This delightful adaptation of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, shares zoo keeper and animal preparations for the upcoming "Zoo Day." But things aren't going according to plan . . . The llamas won't quit spitting, the giraffes are drooling, and the zebras aren't happy at all with their stripes. Meanwhile, the zoo keepers are scurrying this way and that, cleaning up poop, ringing mealtime bells, and trying to get the animals bathed. Will "Zoo Day" go off without a hitch? The "For Creative Minds" educational section includes "Creative Sparks: imagine you're a zoo keeper," and "An Animal Adaptation Matching Activity." This fictional story with rhyming text includes a 5-page For Creative Minds section in the back of the book and a 33-page cross-curricular Teaching Activity Guide online. 'Twas the Day Before Zoo Day is vetted by experts and designed to encourage parental engagement. Its extensive back matter helps teachers with time-saving lesson ideas, provides extensions for science, math, and social studies units, and uses inquiry-based learning to help build critical thinking skills in young readers. The Spanish translation supports ELL and dual-language programs. The interactive ebook reads aloud in both English and Spanish with word highlighting and audio speed control to promote oral language skills, fluency, pronunciation, text engagement, and reading comprehension.

Ben Hodson is an award-winning illustrator of nearly twenty books. He loves creating art and he also loves a good adventure, like hiking the Rocky Mountains with a team of rescued wild burros, living in a mountain village in Nepal, or drawing comics with youth in South Africa. Ben created the artwork for How the Moon Regained Her Shape using acrylic paints, handmade papers, old wallpaper, pencil crayons, gesso, and ink on watercolor paper. He illustrates full time from his home in Ottawa, Canada. Visit Ben's website: http: //www.benhodson.ca/