Review: The Nocturnals Adventure Activity Box

By Tracey Hecht
Illustrated by Kate Liebman
Available now from Fabled Films Press
Review copy

The Nocturnals Adventure Activity Box looks something like a subscription box (and I do know there are similar ones for books). Inside is the first hardcover chapter book in The Nocturnals series, The Mysterious Abductions, The Nocturnals Activity Book, and a plush of Dawn the fox. There's also a bookmark. The book and plush can be purchased separately, but the activity book is unique to the box.

The Dawn plush is extremely cute. Mine arrived with the fur needing some fluffing, but that's typical for shipped stuffed animals. The neckerchief she's wearing comes right from the first chapters of the book, a detail that will delight kids who are sticklers from accuracy. It is stitched on, but a parent can cut it off if desired.

The Nocturnals Activity Book is a black and white and has several different versions of a few activities rather than several different activities. There are word searches, crosswords, matching animals to facts, and some arts and crafts. The cut-out sections are printed so that no activity on the reverse side is destroyed. There is a bingo that needs multiple players, kiwi birds that can be cut out to play hockey (like in the book), masks of the main characters, and hearts that can be made into the main characters faces. The activity book notes it is for fourth and fifth graders, but I would say a third grader could definitely do the activities, especially since the crossword includes a word bank. (Weirdly, words are repeated between the crosswords.)

The centerpiece, of course, is the book itself. The Mysterious Abductions is the tale of three nocturnal creatures: Tobin the pangolin, Bismark the sugar glider, and Dawn the fox. They come together to form a brigade to protect their fellow animals. Their first case involves a series of strange disappearances.

The chapters in the book are short and filled with action, propelling a young reader along. There are lessons about teamwork and standing up to bullies. The characters themselves mostly have surface traits. Dawn is the stalwart leader, and has an intriguing past with a coyote. Tobin is steady. Bismark is an insecure show-off.

Kate Liebman's sugar glider

Bismark, unfortunately, is the most talkative of the Nocturnals and the worst part of the book. His dialogue is super annoying, speaking in triplicate and peppering his speech with languages such as Spanish and French. I think it is supposed to be a fun way to introduce common non-English phrases to kids, but it irritated me, especially coming from Bismark. He hits on Dawn constantly, even though she shows no interest in him. This sort of lothario used to be a stock comedy character, but it isn't cute, especially in a kid's book.

Also, in a series with a running message against bullying, Bismark is one of the biggest bullies of them all. Throughout their adventure, the brigade meet up with other nocturnal animals who join the team to help out. In The Mysterious Abductions, this includes a trio of bats. Bismark insults them constantly, including calling them dingbats and mocking the way they speak in threes (look whose talking). Weirdly, no one seems to have an issue with how he speaks to their allies. 

The narrative even seems to agree with him at one point, when Dawn notes, "But upon inspecting the creatures before her, she understood what he meant. The fur on their chests was matted and mangy, and their rickety wings were covered in scrapes. (37)" There's no reason for the bats to be in such poor shape, and the other animals aren't treated so rudely or remarkably dirty. Bats are cool! I found their treatment egregious and contrary to the book's message.

Kate Liebman's art is featured in full color at the beginning of each chapter. Some of it is cute, in a slightly askew way. Some off-putting.

I think this activity box is a super cute idea to turn the first book in a series into a gift. But I don't think I can recommend this series.