Why Why Why are Orang-utans so hairy? (Informational)

This book was written by Camilla de la Bedoyere and published by Miles Kelly Publishing in 2005. It's recommended for third grade.


This informational book is about mammals. It includes almost every mammal you can think of with a small description and picture. Easy activities for children are included along with a quiz at the end.


Why Why Why are Orang-utans so hairy? would be a good source to use when teaching mammals. The text is clear and interesting with appropriate vocabulary for children, and the information is accurate. There isn't however a glossary, but this book doesn't have words that would be unfamiliar to a child's normal vocabulary; although, a table of contents, an index, and a quiz were included. The pictures in this book varied from realistic style to cartoon style. Each page was full of pictures to match the text, and the tone of the book was reflected perfectly.

After reading this book as a class, assign one mammal that was included to each student. They should take the information from the book and information from the internet to learn more about their mammal. They should write a description of their animal and make a habitat with the animal included inside to present to the class.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.5
Use text features and search tools (e.g., key words, sidebars, hyperlinks) to locate information relevant to a given topic efficiently.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.2
Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.