Reviews
Desert Animals Searchin' for Shade
At first glance, this series looks similar to Bearport’s “Arctic Animals” series, but necessarily, the information varies, dropping seasonal changes, and is inconsistent from book to book. Every title includes a map of the animal’s range, with only camels found outside the Western… 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
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
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
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 →
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 →
A First Look at America's Presidents
Reminiscent of Scholastic’s “True Books,” these titles are ideal introductions to the most studied presidents. Each spread features an apt illustration with a few sentences about the subject, while the opposite page is designed to look like a bulletin board, with… 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 →
This entry in the I Love Sports series introduces early readers to this individual sport. Simple text (“Get on the map. Jump. Roll. And flip. Let’s do gymnastics!”) combines with crisp full-color photographs to depict multiethnic children involved in this activity.… View →
It's a Disaster!
This series offers an array of vibrant photographs and bold page layouts introducing young readers to the causes, safety precautions, and devastating destruction related to natural disasters. The text matches the destruction and intensity depicted on each page; these extreme events will… View →