find the answer to that question in the first few pages of the book, and frankly, we think you will be shocked - we were! (No spoiler alerts needed here.)

The first part of the book contains a variety of interesting facts for kids about big cats in general followed by a section entitled "How big are they?" The how big are they chart contrasts the size of an average person with the sizes of the different big cat species, and we loved this chart! It's an excellent visual that helps kids picture how big or little each cat is. Turns out the lynx is the smallest and the tiger the largest when compared with someone weighing 140 pounds.

The rest of the book examines specific data about each species as well as a map of their native range or the types of big cats and illustrations of the animals.

What You'll Like

This is an excellent stand-alone kid's book, but if you are homeschooling or like to do your own hands-on education in conjunction with public or private schooling, this is a great resource tool. You could study each of the seven big cats in as much or as little detail as you choose. Here's some ideas of how to use this book as a teaching tool:

1. Unit study: Do a unit study on each of the types of big cats. For instance, for a tiger unit, you could do research to find out which tiger species are endangered and ways to help the tigers. You could make graphs of the tiger's prey or their enemies. When working with younger children, you could lead the children in imitating the sounds or the movements of tigers.

2. Go on safari! Round up the stuffed animals in your household and plan a safari. For younger kids, parents and educators will do most of the prep work, but older kids could make a checklist of things they would need for a safari, and then search for them at home.

Hats, binoculars, notebooks and so forth make good props for a safari, and so does a digital camera for "shooting" the animals you find on your hunt. Print out the photos and make posters or wall murals telling about your safari.

3. Pretend Play: Make a big cat mask. Use a paper plate to make a mask of whatever big cat your child chooses. Provide art supplies like markers and crayons and craft media such as yarn or construction paper.

Cut out eye holes, punch holes in each side and use yarn or ribbon to tie on the mask. You can also use these masks with the safari idea and let some of the children be the big cat hunters and some the big cats.

Reader Recommendation

I'd recommend this book for ages 6 and up, but preschoolers and toddlers would probably be interested in some of the pictures of the big cats. This is the perfect book for independent readers but you could also use it as a read-aloud book by reading a few pages each day.

If I were still teaching, I'd definitely want this for my classroom, and I would give it as a gift to several children who come to mind. Lisa Williams is a talented children's book writer with a gift for telling factual information in an engaging manner kids are sure to love.

Book Details

Title: Big Cats
Author: Lis Williams
Publisher: Lis Williams
ASIN: B00BHHXDOA

Image courtesy of Amazon