Review of “Night Watchers” by Conrad J. Storad

Score 94/100 (9.4 out of 10)

We were pleasantly surprised by this highly educational children's book by Conrad J. Storad!

This delightful children's book follows a little unnamed Story Monster (who serves as a surrogate for the young audience) as he finds himself on the Earth at night. Rather than being alone as one might expect at such an hour, Story Monster encounters an intelligent and friendly owl named Eddie (Eduardo E. Owlington VIII) who serves as the narrator for most of the book.

Eddie is knowledgeable about all of the incredible, amazing animals who are active during the night. From Eddie (and the author), we learn about various types of owls, bats, ringtails, raccoons, opossums, red foxes, wolves, coyotes, armadillos, skunks, mosquitoes, fireflies, katydids, crickets, cicadas, moths, spiders, scorpions, frogs, toads, and snakes (don't worry if you have a phobia, the snakes aren't shown).

We simply did not expect to step into such a deep, vast well of knowledge when opening this book. We were just expecting something simple and, admittedly, a bit more shallow. Instead, this book is an elaborate educational experience and a wealth of information!

We did not expect to learn so much from a little children's book!

For example, we didn't know that red foxes are one of the most widespread meat-eaters found around the world and have 20 different calls. We didn't know that brown bats can eat over 1,000 mosquitoes per hour. We didn't know that ringtails (“miner's cats”) are more closely related to raccoons than cats.

We didn't know that raccoons were such great swimmers. We didn't know that opossums are related to animals more famously found in Australia, namely kangaroos and koalas. We didn't know that coyotes can use ten different sounds to communicate. We didn't realize that skunks and armadillos are nocturnal. We didn't know that there were four different kinds of skunks in North America. We didn't know that there were over 4,000 types of spiders in North America. We didn't know that fireflies are actually flying beetles.

You and your children will definitely learn a lot from reading this book!

Now, we have to say, this book took a while to win us over. At first, it came across as a bit unfinished and a bit clunky. One thing that immediately stood out to us is that, unlike Story Monsters (the previous book), the illustrations distinctly lack color. However, the more we thought about it, we realized it doesn't really need color. Kids don't always have to be bombarded with bright colors. It can be overwhelming. Heck, parents might find the opportunity to copy some of these pages and use them as coloring pages. Kids love coloring books.

On the note of clunkiness, the main character doesn't have a name and we're not sure how or why they showed up on Earth at this specific time, we just have to accept it. Also, we weren't expecting the book to be more like a survey or overview of a lot of information rather than a typical linear narrative. In other words, there isn't really a story other than Story Monster learning from Eddie and becoming more comfortable and knowledgeable about this unfamiliar environment.

It is true that dark, night, and certain animals can be terrifying to children (heck, even adults) mostly because of the mystery and unfamiliarity they hold. It's easy to feel alone at night or in the dark because you can't see as much. However, kids may be comforted and delighted to know that certain cool and even cuddly animals actually love to hang out and play at night.

Story Monster and Eddie are both very lovable and likable characters. Eddie is so much fun to learn from and listen to! On the other side, it's fun to see Story Monster transform (and attempt to transform) into these different animals. This gives parents and teachers opportunities to ask interactive questions of their kids such as, “What animal is Story Monster turning into now?”

What a remarkable educational opportunity for children!

Check it out on Amazon!