Book Review: The Hidden Wisdom of Animals

January 7, 2026 by Sarah White Leave a Comment

We humans often think of ourselves as far removed from animals, so different that they couldn’t possibly share anything that would help us live our lives better.

But as Kate Siber notes in her book (illustrated by Kaitlynn Copithorne) The Hidden Wisdom of Animals: Surprising Things We Can Learn from Nature, many animals have traits that we would do well to copy.

The book includes information about 44 different animals and how their lives exhibit a character trait that’s also good for humans. Owls known how to listen, spiders know how to create, octopuses know how to be different, bears know how to rest, lobsters know how to keep growing, and turtles know how to protect themselves, to name a few.

The stories are present in short paragraphs or poems exploring what’s special about that animal. For example the section “penguins know how to be devoted” covers how penguin dads carry their eggs on their feet to keep them warm and how both parents work hard to keep their babies safe, warm and fed.

The section “oysters know how to transform their world” is written as a letter to the oyster thanking them for being amazing filters of ocean water and turning minor annoyances into things of beauty.

The illustrations cover the page around the text (and some animals, like octopuses and monarch butterflies) get a full page for another illustration without any text.

Most of the animals featured are probably ones that you and your kids will know, but there might be a few you aren’t familiar with, like the tutara, a lizard-like reptile that only lives in New Zealand.

The book ends with a reminder that humans are animals, too, and we can use our gifts to help protect these and other animals throughout the world.

The Hidden Wisdom of Animals is a sweet meditation on the human-like qualities that animals can posses and gives us space to think about how we can choose to be more like animals in some of these ways.

About the book: 112 pages, hardcover. Published 2025 by Wide-Eyed Editions. Suggested retail price $24.99.

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Activities and Crafts for Johnny Appleseed Day

Johnny Appleseed Day is sometimes celebrated on Sept. 26 because that is John Chapman’s birthday, but even if you’re just doing an apple unit study for fall it’s a great time to talk about Johnny Appleseed.

And that’s the place to start, that Johnny Appleseed was a real person named John Chapman who was born in 1774 in what was then the province of Massachusetts Bay. He traveled west when he turned 18 and despite the image of him randomly tossing apple seeds everywhere, he was really a deliberate planter of apple tree nurseries, which he left in the care of others and checked on every year or two.

Learn a little more of his story with these cute coloring pages (though not entirely historically accurate, they’re still cute) from Homeschool of 1. They also have a Johnny Appleseed themed word search printable.

This pin of a Scholastic News page doesn’t link to a website, but it gives you some basic information and a true and false quiz you can use with kids.

Crystal & Co. has a cute apple themed counting mini book you can print and use with your Johnny Appleseed unit. They also have some coloring pages with a bit of handwriting practice. Or practice cutting with the Johnny Appleseed themed worksheets from 3 Boys and a Dog.

Make a Johnny Appleseed puppet to help tell the story with this craft with a free printable template from Simple Everyday Mom. You’ll also find some cute printable worksheets there to learn his story and put it in the correct order.

Color, cut out and assemble this Johnny Appleseed drawing from Homeschool Preschool. They also have an apple seed counting activity you can use for practicing one to one correspondence.

Tiaras and Tantrums has a free printable apple unit that includes Johnny Appleseed facts and coloring pages, as well as how to say apple in different languages, tracing apple vocabulary, art project ideas, science experiments and more.

And if you need more apple themed activities to go with your Johnny Appleseed celebrations, check out my posts on apple crafts and apple learning activities.

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