Tai Snaith has created many appealing picture books including The Family Hour in Australia, Sticks and Stones Animal Homes and Wonders Under the Sun, the companion to Wonders Under the Moon.
This illustrated reference book features more than 200 animals that are active at night time. After the introduction each double page spread focuses on a particular group such as animals with big eyes or big ears, those who use echolocation, lone foragers, biters and bloodsuckers, nocturnal felines and more. I would not have put lions and tigers in this category but apparently, they are crepuscular – most active at dawn and dusk.
Each double page is full of animals, carefully labelled with their common name and either a human figure, foot, hand or arm to indicate scale. At the back there are two pages about ways to help protect native wildlife and five pages of Creature Details for those who want to know where each animal lives.
Most of these animals have muted colours and Snaith has chosen to put as many animals as possible on each page. Some have as many as 19 per page which means we lose detail especially as each animal is drawn to scale relative to the others on the page. Some of the small ones, the blue velvet worm, the semi slug, the great fruit eating bat and the jewel spider are a little difficult to see properly.
This could be a useful compendium for all those who enjoy finding out more about the animals that inhabit our world.
