Library Media Connection - Paulette Moon
This series would be a great addition to any elementary library. Students will enjoy the beautiful photographs, easy text, and colorful maps. The layout of the books creates an easy to use resource for students who are just starting to read nonfiction. Colorful labeled photographs are used throughout. Boldfaced words are defined in the glossary along with a picture example of the word. A basic body map of all animals is included to help students identify the basic parts that were discussed. Bibliography. Glossary. Websites. Table of Contents. Index. – Paulette Moon, Atha Road Elementary School, Monroe, Georgia <i> Library Media Connection</i> March/April 2011
November 14, 2011School Library Journal - John Peters
With surprisingly little boilerplate considering how similar their narrative structures are, these introductions cover, except for the lemur and the orangutan, all South or Central American animals. They discuss coloration and other obvious physical features, geographic ranges, typical foods, predators or prey, reproduction (except, oddly, when it comes to the piranha), and daily cycles of activity. Each one ends with a labeled frontal or side "body map" and four or five mostly age-appropriate sources of further information. On each page, Ganeri presents information clearly and simply in large type, two-sentence comments placed below a bright, sharply reproduced color photograph of the animal in a natural setting. Some of the pictures-such as one view of a Goliath bird-eater tarantula actually eating a bird-though naturalistic, are more likely to stimulate than disturb young viewers. Though so basic that, for instance, the fact that there are some nocturnal lemur varieties goes unmentioned, these treatments are sufficiently specific to support assignment as well as pleasure reading. –John Peters, formerly at New York Public Library <i>School Library Journal</i> November 2010
November 14, 2011
