Reviews

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Cover: Stink Bugs

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 →

 
Cover: Cicadas

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 →

 
Cover: Crossing Guards

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 →

 
Cover: Gymnastics

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 →

 
Cover: Gymnastics

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 →

 
Cover: Diwali

For those who know nothing about this holiday, Pettiford gets straight to the point: “Diwali is the Hindu New Year. It begins in fall. It lasts five days.” That s a bit vague fall is an awful broad period but readers will still get plenty out of this short, upbeat, and… View →

 
Cover: Police Cars

Series Made Simple

Aimed at emerging readers, these simple introductions to vehicular uses and working parts each begin with useful suggestions for parents and teachers guiding students. Brief sentences (“The robber goes in the back seat. The doors have no handles. The robber can’t get out.”) and… View →

 
Cover: Honeybees

Star Review. This new series provides young children an outstanding introduction to the world of insects. The carefully selected full-page illustrations, drawn from many different sources, are extremely well-done, close-up photographs of each insect, portraying their activities and the… View →

 
Cover: Dogs

Series Made Simple

These bright, slight, upbeat introductions to pet ownership are designed for early readers. Basic information is shared through a collection of vignettes. The text, never more than four brief sentences per spread, always gives a name to the pet in the photo and the child, who may not… View →

 
Cover: Crabs

Each book reviewed contains vivid, color photographs of each title animal, its habitat, and related animals. Every close-up photograph provides great detail, such as the multiple colors that make up a crab’s claws. Topics covered include parts of the body, mating and/or how babies are… View →

 
Cover: Turtles

Series Made Simple

These bright, slight, upbeat introductions to pet ownership are designed for early readers. Basic information is shared through a collection of vignettes. The text, never more than four brief sentences per spread, always gives a name to the pet in the photo and the child, who may not… View →

 
Cover: Ladybugs

Star Review. This new series provides young children an outstanding introduction to the world of insects. The carefully selected full-page illustrations, drawn from many different sources, are extremely well-done, close-up photographs of each insect, portraying their activities and the… View →

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