Selvas (Rain Forests)

This series introduces children to earth’s ecosystems. Each book begins by defining the topic environment, identifying plants and animals and the food chain, and ends with a visual glossary. The biggest draw in this series is the stunning photography. Unfortunately, the text does not do justice to the images. The books attempt to introduce complex notions with just one or two very simple sentences per page, and the result is often nonsensical. The Spanish translation is not always correct, at times clumsy, and sometimes the word used is unnecessarily obscure. For example, eggs hatching is translated as eclosionar, when salir del cascarón is more commonly used. VERDICT An unnecessary addition for most collections.