Seeing beyond the surface of what we see is a great skill children to learn. This allows them to understand and appreciate the world around them. Author and Academy Award nominee, Terri Tatchell is developing a series of books called Endangered & Misunderstood to help children to become aware of some of the creatures on our planet that are are not known to be endangered in a fun way. They asked us if my family would like to see beyond the surface of the aye-aye in the first book of this series Aye-Aye Gets Lucky. We were excited to get to know a bit more about this amazing animal.
Seeing Beyond the Surface with Aye-Aye Gets Lucky
Below are the items we received to start to see beyond the surface of this endangered animal:
- Aye-Aye Gets Lucky Book
- Small Camp Fire Mug (to go with the tea)
- Piggy Back Tote
- Magnet
- Note Pad that have 4 types of pages that go with the online activities
- Bookmark
- Aye-Aye Choc Mint Tea
What’s Aye-Aye Gets Lucky about?
Terri Tatchell’s story is about Aye-Aye (a long-fingered lemur) who happens to be a bit of a trickster. He did one prank too many, and fell out of favour with the humans he lived near in Madagascar. A flying fox teaches him that his tricks got him into this situation and that he must find a way to get the humans to love him again. Aye-Aye figures out how to change the human’s minds and they see beyond his exterior and trickster-nature to love him.
Seeing why Aye-Aye’s story so important
Deforestation and hunting are two big reasons why the aye-aye is endangered. The lack of trees in their habitat has caused them to become displaced animals by destroying their habitat. Hunting these animals for the pet trade, for food and as trophies has caused for the aye-aye’s numbers to rapidly decrease.
There is also the issue of the aye-aye and its middle finger. The Aye-Aye uses its long middle finger to extract larvae and grubs to eat. Legends say the aye-aye uses it to pierce the hearts of sleeping villagers. This also added to the unpopularity of this animal.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has classified the aye-aye as Endangered on the Red Data List and have a very high risk of extinction in the very near future. Terri Tatchell hopes, with more awareness and books like Aye-Aye Gets Lucky, we can help to increase the aye-aye’s numbers and save its habitat.
Our thoughts about Aye-Aye Gets Lucky
My son is a HUGE animal lover. He really enjoys reading Aye-Aye. He was sad to learn why the villagers became cautious of Aye-Aye’s presence around the village. My son understands that the villagers were upset with Aye-Aye. but it took a bit of discussion to explain why Aye-Aye was no longer welcome and fearful of him.
Aye-Aye meeting with Flying Fox was a favourite part of the book for my little guy. My son likes the flying fox and liked the advice she gave Aye-Aye to solve his problem. My guy also liked the friendship that Aye-Aye and Flying Fox created between each other.
The illustrations in Aye-Aye are really gorgeous. They helped to really bring the words of the story to life. Many of the images has movement and the colours are beautiful and vivid. These features of the pictures also helped my son understand the words of the page better.
Additional bits with this book
Along with receiving Aye-Aye to review, we were also given a bevvy of products to help spread awareness about the aye-aye.
The bookmark is a great product to have with this book. It lets us save our spot in Aye-Aye if we need to stop reading.
I love the idea of the postcard. It acts as a way to send someone a message and share awareness of this book series.
My family loves word magnets! Having the Endangered & Misunderstood Aye-Aye Gets Lucky Word Magnets allows us to learn some of the important words and phrases used in this story.
The notepad is a great item to have. It allows for children to jot down ideas or to draw some of the friends they discovered in this book.
With ingredients such as rooibos, brittle pieces, chocolate nut pieces, peppermint leaves & natural flavours, Neverland’s Chocolate Mint Rooibos Tea is a great loose leaf tea to sip and enjoy while reading Aye-Aye.
What goes well with a good cup of tea? A fun mug to sip it in! This campfire mug is made out of steel and is great to keep memories of this story in your mind.
The Piggyback Tote Bag is a fun way to carry items without the use of plastic bags. It is made of natural canvas and cotton for the cord, so it can be cleaned easily and used again and again.
Learning and seeing beyond the surface of appearances
My son and I really enjoyed reading Aye-Aye Gets Lucky! This story helped us to become aware of why the aye-aye is endangered and to get us seeing beyond the stories told about this amazing animal. The additional items are fun to have and help to let others become interested in the Endangered & Misunderstood series and their cause. This bundle of items would make for an excellent holiday gift idea! We are so happy to learn so much about the aye-aye. This book is a fabulous addition to our home lbrary!
Are you excited to learn more about Terri Tatchell and Aye-Aye Gets Lucky? I visited her Endangered & Misunderstood website to discover more! We also are following Osmo on their Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube pages!
Disclaimer: I received a book, products, and was generously compensated from Endangered & Misunderstood to write this review. The views I shared are my own.
I think all children need to learn about endangered animals I want my grandchildren to. My children always watched the nature channels instead of cartoons.
OKAPI LOVES HIS ZEBRA PANTS looks like a nice story, I had to check out what an okapi is, I’ve not heard of them before.
I have learned that Aye-Aye is classified as endangered.
I would like to learn more about the Okapi.
that it’s endangered
We love to watch nature channels, I love how concerned my grandkids are about endangered animals, they love to learn and read and want to help in some way! love tolearn more about the Okapi and Aye-Aye
Okapi loved his zebra pants looks interesting
A PANGOLIN is another animal I know nothing at all about so I’d love to learn more about them
I have learned these animals are hunted for the pet trade, for food and as trophies which has caused the aye-aye’s numbers to rapidly decrease.
I would like to learn more about the Pangolin.
I learned that the aye-aye is endangered!
I would like to learn about the the endanger Eskimo curlew
OKAPI is who I would love to learn more about!
Okapi sounds interesting. I love to learn more about him. My granddaughter would like this.
I’d love to learn more about the Aye-Aye, such interesting creatures.
I would like to learn more about the Okapi.
I would like to learn more about the Pangolin.
PANGOLIN is an animal that I would like to learn more about
I’d like to learn more about the Amur Leopard a critically endangered species.
I would like to learn more about the Dik Dik.
I would like to learn more about the Pangolin
I would like to learn more about the PANGOLIN
I learned that the Aye-Aye is a long-fingered lemur, a strepsirrhine primate native to Madagascar.
I’d like to learn more about the OKAPI.
The Black Rhino is a critically endangered species that I’d like to learn more about.
The Okapi would be interesting to learn about.
The OKAPI is an interesting animal that I would like to know more about.
I would like to learn more about the Aye-Aye
THE OKAPI WOULD BE INTERESTING TO LEARN ABOUT
I learned that Aye-Aye is endangered.
I learnt that they are endangered
Another critically endangered species is the Bornean Orangutan that I’d love to know more about.
I learned that Aye-Aye is endangered.
I would also like to learn about the Eskimo Curlew.
I would like to learn more about the Okapi
I learned that the aye-aye is endangered.
I would like to learn more about the Okapi.
I have learned that the Aye-Aye is endangered. A great bundle for my young home schooled friends down the street.
I have never heard of it but it does sound interesting
Another critically endangered species is the Cross River Gorilla, there is a long list of these poor critically endangered animals.
I never knew that an Aye-aye was an animal and I also found out it’s an endangered animal.
The Okapi would be interesting to learn more about
A critically endangered species is the Javan Rhino, it would be such a shame to lose these species, they need to be better protected from extinction.
I would like to learn more about the OKAPI
I learned that the Aye-Aye is an actual animal. I didn’t know that!
I had never even heard of an aye aye. I had no idea it is a real animal.
I’d love to learn more about the Pangolin
I would like to learn more about the Dik Dik
I learned that the Aye-Aye is a a long-fingered lemur.
The Okapi looks like an animal I would like to learn more about.
I would like to learn more about the Pangolin.
The Pangolin is an animal I would like to learn more about.
The Dik Dik is an interesting animal that I would like to know more about
I’d like to learn more about the Amur Leopard
I would want to learn more about Okapi.
PANGOLIN and
DIK DIK would be a good book to learn more about them!
I would like to know more about the Flying Fox I saw among the photos of endangered animals.
I would like to learn about the Okapi.
I learned that Aye-Aye meets Flying Fox – I did not know they lived in the same environment!
I found that the Chimpanzee is on the endangered list. I would like to learn more about them and how they became endangered.
I am interested in learning about Aye-Aye as she sounds fascinating.
I’d also like to learn of the Chimpanzee…and the OKAPI.
Okapi loved his zebra pants looks interesting
I would like to read the book Pangolin Runs Away and learn more about the Pangolin
The Pangolin also sounds fascinating to learn about.
All of the animals are interesting and I would like to learn more about the Okapi.
I learned that the Aye-Aye is an endangered animal!
I would like to learn more about Okapi!
I would like to learn more about the OKAPI
The Pangolin looks like a fascinating animal to learn about.
The Dik Dik also sounds quite fascinating.
I’d like to learn about them all but the Aye-Aye sounds so interesting!
PANGOLIN AND DIK DIK is a book that I would like to read and I would love to learn more about the Pangolin
The Aye-Aye is endangered …. and cute!
I would love to learn more about the okapi
I would like to learn more about Aye Aye’s endangered friend the flying fox.
The Cross River Gorilla would make an interesting study for our family.
The Javan Rhino would be one animal that would be fascinating to learn about. There are so many interesting aspects about this process.
I would like to learn more about the Pangolin and their habitat and why they are becoming extinct.
Bengal tigers are on the endangered list for 2018 which is so sad.
I would like to learn more about the Pangolin’s endangered friend the Dik Dik.
I had never heard of the Aye Aye before! And using the middle finger for grubs!? Poor villagers sure made up some interesting folk tales, why would an aye aye want to pierce hearts!?
I’d like to learn of the DIK DIK as well.
I would like to learn more about the Peary Caribou that is endangered.
I would like to learn more about the Okapi’s endangered friend the Chimpanzee.
Aye Aye is endangered.
I leartned that Aye-Aye have a very high risk of extinction.
I would love to learn more about the OKAPI
The DIK DIK would be interesting.
I would also like to learn about the Bowhead whale which is endangered.
The flying fox or fruit bat is one of the animals I would like to learn more about.
I was surprised to learn the Sumatran Elephant was endangered.
The OKAPI.
Although numbers are up from what they were the mountain gorillas are still endangered.
I would like to learn more about the types of tigers that are endangered.
Its interesting that the Aye-Aye lives in enclosed ball shaped nests in the crown of tall trees I would like to learn more about the Aye-Aye
I learned the are at risk of extinction
I would like to learn more about Aye-Aye and his mischievous ways.
I would like to learn more about the Okapi and it’s zebra pants and why it is endangered.
The aye aye finds its food by tapping its middle finger on the bark of trees I would love to learn more about the Aye-Aye
We hear a lot about animals like the gorilla that are endangered but not often about the smaller animals which are highlighted in these books. I had never heard of the Aye Aye, Pangolin, Dik Dik, or Okapi before I learned about these books.