*I received this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

The Big Five by Bella Makatini tells the story of a little boy named Danny, as he grows up listening to the stories of his grandfather about his homeland, Africa. The stories center on 5 important animals which hang in a picture on his grandfather’s wall. Instead of just telling Danny their names, his grandfather uses anecdotes and parallels from Danny to the animals to make him guess what they are called. Danny accomplishes naming 4 out of 5 of them correctly; however, he is stumped on the last one. The story ends with Danny’s grandfather revealing the name of this mysterious animal. The last scene returns to the pictures on his grandfather’s wall, and while the specific country his grandfather is from is never mentioned, a lone mask is present to give the reader a hint. I saw a few comments regarding the generalization of Africa in this book especially in regards to the author’s choice of not identify the specific country that the grandfather is from. I believe this was intentionally done to remind readers that while there may be many different cultures within Africa, as a whole they are bound by the soil and the love that each of them have for Mother Africa.

I received an electronic ARC from Clavis Publishing through NetGalley.
A young boy visits his grandfather and enjoys one of the paintings. The grandfather offers to tell him about one of the animals each day of his visit.
Danny and readers can interact with the story when the grandfather offers hints about the animals each day. They can guess the animal and then act out what the animal does.
The illustrations are colorful and action filled.
The story felt flat to me as the text was too short and disjointed on some pages. The concept was interesting but the execution needed one more review.

This is a lovely story to read with my kids and they love the story. This is about grandparents and their interaction with grandchildren; a small boy learns about his roots from a story from his grandpa tells him about their roots. The illustrations are beautiful, very happy and bright. We will be reading this for years!

‘Danny is spending the week with his grandpa. Grandpa has a painting of five animals. “Those are the big five” days Grandpa “The most famous animals from my homeland” Grandpa tells Danny about one animal each day’

WOW, thank you so much for the delight that is The Big Five. I enjoyed every second, every page and every illustration of this book.

The relationship between Danny and his Grandpa is so beautiful, and made me feel the way I felt around my grandparents.


The use of small words, big words, bold and italic is eye catching and makes you excited to continue reading.

I am so in love with this story and will most definitely be reading it to my children every night for bedtime.

Thank you so much Bella for the free copy for an honest review. I shall be reviewing this story everywhere, so everyone can enjoy this book just as much as I did!

What a lovely story.
This is a lovely story about grandparents, and their interaction with grandchildren.
I loved the illustrations too, bright, happy and cheerful.


I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The big 5 is a wonderful whildren's book which is entertaining but is also educational. It is the story of a small boy whose grandpa tells him about their roots. They discuss the most famous animals from the Grandpa's homeland, Africa, the Big 5.
The text is clear, simple and well-writte,. The letters are sometimes bigger, in bold, in order for them to stand out and stand for the notion of difference and collaboration.
I am not surprised this book is the winner of the children's story contest in Inclusive works!
The main topics the plot focuses on are generations, family, knowledge about one's roots, differences and acceptation of differences.
In conclusion, I can only warmly recommend this lovely book!

This cute little picture book is about Danny who is staying with his grandpa for five days. His grandpa' house adorned with so many beautiful paintings and colorful masks. Danny takes a special interest in one of them - A painting of five animals from Africa. His grandpa notices his curiosity and decides to teach his grandson about each of those animals in the following days.

The relationship between a child and a grandparent. is expressed beautifully. The illustrations are very colorful and vivid. It singles out one familiar trait from each of the animals which makes it easier for a kid to grasp the information conveyed.

Animals and actions.
This is a fun book that illustrates five of the large African animals and gives a few facts about each of them. The illustrations are colourful, if a little whimsical. What really made it fun was copying the actions of the animals, which my grandson loved. Although I'm not convinced that lions are known for their jumping abilities, but he didn't question that.

My main complaint, however, was the generalisation of Africa, which is a continent, not a country. The Big Five would not be in the same in all African countries and I would have liked to have known which country Grandpa was from.

My grandson loved this book and took part in all the activities. I'm sure we shall be reading this many times more.

Thank you to NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy of this book. I received this in exchange for my honest review.



This is a very cute read. As a daycare provider this would be an amazing circle time book. The kiddos would get to learn different words like "grazing" and they can do the actions along with the story. There is also some sequential learning like "first, second, third". Every kiddos loves to spend time with grandpa so they would all find this relatable and engaging.



The illustrations are adorable. The right focal points are brought forward and are very intercultural. I absolutely would get this for my child or for my daycare kiddos.

A lovely book that will fit in with the Animal theme as well as encourage predicting and counting amongst the children.

An adorable story of a little boy is spending time with his Grandpa who tells him about five most famous animals from his home country. What I loved about this book the most is its beautiful bright colours and the fact that the boy and his grandfather seem to have so much fun together. There is in-built repetition and interactivity in this book, so I can easily see children enjoy reading/ listening to the story and acting it out.

Thank you to NetGalley and Clavis Publishing for the ARC provided in exchange for an honest opinion.

A perfect book for me to read to my elementary kids, the K-1 classes really enjoyed it. I am always looking for something new to read them and get them to engage with me and this was a perfect fit.

Bufalo, leone, elefante, leopardo, rinoceronte: non semplici animale, ma i "Grandi Cinque", quelli che rappresentano per il Nonno il suo Paese natale, l'Africa.

Ed è presentandoli, uno per giorno, al nipotino in visita - mentre cucinano, disegnano, vanno in bicicletta - che gli schiude un mondo diverso e meraviglioso, che è parte del suo patrimonio.

Un volumetto semplice e senza grandi pretese, che può comunque fornire un ponte per parlare dell'Africa ai piccoletti di casa.

My grandson read this book out loud to me and he really enjoyed it.
This is a great story about a Grandfather and his grandson. The illustrations are bright and colorful and they go great with this story!
This story has a lot of room for interaction and my grandson and I really enjoyed reading it and talking about the different animals.
This is a great little book!
Thanks Netgalley for the arc of this great children’s book!

The Big Five deserves Five Big Stars!
Written by Bella Makatini, the story follows Danny, a young boy who will be staying with his Grandpa for five days. There are loads of colorful African masks and paintings for Danny to enjoy at his Grandpa’s house, but his favorite is a painting of five animals, the most famous animals of Grandpa’s homeland. Judi Abbot’s are colorful, cheerful, and capture the excitement of the story.

Because Danny will be staying five days, his Grandpa proposes a plan to teach Danny about one of the Big Five each day of his visit. On Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, Grandpa teaches Danny about an animal each day.

And Friday night before leaving, his Grandpa gives Danny a fantastic gift and promises to take Danny to Africa, Grandpa’s homeland.

The dynamic of Danny with his Grandpa was full of warmth and caring. Being with his Grandpa for five days was an adventure and didn’t dwell on, or mention, homesickness. Another win for this book are the adjectives used to clue Danny into guessing which animal was next. Each animal was associated with a physical activity performed by Danny and his Grandfather, or Danny with a diverse group of friends. (The exception here is Wednesday’s rhino. They eat cucumbers like a grazing rhino. Eating healthy is important too!) Using the days of the week (not Saturday or Sunday though) is an educational benefit.


Thanks to NetGalley and Clavis Publishing for the opportunity to read this book. My review is honest and unbiased. #NetGalley #TheBigFive

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A fun book about the big five animals in Africa told by a boy and his grandpa. This is an educational book about animals and you can also make it an active book. After the boy guesses what animal his grandpa is describing they do what the animal is good at doing. When I read this to the children I nanny they enjoyed guessing the animals and then acting out what the animal does best. They had a lot of fun with many giggles. I recommend ages 3 - 6 years for this book.

Thanks NetGalley for the preview!

I found this picture book cute and fun. I liked the usage of bold and italics to emphasize words in the story. The illustrations were very cute even on my e-reader. Would love to see the finished product. I could see this book as a great gift from a grandpa to his grandson.

This book is meant for younger children but I feel like this is too long to be for very young children. The boy has to guess animals based on the grandfather’s clues. After he guesses the five animals from his homeland Grandpa has a surprise for him.

This is a cute little book about a boy, his grandfather, and famous African animals.

Danny is spending five days with his grandfather. The older man has a painting on his wall of "the big five", famous animals from his homeland. Grandpa proceeds to tell Danny about one animal each day until he's covered all five.

The way the book is written requires Danny (and kids) to guess at which animal Grandpa is describing. So this book is going to be much more entertaining on the first read-through. The clues for most of the animals are pretty straightforward, except for the buffalo. (I have a bit of an issue with this. Technically, yes, what is shown is a buffalo, but for North American readers, that word usually refers to bison. I would've rather seen the animal in question referred to as the African buffalo or Cape buffalo to avoid confusion.) The leopard's description also gave me pause; the text says the animal "looks like a big cat". To me, that implies it isn't a cat at all, but merely looks like one. The word choice there could be a little confusing.

The pictures are certainly bright and colourful, and some are pretty fun. (The illustration of Danny and Grandpa "grazing" on cucumbers is quite amusing.) Throughout the book, the boy and his grandfather are shown doing various activities together, which is kind of nice.

Overall, this is a fun little picture book. It's intended for kids age 3 and up, although I do think appeal will probably be limited to just a few years beyond that; I can't see older kids getting much out of this one, especially once they've gone through it once and know which animals are going to be discussed.

This is a cute book with vibrant, colorful illustrations. I liked how the book included the days of the week, descriptions of the animals so kids can take a guess at what animal is being described, and action words that I know my nieces and nephews would love to act out. I could envision using the book as a springboard for various crafts, playtime activities, etc centered around each animal.