Meet some fantastic friends in this nonfiction exploration of various animals you can find in eastern deciduous forests.

Learn fun facts about each animal as you enjoy the beautiful photographs taken by photographer Curt Hart. Animals featured include:

• Bald eagle

• Rabbit

• White-tailed deer

• Bullfrog

• Eastern Screech Owl

• Red-eared slider

• Elk

Curt Hart has been a professional photographer for over 40 years. He has photographed all over Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Kentucky. Curt has a fondness for Strawberry Plains with its unique surroundings full of birds and butterflies. While he has been a sportscaster much of his career, Curt now enjoys being behind the camera lens documenting nature and his work as an assistant professor of teaching at the University of Memphis.

Up-close with five different North American forest animals.

This board book spotlights bald eagles, rabbits, white-tailed deer, bullfrogs, and eastern screech owls. Each animal is accompanied by close-up photographs and a related and not-too-obvious fact. “Eastern screech owls avoid predators by stretching their bodies and swaying back and forth like a tree branch.” It’s possible that even adults sharing the book with children might learn something new. The stunning photographs put the animals on full display; the bullfrog’s eye is presented in great detail, down to the ring around its pupil, and readers can even make out the veins in the rabbit’s ears. This makes for a lot of visual interest without being overly busy. Overall, the concise information and images are toddler-friendly, though some of the factoids assume knowledge of topics such as hibernation and predators. Animal books with photos are common board-book fodder, but this one, refreshingly, isn’t merely an alphabetical listing or a simple series of named images. While there isn’t anything groundbreaking here, budding zoologists will appreciate the facts coupled with the photography and a chance to observe animals that are usually seen at a distance. 

Eye-catching and informative.

A simple book about animals whose main habitat is the forest. The first spread shows an animal and names it. The second spread offers a single fact. This will aid babies with developing language or young non-English speakers. The full-color photographs are clear. However, the spread of the white tail deer only shows young deer, which will potentially confuse budding nature lovers. VERDICT An adequate work of “first” nonfiction.