What Kind of Animal Is It?

These new titles, comprised of 10-11 chapters, are additions to the “My World” leveled reading series whose primary objective is to introduce young readers to the features of nonfiction text. The books, which are small in size, perfect for little hands, can be read alone or with an adult. In fact, there is a section at the back of each volume entitled “Notes for Adults” which provides the objectives of the book, “before, during and after” reading activities and questions, discussion points, and activities to enhance learning, some examples of which are having the child make a collage or taking the child outside to observe nature. Text consists of short, manageable sentences printed in a large, simple font with plenty of white space around it, and the text is enhanced by numerous color photographs, maps, diagrams and drawings. A table of contents, a “Words to Know” section and an index are provided. The main drawbacks of these books are that these topics have been done so many times before, even by the same publisher, and the limited information is very general. As well, having the books identified by their reading levels may discourage kids from selecting a book whose level is above what they have been told they are capable of reading.

Fun Ways to Learn is an extremely general book about the ways in which people learn: by participating in sports, music, various forms of art, cultural traditions, spending time in nature or by going to a re-enactment of a historical event.

Getting from Place to Place in My Community features different modes of transportation in a variety of locales and different seasons. Some modes are used for travelling to work and school (car, bus, subway, taxi), while others are primarily used for recreation (kayak, Sea-doo, paddle board, skis). Still others are designed for specific purposes, examples of which are fire engines, helicopters and ferries. There is also a double-page spread about a few of the transportation methods of long ago. Two photographs in this title are questionable: one shows a couple of amusement park rides (yes, people are “getting from place to place”, but they are just going in circles and not getting to a destination in their community) and a photo of people riding a subway train (one man is asleep, a woman is looking down, and both the mother and child sitting on her lap look fearful and upset). Surely, there are better photographs available.

Let’s Learn about Earth’s Continents introduces readers to a few of the animals, landmarks and very basic geography of each of the seven continents. Maps show the countries in each of the continents but only some of the countries are labelled. A few of the suggested activities might be too difficult for first graders: draw, paint and label the continents and oceans on a large sheet of paper; write a rap about the continents and oceans; look through the book to find answers to specific questions. The skill of scanning needs to be taught first.

What Are Landforms? shows readers, by way of labelled photographs, various landforms, such as islands, mountains, coasts, beaches, valleys, hills, volcanoes, canyons, mesas, caves and caverns (a small flaw is that stalagmites and stalactites are not mentioned). A game invites readers to match pictures of landforms to the clues given, but photo “A” is by itself on a page while photos “B” through “H” are on the following page. Perhaps all of the photos should have been on the same page. Another activity asks kids to make a Landform ABC book, but instead of the author’s providing just a couple of examples (B is for bay, O is for ocean), she creates the entire book, so what is left for the child to do?

Very limited information is found in What Kind of Animal Is It?. The topic of the main animal groups has been overdone, and this book adds nothing to the mix. In this title, the author misses an opportunity to introduce readers to the term “life cycle”. Instead, the life cycle of a frog, as it is depicted in a diagram, is entitled “A frog’s changes”.

What Will I Write? explains the difference between fiction and nonfiction, the value of illustrations to enhance text and provide additional information, and a number of terms that are used in nonfiction writing (headings, captions, diagrams). The book also touts the use of adjectives to make one’s writing more descriptive, explains the terms setting, characters and plot, and offers writing tips, one of which is to make sure that a story has a beginning, middle and end. What could be confusing to a child is that the example of a story with a setting, characters and a plot is actually a nonfiction account of a mother polar bear’s teaching her two young cubs to hunt for seals. It is unlikely that young children will want to read about the “technical” aspects of how to write. Instead, they would be better served by working with an adult/teacher and learn by doing.

Where on Earth Do Animals Live? discusses some of the habitats on the planet- mountains, rainforests, mixed forests, grasslands, deserts (including polar deserts), oceans, freshwater, wetlands and islands- and a few of the animals that make their homes there. As well, there is a bit of information about the need for animals to adapt to their surroundings by changing color, living in groups or migrating.

Generally, these books meet their objective, but their contents are too general (and in some cases, vague), and the activities are rather unappealing. These titles are neither novel nor unique, and a school or library would be better off to skip them.