Reviews
Series Made Simple
These titles offer emergent readers brief overviews of different sports and encourage them to participate (“Do you want to try? Dive in. Swimming is fun!”). Colorful photos depict boys and girls enjoying themselves at the pool, ice rink, and ball parks; Football opens with a girl suited… View →
Series Made Simple
Readers learn about a broad variety of helping professions, including ones that might not immediately come to mind, such as reporters. The cultural diversity of children featured is a positive, although the quality of the stock photographs varies. The major weakness of this set is its… View →
Out of This World!
Beginning readers will enjoy this foray into outer space as they learn about the solar system. No more than three very short, simple sentences in a large typeface are found on each attractive spread. The photos effectively complement the descriptive text and will have readers eager to… View →
Series Made Simple
These titles offer emergent readers brief overviews of different sports and encourage them to participate (“Do you want to try? Dive in. Swimming is fun!”). Colorful photos depict boys and girls enjoying themselves at the pool, ice rink, and ball parks; Football opens with a girl suited… View →
Series Made Simple
Readers learn about a broad variety of helping professions, including ones that might not immediately come to mind, such as reporters. The cultural diversity of children featured is a positive, although the quality of the stock photographs varies. The major weakness of this set is its… View →
Booklist Review for Bodie: The Town That Belongs to Ghosts
Bodie, the California ghost town that was born and died because of the American gold rush, stars in this thorough visual and informational installment in the Abandoned! Towns without People series. The Wild West setting is appealing enough, but the dramatic rise and fall View →
Series Made Simple
Highly engaging photography supports basic information, making this set a good fit for preschoolers and new readers. Short, simple sentences offer readability rather than drama; the excitement comes from the crystal-clear photographs. Large main images include full-body views and extreme View →
Series Made Simple
These titles offer emergent readers brief overviews of different sports and encourage them to participate (“Do you want to try? Dive in. Swimming is fun!”). Colorful photos depict boys and girls enjoying themselves at the pool, ice rink, and ball parks; Football opens with a girl suited… View →
Series Made Simple
Readers learn about a broad variety of helping professions, including ones that might not immediately come to mind, such as reporters. The cultural diversity of children featured is a positive, although the quality of the stock photographs varies. The major weakness of this set is its… View →
Arctic Animals
The text flows smoothly in these strong introductions, which cover the requisite animal information: location, habitat, physical characteristics, diet, seasonal changes, and reproduction and life cycle. Many pieces of data are framed according to young readers’ life experiences… View →
Series Made Simple
Highly engaging photography supports basic information, making this set a good fit for preschoolers and new readers. Short, simple sentences offer readability rather than drama; the excitement comes from the crystal-clear photographs. Large main images include full-body views and extreme View →
Bark Scorpion
All that a young arachnologist would want to know about the bark scorpion appears in this installment in the Desert Animals Searchin’ for Shade series. The large-font sentences and highlighted vocab words accompany open-ended questions at the end of each two-page spread, and each section View →