The cover of Glow: Animals with their Own Night-Lights by W.H. Beck will make you stop and take notice. Just look at that angler fish!

Once you dive into this book, the pictures help teach readers about the different kinds of animals and plants that use bio-luminescence. After you learn the definition, you'll be introduced to animals deep in the sea (thank goodness they are so far down I will never encounter them), in the woods, and even in the air. I had no idea that fireflies aren’t actually flies! I definitely learned a lot. I'd love to go where there are dinoflagellates making the water sparkle.

If you're looking for an interesting way to learn about plants and animals, than I highly recommend this non-fiction picture book. It's great for young kids or older readers. ( )

A fabulous book that explores animals with bioluminescence--the ability to glow. The dual text with shorter readings at the top and more explanatory text at the bottom, makes this a great book for readers of all ages. A book that astounds readers! ( )

This is a fabulous read aloud book for all ages. The text is all about organisms that use bioluminescence. The photos and captions are superb. The pages of the text are black so that the bioluminescent organisms really come to life on the page. The text is white and in bold print so that it jumps off the page for the reader. The text flows well from page to page and organism to organism. On each page there is additional finer print text also in white which explains why or how the organism uses bioluminescence. There are no page numbers and no table of contents. The title page uses font that glows for the title word "glow". The author includes a bibliography of reliable resources. At the end of the text, a page includes small photos of each organism, lists the organisms scientific name and other information. This is a really beautiful and useful book for teaching about bioluminescence or adaptations of organisms. ( )

This book was primarily a picture book on different kinds of marine organisms that live in the dark zone, or an area of the ocean >1000m down. Because no sunlight reaches these areas, often times organisms find ways of creating their own light, often by luciferin or luiferase. I found this book to be a really entertaining and educational read. The pictures were vibrant and exciting, and it seemed to be a great resource for teachers who are introducing marine creatures to their children. ( )

This is a gorgeous book. I've been looking at several books about nocturnal and bioluminescent animals and this is exactly what I've been looking for.

The deep black pages are illuminated by glowing animals and bright, white text. After a few simple sentences of introduction, explaining bioluminescence, each page features a single sentence explaining why animals glow - to hide, to find food, to attract a mate. Smaller type identifies the animals and offers a fact about each one. Back matter explains the difficulty of photographing bioluminescent creatures, especially those deep in the ocean, and offers thumbnail sketches of each animal along with their common and scientific name, size, and habitat. There is also a brief bibliography.

I did feel that some of the larger sentences were pushing or repeating the different functions somewhat - there were multiple pictures featuring animals hunting with different words including hunt, trick, and invite although really they're all the same thing. However, this is a minor quibble - this is a great book to introduce kids of many ages to the fascinating world of bioluminescent animals and get them interested in learning more about these strange, wonderful creatures.

Verdict: Some of the pictures are a little creepy, so I would be careful about using this in storytime if you have sensitive toddlers or preschoolers (or parents!) but it's a perfect choice for an outreach storytime with preschool or kindergarten, especially if you can tie it in with some glow in the dark activities!

ISBN: 9780544416666; Published 2015 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Borrowed from another library in my consortium