When it comes to animal spotting, most people are well aware of the ‘ Big 5’. Some may even have heard of the ‘Little 5’. The term ‘Ugly 5’ refers to a group of the five ‘ugliest’ animals in Africa that you can spot on a safari. It’s a rather brutal classification, and in reality, all animals are beautiful in their own way. Would this be a good book to read aloud to the class or would it be good for Shared or guided reading?

Vultures are incredible scavengers. So much so that they are often referred to as ‘nature’s cleanup crew’. If there is a carcass in the wild, you will find them soaring above or gorging themselves until they have eaten as much as they can. They then sit in a half-sleep state to digest their food like people after a celebratory meal 🙂 The hyena also has some peculiar proportions, with all the strength loaded in their forequarters (and jaw), and the weak-looking hindquarters seemingly added as something of an afterthought. The size of a hyena’s clan can dictate the size of a kill or scavenge. A hyena clan can range in size between 12 and 24 hyenas. Some clans are even larger than this.The hyena family includes four species: the Striped, the Brown and the Spotted hyena, and the Aardwolf. When asked to vote thumbs up or thumbs down, Dragonflies class (Year 2) polled a mixture of thumbs up, thumbs down and thumbs in the middle. Dominic thought it was boring, but liked the pictures of the funny animals. Brandon thought it was too long and wasn’t funny. Maia liked “seeing animals I’ve never seen before”.

The book is about the animals known on safari as the Ugly Five - the cosmetically challenged companions of the more famous Big Five (lion, leopard, rhinoceros, buffalo and elephant). They are the wildebeest, warthog, spotted hyena, lappet-faced vulture and Marabou stork. It is easy to overlook smaller creatures while on a safari as we are normally on the lookout for the famous Big Five game animals, but this isn’t Africa’s only famous collection of animals to be seen. Allow us to introduce to you Africa’s less glamorous animals, the warthog, hyena, marabou stork, vulture, and the wildebeest, also, unfortunately, known as The Ugly Five. Although these animals aren’t eye-catching, they all have something unique and fascinating to offer. In reality, warthogs are quite intelligent. They sleep underground at night, yet they don’t dig their own burrows. Rather, they steal them from other animals, such as aardvarks. Not a kind move, but a clever one. A set pattern is followed throughout the story as the animals continue to walk and find a new friend to join their group. The pattern begins by the animals noticing another unusual looking creature, the creature then describes who they are before the rest of the group asks them to join their ‘clan’. The animals continue on their walk by singing the song.Their newest effort is a celebration of the animals in Africa, but not the ones children usually come to love. This is a book about the "others"; the funny-looking animals that many forget. Taking a warm-hearted approach, Donaldson draws our attention to "The Ugly Five": the wildebeest, the warthog, the hyena, the vulture and the Marabou stork.

Just like the marabou stork, vultures tend to have bald, scabby looking heads. Often with unfortunate skin folds, and sometimes with unsightly, exposed ears. I got this one for Christmas from Santa at my library story time. I love reading it with my Nannie. Even though the animals are ugly I think they are funny & love them.

3. Wildebeest

As always, Julia Donaldson’s rhyming is fabulous. It is never forced or awkward and, with its rhythm and wit, is always a pleasure to read. The illustrations by Axel Scheffler are again lovely. His style is instantaneously recognisable and very child-friendly. The message of the book is charming - that beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder and that we are perfect just the way we are. Everyone enjoyed hearing about the Marabou stork, which poos on its legs - apparently to cool itself down - and there was fascination about exactly what the meat was that the hyena and the vulture were eating. One nature-documentary watching child thought that the answer would not please the wildebeest. Due to the rhyming nature of the story it is a great read aloud book. The repetition allows the children to join in with any repeated refrains and encourages them to notice and predict the rhyming words at the end of each sentence. Therefore could be used with Nursery children or lower Key Stage 1. However, they don’t only scavenge for their food. They’re skilled hunters, too. In fact, they’re part of the most successful predators in Africa.

Edward listened carefully and wisely pronounced: “It’s good that they don’t care what they look like, but I prefer The Gruffalo.”

An Unsightly Summary of The Ugly 5

This book sits on two nerves and therefore loses a star. Nominated for the Washington State Children's Choice award, this book requires that the students know about he Big 5 and possibly the Little 5 and therefore the Shy 5. It also requires that the librarian endures rhyming couplets and the kids endure her singing the sing song verses... not winning me over. These requirements are really just my needs.