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A Day in the Life
Big Cats: What Do Lions, Tigers, and Panthers Get up to All Day?
Set over a 24-hour period, meet sparring snow leopards, sprinting cheetahs, and slumbering jaguars in this kids’ nonfiction book about the biggest cats on Earth.
Follow the lives of individual big cats as they roar, hunt, fight, and play their way through the day.
Follow the lives of individual big cats as they roar, hunt, fight, and play their way through the day.
48 pages, Hardcover
Published April 5, 2022
22 people are currently reading
38 people want to read
About the author
Tyus D. Williams
1 book2 followersTyus D. Williams is a wildlife ecologist and science communicator with a focus on carnivores, especially big cats. He’s particularly intrigued by the influence predators have on the wildlife and people around them. Born in Southern California, Tyus moved to Georgia and was passionate about wildlife from as young as six. He grew up watching his childhood role models Jeff Corwin and Steve Irwin on TV, and knew he wanted to be a biologist when he got older. Tyus has tracked jaguars in Belize and surveyed salamanders in the Appalachian mountains, and is studying for his PhD at the University of California, Berkeley.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
September 24, 2023
The illustrations and coloring are really pretty.
September 3, 2022
Instead of having different sections with details and facts about big cats, Williams weaves facts with short vignettes that capture imagination while integrating all the big cats in a fluid manner; and thus readers will have learned a great deal without even realizing it! I really wish all nonfiction books will consider how to revamp and find creative ways to convey information, other than the rote, and often pedantic, methods we are used to! Not to mention, Prabhat is a genius with digital art and magically layers colors to bring these big cats to life!
September 4, 2023
Another book written to be in a collective format instead of focusing on one main species at a time. Since it is meant to be written in a day format it does make it a bit more tricky but at the same time rather interesting as well.
My first big fit is the fact that I honestly didn't think that cheetahs and mountain lions were meant to be included in this book since mountain lions aren't considered big cats as they can purr while cheetahs are in their own family or last I knew they were. Then again I also guess that some liberties were taken with the size to include these cats since size-wise they don't quite match the much smaller cats and are just as fascinating as the bigger cats.
The book starts off with an Introduction followed by a Meet the Family section. Although there is a nice part about respecting big cats and they are threatened there isn't much information for younger readers to be interested in with the Introduction. The next section mentioned breaks down the cat family while explaining how old each branch may be after splitting from the main tree as well as only mentions Smilodons for Extinct Cats - why not the cave lion?
From there the book starts off at 8 am with a snow leopard hunting and ends at 11 pm with the black jaguar hunting and a message about habitat destruction so isn't even a full day. Each hour has a different eye on a species whether it is the tiger, the leopard, the cheetah, the puma, etc. To separate the morning block from the afternoon block and the afternoon block from the night block the book has sections that provides more information on big cats as a group while touching base on each of them before continuing on with its telling.
Some of the entries have a caption that provides another bit of trivia for the entry and other entries have an insert for Meanwhile entries that take the reader from the page's focal species to one of the other big cats at around the same time. The reader does also need to be aware that 9 am for one species in Colorado won't the same as 9 am for a species that is living in Florida even though the book provides such a correlation.
Another thing that I found interesting was the fact that the male lion was basically missing up until the very end of the book and that on the big cat distribution map they didn't have tigers up to Siberia. But then again what do I know....
All in all it was a basically good introduction to these various species and a good starter book while I would most definitely recommend looking at more in-depth species-specific books if your child's interest should be peaked.
My first big fit is the fact that I honestly didn't think that cheetahs and mountain lions were meant to be included in this book since mountain lions aren't considered big cats as they can purr while cheetahs are in their own family or last I knew they were. Then again I also guess that some liberties were taken with the size to include these cats since size-wise they don't quite match the much smaller cats and are just as fascinating as the bigger cats.
The book starts off with an Introduction followed by a Meet the Family section. Although there is a nice part about respecting big cats and they are threatened there isn't much information for younger readers to be interested in with the Introduction. The next section mentioned breaks down the cat family while explaining how old each branch may be after splitting from the main tree as well as only mentions Smilodons for Extinct Cats - why not the cave lion?
From there the book starts off at 8 am with a snow leopard hunting and ends at 11 pm with the black jaguar hunting and a message about habitat destruction so isn't even a full day. Each hour has a different eye on a species whether it is the tiger, the leopard, the cheetah, the puma, etc. To separate the morning block from the afternoon block and the afternoon block from the night block the book has sections that provides more information on big cats as a group while touching base on each of them before continuing on with its telling.
Some of the entries have a caption that provides another bit of trivia for the entry and other entries have an insert for Meanwhile entries that take the reader from the page's focal species to one of the other big cats at around the same time. The reader does also need to be aware that 9 am for one species in Colorado won't the same as 9 am for a species that is living in Florida even though the book provides such a correlation.
Another thing that I found interesting was the fact that the male lion was basically missing up until the very end of the book and that on the big cat distribution map they didn't have tigers up to Siberia. But then again what do I know....
All in all it was a basically good introduction to these various species and a good starter book while I would most definitely recommend looking at more in-depth species-specific books if your child's interest should be peaked.
October 17, 2025
See what big cats all over the world are up to throughout a typical day.
This book allows readers to see what panthers, jaguars, snow leopards, lions, tigers, cheetahs, and leopards get up to in a typical 24 hrs.
I was a bit disappointed this didn’t include lynx, servals, and some of the lesser-known big cats. It felt like informing readers about the need for conservation of habitats was just as important to the author as informing them about the big cats and their different attributes, which is fine but it would have been nice to be clued into that in the title somehow. Like how to save big cats or something. This was ok, and I haven’t really seen anything else quite like it. Just more text-heavy than I was looking for (even though it is marketed to lower grades, it is much more appropriate for middle grades) so I was a bit disappointed because of that.
Notes on content:
Language: None
Sexual content: None
Violence: Some animal hunting mentioned, but no gory illustrations.
Ethnic diversity: Looked at big cats in the Americas, Africa, and Asia.
LGBTQ+ content: N/A
Other: There were a lot of theoretical numbers for when various species evolved or died out included in the beginning of the book that could be dated as theories change.
This book allows readers to see what panthers, jaguars, snow leopards, lions, tigers, cheetahs, and leopards get up to in a typical 24 hrs.
I was a bit disappointed this didn’t include lynx, servals, and some of the lesser-known big cats. It felt like informing readers about the need for conservation of habitats was just as important to the author as informing them about the big cats and their different attributes, which is fine but it would have been nice to be clued into that in the title somehow. Like how to save big cats or something. This was ok, and I haven’t really seen anything else quite like it. Just more text-heavy than I was looking for (even though it is marketed to lower grades, it is much more appropriate for middle grades) so I was a bit disappointed because of that.
Notes on content:
Language: None
Sexual content: None
Violence: Some animal hunting mentioned, but no gory illustrations.
Ethnic diversity: Looked at big cats in the Americas, Africa, and Asia.
LGBTQ+ content: N/A
Other: There were a lot of theoretical numbers for when various species evolved or died out included in the beginning of the book that could be dated as theories change.
December 17, 2022
A strong offering for the legion of kids interested in big cats. After a brief introduction presenting the author and the family tree of big cats, the narrative jumps to hour by hour double-page spreads showing typical imagined activities of the five Panthera branch cats (lions, tigers, leopards, snow leopards, jaguars) and the two Puma branch members (pumas and cheetahs). The pages are saturated with colorful illustrations overlaid with text and occasionally broken into comic-style panels. Intriguing facts and relevant behavioral details are presented in digestible chunks suitable for reading aloud or for kids on their own. Contents, glossary and index make it easy to navigate and hone in on desired information. I wish this excellent book had ended on a stronger note.
January 21, 2023
Fascinating glimpses into the lives of seven big cats: lions, tigers, snow leopards, leopards, jaguars, cheetahs, and pumas. Arranged hour by hour during one day. The author includes info on hunting techniques, big cat senses and abilities, camouflage, and distribution. Back matter includes a glossary and an index. Informative, colorful illustrations by Chaaya Prabhat.
December 15, 2022
My eight year old cat lover LOVED this non-fiction book. Lots of little known information about cats of all sizes and who live all over the globe. Great accompanying illustrations as well.
January 21, 2023
Art is stunning and a great way to learn about different big cats! Great for all ages. I even learned some new things!
May 20, 2023
I enjoyed all the facts and how they were organised through time.
4 stars due to the ending being too sad - not relevant / appropriate in a book about cats
4 stars due to the ending being too sad - not relevant / appropriate in a book about cats
February 12, 2025
Great art! A good glimpse into big cats' lives,
June 30, 2023
Picked this out from the library to read with my 4 yo son because he’s in a big cats phase, but I’d say this is probably geared toward 4th-5th graders reading level. But my son stayed with it in one whole sitting and so did I! I really liked it. It goes through one day, from 7 am to 11 pm, catching up with different wild cats around the world. It reminded me of This is How We Do It, which follows 9 children around the world throughout their day. I definitely recommend it to any kid, young or old, who is interested in big cats.
September 27, 2023
Not a lot of new-to-me information (but we have read a lot of books about big cats) but it's presented in an interesting way with captivating illustrations. The compare/contrast element between cats on different continents at different points in the day is engaging so, even if you are already a big cats fan, you will probably find something to appreciate here. If you are new to big cats, it's a great first book for the older picture book crowd. Docking a star for lack of Bibliography. Would have been nice if there was an author bio because I did look it up and Williams is a wildlife ecologist and science communicator with a focus on carnivores, especially big cats, so that gives more credibility considering there's no Bibliography. Overall, highly recommended to big cat fans provided they won't be too bothered by a few illustrations of hunting/killing prey.
April 26, 2023
Great for Kids
The book is created using vibrant colors and excellent intriguing details of Bog Cats! It allows kid’s opportunities to learn more about Big Cata!
The book is created using vibrant colors and excellent intriguing details of Bog Cats! It allows kid’s opportunities to learn more about Big Cata!
September 23, 2023
Pretty pictures but with a side of guilt
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews