Fur and Feathers

When Sophia dreams that howling winds whisk the fur and feathers right off her animal friends, she shares some of her clothes with them. But her clothing doesn’t work well for the animals. Seeing their disappointment, she offers to sew each one the "right" coat. Animals line up to explain what they need and why. Polar Bear needs white fur to stay warm and hide in the snow. Fish needs scales, but with slime. Snake needs scales too, but dry ones. And how will Sophia make a prickly coat for Porcupine? The award-winning team of Halfmann and Klein (Little Skink’s Tail) reunite to bring animal coverings (and classification) to life in an imaginative way.

This fictional story includes a 4-page For Creative Minds section in the back of the book and a 57-page cross-curricular Teaching Activity Guide online. Fur and Feathers is vetted by experts and designed to encourage parental engagement. Its extensive back matter helps teachers with time-saving lesson ideas, provides extensions for science, math, and social studies units, and uses inquiry-based learning to help build critical thinking skills in young readers. The Spanish translation supports ELL and dual-language programs. The interactive ebook reads aloud in both English and Spanish with word highlighting and audio speed control to promote oral language skills, fluency, pronunciation, text engagement, and reading comprehension.

Written by Janet Halfmann, Illustrated by Laurie Allen Klein
32 pg, 10 x 8.5, Ages 4-9, Grades PK-4, Lexile: AD 750, AR: 3.3, F&P: M

Reviews:

Fur and Feathers is a creative picture book with a hands-on educational approach to the scientific classification of animals. - Midwest Book Review

This book would be a great accompanying piece to many of our preschool programs which deal with general external covering classifications (feathers for birds, scales for Herps., fur for mammals). - Environmental Education Association of Illinois

Author Janet Halfmann and illustrator Laurie Allen Klein combine to bring the ideas of animal coverings and classification to life in an imaginative way. - Homeshchool Book Review

Author/Illustrator Info:

Award-winning illustrator Laure Allen Klein’s Dolphins: Learned Behaviors is the first book she has both written and illustrated. Laurie has been a freelance artist for over 30 years, working with a variety of education teams at zoos, marine parks and aquariums creating life-size animal murals, animal ID art, camp field guides, activity books, and posters. Laurie has illustrated The Pangolin Revelation, The Long and Short Tail of Colo and Ruff, Dear Komodo Dragon, Saving Kate's Flowers, Balloon Trees, Fur and Feathers, The Ghost of Donley Farm, If a Dolphin Were a Fish, Little Skink's Tail, Meet the Planets, Solar System Forecast, They Just Know, and Where Should Turtle Be? for Arbordale. Laurie lives in Florida. See more of her artwork at www.lauriekleinarts.com.

Janet Halfmann (pronounced Howlf-mun) is the award-winning author of more than forty fiction and nonfiction children's books, including Yay for Big Brothers!, Home in the Cave, Fur and Feathers, and Little Skink's Tail for Arbordale. Other recent titles include The Clothesline Code; A Bobby-Dazzler of a Pouch!; The Story of Civil War Hero Robert Smalls; Midnight Teacher; Grandma Is a Slowpoke; Animal Teachers; Good Night, Little Sea Otter; and Seven Miles to Freedom. Janet is a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. Previously, Janet was a newspaper reporter, children's magazine editor, and a creator of coloring and activity books for Golden Books. She is the mother of four and the grandmother of six. She grew up on a farm in Michigan and now lives in South Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Visit her website at janethalfmannauthor.com.