Library Media Connection - Suzanne Libra

While not good reading material during mealtime, these books will have high interest appeal. If you want to know what goes on in your compost pile or sewer, these books will tell you in some detail. Each book in the series opens with a "What is a habitat?" two-page spread. Although the text is almost identical in each book, the illustrations are different. After the introductory spread, the books go into the specifics of each habitat, discussing the animals, insects, and microbes that exist in the different environments. Each two-page spread has illustrations, captions, text, and often sidebars. Each book also includes a hands-on activity, glossary, further reading list, and website links. Although these books are short, they pack in a lot of useful scientific information in a student-friendly format. My second grader browsed them, and my middle school students read them. This would be a good set to have in the room during a unit on habitats or adaptation. Recommended.–Suzanne Libra, Teacher Librarian, Silver Hills Middle School, Westminster, Colorado [Editor’s Note: Also available in paperback.]<i>Library Media Connection</i> May/June 2010