Review: Angry Birds Playground Animals

Angry Birds Playground Animals
National Geographic Children's Books
(Review copy sent by publisher)



Travel to five of the earths habitats with some unlikely tour guides, the Angry Birds, as they search for their stolen eggs. In typical National Geographic fashion, beautifully designed page spreads make collecting new information intriguing and accessible. The design of Playground Animals takes on the familiar Angry Birds twist. As each habitat is introduced the birds slingshot different locations on the world map. Once the birds arrive, readers will find the short passage highly engaging while an additional sidebar provides a snapshot of each of the eight creatures the birds encounter in each habitat.

I was reminded of Nathan Hale's use of the hangman and British soldier in his Hazardous Tales series. In Hale's case, the imaginary characters serve two purposes; they provide comic relief but in addition, they provide two perspectives on the historical information he presents. Angry Birds are superimposed on each page, inserting commentary about the places and animals they encounter. While they occasionally draw attention to some of the animals important characteristics, the majority of the time they're speech bubbles contain fodder for transitioning from one page to the next.

The kids I showed the book to were totally entertained by the format but in the end, they didn't need the Angry Birds to keep flipping pages. The information itself was already engaging enough. That's not to say that there isn't a place for inserting a fun vehicle to guide kids around a non fiction text. I hope National Geographic continues to play around with the idea and is able to develop it to a point where the characters' interaction with the the text provides the reader with a deeper understanding of the content.