Fox in the night by Martin Jenkins and Richard Smythe

Walker Books, 2017. ISBN 9781406355154
(Age: 5-8) Subtitled: A Science Storybook About Light and Dark. Fox is hungry so she emerges from her dark den to look for food only to find it is still daylight outside. (It's dark in Fox's den because the daylight doesn't reach inside.) When she does finally emerge, it is night and she is even hungrier and so she ventures into the nearby town in search of dinner. There she is helped by all sorts of light sources to find what she needs - and to escape!
Science surrounds us - it is not limited to people in white coats in sterile laboratories that television news crews choose to use to report breakthroughs and in this story very young readers will not only enjoy Fox's adventure but also learn about light, why it is important and where it comes from as there are simple explanations that match the storyline on each page.
It also includes an index, bibliography and extra questions and experiments to get young readers thinking about the science behind the story and for them to explore further - a perfect parent-child activity to do together. It suggests that the child compares the length of their shadow over a couple of hours and this is a great activity to do with a class if you get them to trace each other's shadow in chalk in the morning, noon and afternoon.
It teaches them so much about the sun's path as well as measurement.
This is the first in a new series from Walker and I look forward to many more.
Barbara Braxton