The book is intriguing because it teaches children about the importance of being kind to each other and working well together as a team, and not to be worried about what others think about you. But still, they feel a bit low about their looks and start to proclaim it to the winds. But then another "ugly" animal joins in the singing and well, joins the club. Their newest effort is a celebration of the animals in Africa, but not the ones children usually come to love. This is a book about the "others"; the funny-looking animals that many forget. Taking a warm-hearted approach, Donaldson draws our attention to "The Ugly Five": the wildebeest, the warthog, the hyena, the vulture and the Marabou stork.

What’s the difference? National Parks, Game Reserves, and Conservancies in East Africa 02 February 2020 Still, it pains me to say it, but I thought it was ever so slightly dull. I just don’t think it is destined to be a classic. So why didn’t I like it as much as her other books? I think there wasn’t enough plot to keep the story moving along. I read it to six groups of key stage 1 children, and the Year 2s were definitely a bit twitchy. The rhyme is incredibly clever, but there is a lot of it and so for a picture book it is quite wordy. Also, there was no dramatic tension. In The Gruffalo, we are worried that the mouse will be eaten, in Room in the Broom, the witch needs to be rescued and in Tiddler, the protagonist needs to get home. But in The Ugly Five, there are five animals out for a walk and then they meet their children.

Oliver thought it was mysterious. Sonny pondered the message of the book and told me: “At the end of the book they weren’t really ugly at all - they were lovely.” The book asks a variety of questions which also encourage children to join in and the book introduced me to animals I had not heard of before like the Marabou Stork.

Vultures are incredible scavengers. So much so that they are often referred to as ‘nature’s cleanup crew’. If there is a carcass in the wild, you will find them soaring above or gorging themselves until they have eaten as much as they can. They then sit in a half-sleep state to digest their food like people after a celebratory meal 🙂 I got the idea for this book when I was on a safari in South Africa. We had just spotted a herd of wildebeest. I studied Drama and French at Bristol University, where I met Malcolm, a guitar-playing medic to whom I’m now married. The Ugly Five’’ is a lovely book that combines some hidden education with an uplifting story. The narrative is a simple one; you meet a particular creature and observe their features and then they meet another similarly ugly pal. This goes on until the titular five are together. If this had been the entire plot, the story would have been too dry for most young people as there is almost an educational quality as you learn about the animals. However, this is not all the story. The surprise ending of the book is what makes it and leaves you feeling all warm inside as everyone is pretty to someone.Meiner Nichte gefällt dieses Buch sehr - und mir auch. Die Geschichte ist süß und die bilder sind schön gemalt. I grew up in a tall Victorian London house with my parents, grandmother, aunt, uncle, younger sister Mary and cat Geoffrey (who was really a prince in disguise. Mary and I would argue about which of us would marry him).

The name ‘warthog’ doesn’t scream ‘ good looking’. And there’s no hiding the fact that they’re rather ill-favored in the beauty department. Mason wanted some superheroes in the story, whereas Michelle thought: “It was fun. I liked when they found their babies and the stork who pooed on his legs.” My real breakthrough was THE GRUFFALO, again illustrated by Axel. We work separately - he’s in London and I’m in Glasgow - but he sends me letters with lovely funny pictures on the envelopes.

There would be lots of ways to incorporate The Ugly Five into teaching. It would fit beautifully into any topic work on Africa or animals, particularly looking at how animals are suited to their habitats and the idea of food chains - both the vulture and the hyena are seen scavenging - and also how animals grow. Their faces are pointy with strange-looking snouts, and their tusks aren’t exactly pretty. Then there’s their leathery skin which is peppered with exactly the wrong amount of coarse hair. There are three species of hyena in the Hyaenidae family. Namely, the striped hyena, brown hyena, and spotted hyena. The lesser-known aardwolf is an additional member in the same family. Due to the rhyming nature of the story it is a great read aloud book. The repetition allows the children to join in with any repeated refrains and encourages them to notice and predict the rhyming words at the end of each sentence. Therefore could be used with Nursery children or lower Key Stage 1. Warthogs are normally found in family groups, where they spend most of their time either looking for food or wallowing in the mud at waterholes. At night they shelter in burrows, entering tail first.

I got this one for Christmas from Santa at my library story time. I love reading it with my Nannie. Even though the animals are ugly I think they are funny & love them. Wildebeests may not be easy on the eyes, but they’re not terribly unattractive when compared to the other animals on this list. Besides, an ugly wildebeest wouldn’t know how ‘ugly’ it was, as their eyesight is extremely poor. If you’ve been on safari you’ll probably be aware of ‘the big five’ of buffalo, elephant, leopard, lion, and rhino. You may also be aware of the little five, or small five animals– rhinoceros beetle, buffalo weaver, elephant shrew, leopard tortoise, and the antlion.

Their preferred habitat is open grasslands, with their renowned seasonal migration being an optimised survival strategy giving them access to and use of resources over huge areas, minimising over-grazing during both wet and dry seasons. Find all of the rhyming words in the book. Can you make your own rhyming dictionary using some of the words? However, they don’t only scavenge for their food. They’re skilled hunters, too. In fact, they’re part of the most successful predators in Africa. They feast on carrion that could otherwise spread pathogens and they break through the tough hides of carcasses, making them more accessible to weaker scavengers. 2. Vulture