Burgess Animal Book matched to Peterson Field Guide, The World of Animals and Draw Write Now
The Ambleside Online curriculum uses the Burgess Animal Book, read one chapter per week, in Year Two (so they recommend for ~ age 7-8. Mine did this together ages 7 and 5 and it worked great). We have the colour illustrated Living Book Press edition (Amazon UK, Book depo). The Burgess Animal Book is out of copyright, so you can read it for free online.
Although this is by an American author, I am glad we, living in Ireland, read this book. Many of the animals in the book are in Ireland and those that are not come up in many storybooks, so it was good for them to learn about them. I felt this book was more relevant to us than the Burgess Bird Book. After this book, we did the Burgess Seashore book (Amazon UK, Book depo, Library), which is not on Ambleside’s curriculum (because 1. Many Americans have no access to the sea as children, 2. It is not available free online.) For us, living in Ireland, it was well worth doing.
The Peterson Field Guide Mammals Colouring Book (Amazon UK, Book depo) is regularly recommended to use with the Burgess Animal Book. I really like this colouring book, over just colouring pages, because it has little stickers which show what the animal’s colours should look. My children added the stickers to the page before they started colouring, which they did while I read the story, or we listened to it on the free Librivox app. The stickers allow them to accurately colour the animal, which really adds to their learning.
We listen to this story on the Librivox app, and later I bought the colour illustrated book from Living Book Press.
Bizarrely the colouring book has no table of contents or index, so I was flicking back and forth in the book to try and find the animal each time. I decided to make a list. It took a bit of time for me to match up the animals with the stories, so I thought I’d neaten it up and post it here. This list matches the second edition colouring book.
(There are two versions of the Peterson Field Guide Mammals Colouring Book. The one I link to above is the newer version (Amazon UK, Book depo). The older one, seen on Rainbow Resource, was not available in the UK when I was purchasing. The older one is matched on the Ambleside Online site in brackets on the detailed taxonomy page. )
A great idea (which I saw too late – we had already used a lot of our stickers) is to make colour photocopies of the stickers, and then you can also use the little animal pictures to make a taxonomy chart on the wall.
In addition to the colouring book, we also have The World of Animals book (Amazon UK, Book depo) which is on a number of curriculum. It’s a wonderful book for pictures of just about any animal my children have asked about, and I would highly recommend it. It goes from super simple animals through invertebrates, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. Ours has had so much use.
The World of Animals gives beautiful colour photos and factual information for those children who want to know more after listening to the chapter. My children are super curious. Love of learning and all that. Nose in a book again? I wonder where they picked up that from….
We also have the Draw Write Now series, which I was lucky to get second hand. So I have matched these books up to the chapters as well. Draw Write Now (Amazon UK, Book Depo) is lovely for giving structure in how to draw particular animals. We have the full set of 8 books.
Some other useful guides to the Burgess Animal Book can be found at My Soul Doth Delight and Teach Beside Me.
- The two-digit page number is the Peterson colouring book.
- The three-digit page number is The World of Animals book.
Chapter 01 JENNY WREN GIVES PETER RABBIT AN IDEA — Peter arranges to go to school to Old Mother Nature. (p15) (p202)
Draw Right Now Book 1 p46 – Rabbit
Chapter 02 PETER AND JUMPER GO TO SCHOOL — The Cottontail Rabbit, Northern Hare, and Marsh Rabbit. (p15) (p202)
Chapter 03 MORE OF PETER’S LONG-LEGGED COUSINS — The Swamp Hare, Arctic Hare (p16), Prairie Hare, Antelope Jack (p17) and Common Jack Rabbit.
Chapter 04 CHATTERER AND HAPPY JACK JOIN — The Squirrel family and order of Rodents. (p24 & 25) (p210)
Draw Right Now Book 2 p28 – Squirrel
Chapter 05 THE SQUIRRELS OF THE TREES — The Red (p26), Gray (p24), Fox (p24), Kaibab (p25) and Abert Squirrels (p25). (p210)
Chapter 06 STRIPED CHIPMUNK AND HIS COUSINS — The Chipmunk (p19), Spermophiles (=Ground squirrels p21), and Flying Squirrel (p26). (p210)
Draw Right Now Book 6 p13 – Chipmunk
Chapter 07 JOHNNY CHUCK JOINS THE CLASS — The Woodchuck and his ways. (p20) (p210)
Chapter 08 WHISTLER AND YAP YAP — The Whistling or Hoary Marmot (p20) and Prairie Dogs (p23). (p210)
Draw Right Now Book 8 p39 – Prairie Dogs
Chapter 09 TWO QUEER LITTLE HAYMAKERS — The Pica or Cony (p14) and the Mountain Beaver or Sewellel (p18). (p202)
Chapter 10 PRICKLY PORKY AND GRUBBY GOPHER — Introducing the Porcupine (p18 – repeated next week) and Pocket Gopher (p27). (p208)
Draw Right Now Book 7 p41 – Porcupine
Chapter 11 A FELLOW WITH A THOUSAND SPEARS — More about the Porcupine (p18). (p208)
Chapter 12 A LUMBERMAN AND ENGINEER — The Beaver and his works (p18). (p208)
Draw Right Now Book 6 p29 – Beaver
Chapter 13 A WORKER AND A ROBBER — The Muskrat (p31) and the Brown or Norway Rat (p32). (p206)
Chapter 14 A TRADER AND A HANDSOME FELLOW — The Cotton Rat (p28), Wood or Pack Rat (p28) and the Kangaroo Rat (p27). (p206)
Chapter 15 TWO UNLIKE LITTLE COUSINS — Whitefoot the Wood or Deer Mouse (p29) and Danny Meadow Mouse (p30), also called Field Mouse. (p206)
Chapter 16 DANNY’S NORTHERN COUSINS, AND NIMBLEHEELS — The Banded and Brown Lemmings (p30) and the Jumping Mouse (p29). (p206)
Chapter 17 THREE LITTLE REDCOATS AND SOME OTHERS — The Pine Mouse (= Woodland Vole p30), Red-backed Mouse (=Southern Red Backed Vole p30), Rufous Tree Mouse (=Red Tree Vole p30), Rock Mouse (=Pinyon Mouse p29) and Beach Mouse. (p206)
Some of the animals noted as Mice are actually Voles – more info on Ambleside Online http://amblesideonline.org/TaxonKeyBurgess.shtml
Chapter 18 MICE WITH POCKETS, AND OTHERS — The Silky and Spiny Pocket Mice, Grasshopper Mouse (p29), Harvest Mouse and House Mouse (p32) (p206)
Chapter 19 TEENY WEENY AND HIS COUSIN — The Common or Long-Tailed Shrew or Shrew Mouse, Short-tailed Shrew or Mole Shrew (p9) and Marsh or Water Shrew (p9). (p196)
Chapter 20 FOUR BUSY LITTLE MINERS — The Common Mole, Brewer’s or Hairy-tailed Mole (p10), Oregon Mole and Star-nosed Mole (p10). (p196)
Chapter 21 FLITTER THE BAT AND HIS FAMILY — The Red Bat (p12), Little Brown or Cave Bat (p11), Big Brown or House Bat (p12), Silvery Bat (p11), Hoary Bat (p12) and Big-eared Bat (p13). (p198)
Chapter 22 AN INDEPENDENT FAMILY — The Common Skunk (p48), Hog-nosed or Badger Skunk (p48) and Little Spotted Skunk (p48). (p226)
Draw Right Now Book 7 p47 – Skunk
Chapter 23 DIGGER AND HIS COUSIN GLUTTON — The Badger (p47) and Wolverine or Carcajou (p47). (p226)
Chapter 24 SHADOW AND HIS FAMILY — The Common or Bonaparte Weasel or Ermine (p46), New York Weasel, Long-tailed (p46) or Yellow-bellied Weasel, Least Weasel (p46) and Black-footed Ferret. (p226)
Chapter 25 TWO FAMOUS SWIMMERS — Billy Mink (p45) and Little Joe Otter (p49). (p226)
Chapter 26 SPITE THE MARTEN AND PEKAN THE FISHER — The Pine Marten or American Sable (p45) and the Fisher or Pennant Marten (p45). (p226)
Chapter 27 REDDY FOX JOINS THE SCHOOL — The Red (p41), Black and Silver Foxes (p40), Gray Fox, Kit Fox or Swift (p40), Desert Fox, Arctic (p41) and Blue Foxes. (p222)
Draw Right Now Book 7 p37 – Fox
Chapter 28 OLD MAN COYOTE AND HOWLER THE WOLF — The Prairie Wolf or Coyote and the Timber or Gray Wolf (p39).(p222)
Draw Right Now Book 8 p59 – Coyote
Draw Right Now Book 4 p43 – Wolf
Chapter 29 YOWLER AND HIS COUSIN TUFTY — The Bay Lynx or Bob Cat (p52) and the Canada Lynx or Lucivee (p52).
Chapter 30 SOME BIG AND LITTLE CAT COUSINS — Puma the Panther, also called Cougar and Mountain Lion (p50), the Jaguar (p50), the Ocelot (p51), and the Jaguarundi Cat or Eyra. (p221)
Draw Right Now Book 7 has other large cats
Chapter 31 BOBBY COON ARRIVES — The Raccoon (p44) and the Civet or Ring-tailed Cat (p44), also called Coon Cat and Bassaris. (p224)
Draw Right Now Book 7 p33 – Raccoon
Chapter 32 BUSTER BEAR NEARLY BREAKS UP SCHOOL — The Black Bear and his habits. (p42) (p224)
Chapter 33 BUSTER BEAR’S BIG COUSINS — Silvertip, the Grizzly Bear (p43), the Alaska or Great Brown Bear (p43) and the Polar Bear (p42). (p224)
Draw Right Now Book 7 p30 – Brown Bear
Draw Right Now Book 4 p30 – Polar Bear
Chapter 34 UNC’ BILLY AND OLD MRS. POSSUM — The Virginia Opossum, which is the only American Marsupial. (p8) (p212)
Draw Right Now Book 7 p45 – Oppossum
Chapter 35 LIGHTFOOT, BLACKTAIL AND FORKHORN — The White-tailed or Virginia Deer (p59), Black-tailed Deer (p58) and Mule Deer (p58).
Chapter 36 BUGLER, FLATHORNS AND WANDERHOOF — The Elk or Wapiti (p57), Moose (p60) or Caribou (p57).
Draw Right Now Book 3 p45 – Caribou
Draw Right Now Book 7 p43 – Moose
Chapter 37 THUNDERFOOT, FLEETFOOT AND LONGCOAT — The Buffalo or Bison (p61), Antelope or Musk-ox (p62). (p214)
Draw Right Now Book 3 p20 – Bison
Draw Right Now Book 4 p41 – Musk Ox
Chapter 38 TWO WONDERFUL MOUNTAIN CLIMBERS — The Rocky Mountain Sheep or Bighorn (p63) and the Rocky Mountain Goat (p62). (p214)
Chapter 39 PIGGY AND HARDSHELL — The Peccary or Wild Pig and the Armadillo (p8).
Draw Right Now Book 8 p37 – Armadillo
Chapter 40 THE MAMMALS OF THE SEA — The Sea Otter, Walrus (p54), Sea Lions (p53), Seals (p55) and Manatee or Sea Cow (p54). (p228-233)
Draw Right Now Book 4 p20 – Seal
Draw Right Now Book 4 p32 – Walrus
