He watched lemurs leap, panthers pounce and orang-utans do the jungle juggle. And Sloth slowly… slowly…slowly closed his eyes.’ Today the jungle is alive with sport, the animals have spent days practicing for the big event and now Sports Day has finally arrived. But not everyone is taking part. Poor Sloth is too slow and, as Monkey keeps reminding him, there are no prizes for hanging around. There might not be a race for Sloth but he becomes the jungle’s unlikely hero when he saves Sports Day from disaster and teaches Monkey an important lesson. Fable meets fact file in Jill Newton’s modern jungle tale in dual language. ‘Sports Day in the Jungle’ combines fascinating facts, exuberant illustrations and animal antics with a moral that should be taught in every classroom. Monkey is saved from a near miss and the jungle animals learn that everyone has something to contribute, even if at first they do not know it. ‘Sports Day in the Jungle’ is a simple and creative way for children to improve how they work together in teams. Set groups collaborative tasks, then read the story and discuss how teamwork tactics could be improved before reshuffling teams and attempting the task again.
