My First Animal Moves by Darryl Edwards is written for children but is meant to be read along with parents. The cover is a bit misleading - the illustrations inside are quite different and not very appealing to children (or adults). The format is such that it ironically works best on a digital device. I guess it would be a good transition to books for kids who love their video games.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A very engaging book that the munchkin loved. A great book to get you moving and spur conversation about the benefits of physical activity.

I love anything that I can read with my children. And this book was so so so cute! Absolutely loved it ! 100% recommending it

Thank you for the review copy.

I like the idea of this book, I just feel like the execution wasn't great. It makes so much sense to have kids be active and trying to encourage them to do that by imitating animals. I just didn't understand some of how this book was written. The animals could have been a bit funnier and engaging.

It felt more like an instruction manual than a story. (I know this is geared towards schools and being used for educational purposes, I would feel akward reading this one out loud)

Great potential

I read this book with my four-year-old daughter and she absolutely loved it!

I can see this book being a real hit and she loved that she could join in and it was not just a normal reading book, there were activities, fun images and she was able to practice her reading too.

As a mum I love books like this that do get her engaged. It is far too easy to say she can watch her tablet at times but we make an effort every day to read a book and enjoy a story or two.

This is a huge hit with me and Ava loved it too – it is 5 stars from us – very highly recommended!

This book helps draw kids’ attention to the importance of playing outdoors and how healthful it is to their overall health. By highlighting they can have fun playing outdoors, besides sitting down behind a video game all day, this will improve their overall health. It shows them that a simple thing like mimicking the movements of animals works as a form of exercise, which in itself is both fun and healthy.

I like the concept of the book. Having kids move more and showing them how animals move. It reminds me of an Eric Carle book that is my favorite. I think the pictures used in the book are a little hard to see what they’re doing. I also think the the pictures don’t match the level of the book that it is. The pictures look like they’re geared for more younger kids but younger kids would not be able to read the book themselves. I also think it would be a good idea to include real pictures of the animals moving or of the child doing the movement. The beginning of the book is a little confusing or long until they get to looking at the animals, Having an owl come to the window was a little odd. I thought a better idea would be to have the child go on a trip to the zoo and see the different animals. The reason I said that I would not have my students buy this book is because the reading level is too high for my students.

Need ideas to get your child moving? Nathan learns to move like the animals in this colorful children's book.

This is a great book to inspire teachers for early-age people.

The story doesn't bring anything very new, but it allows you to create a very dynamic narrative tale with the children, captivating and unfolding the motor expression.

Personally, as a kindergarten teacher this would be a book I would read to my children, but in a more independent way than the book presents.

The images are a little confusing, but nothing makes the story and its dramatization simpler and more interactive.


Finally, I recommend the story for children aged 3 to 5 years using the motor expression, because that is where its message is. THE MOVE!

I really wanted to like this. The concept was a great one. A book that encourages movement. I am all on board with that and was excited to read this with my toddler.

I will begin with the positive. On the positive side this is a book that encourages movement in children by asking them to pretend to be animals. Kids love to play pretend and they love animals so that is great incentive. There is a wonderful note from the author at the beginning of the book that goes into fantastic and useful detail about how to create movement games for your child to go along with the story. This story states that it is aimed for children over three and my toddler is only two so out of fairness please keep that in mind when I discuss his reactions to the story.

Unfortunately, aside from that introductory note from the author which I did love and appreciate, the execution was lacking for both me and my toddler. Neither me nor my child were fans of the illustration style. It seemed like generic digital images and the people in it frightened my toddler and I actually agree with him that the faces on were scary. The proportions of the eyes in relation to the rest of the face were off in a way that made them creepy rather than cute. An older child would likely not be scared by this but still may find it off putting as I myself did. More than likely this depends on the child and their sensitivity and criticalness of artistic styles. A less critical child may enjoy the style. My job requires me to use a lot of graphic skills and to edit and review effectiveness of graphics as well so I also may be more critical of art styles than the average reader. It is possible the the art won't disturb other readers as it did us.

We also didn't care for the writing style of the actual story. The story is written in a fairly simplistic way and definitely seems aimed at a young child audience which is in keeping with the recommended age group of three and up. But, it is not written in a way that actually engages the young child. If it had been written with rhyme or rhythm or included some fun drama that the parent could over exaggerate it would have been more effective and engaging for the audience. Instead it starts off with the feel of a parent or educator lecturing a child for not moving enough. The movement is presented as a game that the animals tell him to play. They teach him each move one by one and at that point it is basically just instructions on how to do each move.

In my opinion it would have been more effective to make it more of a story and less a move by move instructions from animals with the sparse explanation that this is a game. The game isn't particularly exciting or enticing with the language used. As a parent I basically need to throw the text out the window and make up my own to keep my kiddo interested. I think an exciting storyline that naturally encourages copying the movements of the animals rather than this game thing would have been more enticing. I also would eliminate the beginning of the story where it criticizes the child and talks about how he only like to play video games and won't go out and play even though his parents tell him to. This part just makes it seems like a lecture and like a grownup created this to make them exercise. It is fairly condescending. Kids are smarter than a lot of people think and this was really transparent.

For specific movement instructions I would have preferred a chart or note at the back of the book that lists each move with perhaps a photo of a real child doing the movement or a black and white illustration of the movements (not the creepy people in the story). The problem is for an older child this story comes across as condescending and does not have a natural evolution into movement. For a younger child it isn't engaging or fun unless the parent completely changes it.

I am giving this three stars because I do like and appreciate the concept and because I really liked the forward that was aimed at the parents and gave ideas for playing movement games with your child. I will utilize many of the tips without the aid of the story. There is definitely value in that. However, I would prefer to read a book from this author completely aimed at parents only and with outlines of different games and without the creepy illustrations. The writing that was aimed at parents was much better and did not come across as condescending and did not include those illustrations.

If you need ideas for movement games I would suggest getting the digital copy of this book and looking over the author note at the beginning. If you end up liking the illustrations and text of the book more than we did then that will be even better for you.

Three stars.

This book is great. Full of amazing animal moves to get children moving! Certainly a great thing to do with children. We look forward to repeating it again tomorrow. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This book begins with a note explaining the many ways that grown-ups can get their kids involved with the reading, which is awesome. The suggestions apply to all picture books - things like asking questions, acting things out, being silly with sounds. Great tips.

The illustrations are computer-generated and not great. They lack detail and depth, and give me that bad uncanny valley feeling. It sort of looks like they were designed in paint.

The message about being active is pretty didactic - Nathan likes video games, outside is boring. When an owl turns up and invites him to Animal Moves land, Nathan's response is, "Is it more impressive than what's on my TV though?" It's a talking owl man, go!

The story is not good, but the descriptions of the ways animals move are great. For instance, crab is "Crouch down with hands behind you, try to support your body as you scurry along with your hands and feet." If there were a version of this book with animal photos and descriptions of their movement, it could be great for an active storytime.

My First Animal Moves is a book that encourages readers to go outside and be active. The main character is a boy who loves playing video games and doesn't want to go outside. Then he takes a journey to Animal Moves Land. I enjoyed the idea of this, but not the execution. The story was kind of odd and I didn't really like the illustrations. However, this book will surely encourage young readers to be active and try the animal moves.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC.

This is a cute book. I love the concept of getting kids moving, and the idea of Nathan visiting a fantasy land where the animals teach him their moves is fantastic. I found the art a bit lacking, mainly in Nathan’s facially expressions. The dialogue was a bit forced in some instances. Lola was a great character with witty commentary. I would get this book from the library, but probably would not purchase a hard copy. Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for a review.

Thanks to Netgalley and BooksGoSocial for a free digital copy.

The concept for this book is very cute. The illustrations and lack of attention to detail to the scale threw me off though. I do love the idea of teaching kids how to move like animals to inspire them to move and get away from screens. How we got to talking about animal moves was a bit clunky though.

What a cute book to encourage kids to get outside and try new physical activities! I loved how each activity was related to a different animal, so kids are able to draw connections and remember the movements. This is the perfect book for parents to read along with their kids to show that reading and exercise can be fun!

This was a nice story encouraging children to be active! I enjoyed the animals and examples they went through, but the illustrations left something to be desired.

A big thank you to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for the ARC. I am voluntarily reviewing this book. This is a children's book. This is a cute book, that encourages interaction-physical activity between parents and children. What a great idea, and use your imagination. How does a seal move on land? It seems to be a great role playing device, Probably not what I would read at bedtime though. 4 stars

This title will hopefully engage its audience. It is a story about Nathan who likes to play video games…all the time! Then, one day, he and his dog, Lola, go on a magical journey where they meet lots of animals. Each one has something to show Nathan that has to do with movement.

Read this with a child you know. Encourage them, or better yet, both of you can move together. Balance like a crane, jump like a frog and so much more.

This title playfully engages youngsters in getting out and using their bodies. It will be good for them.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions are my own.