I loved this book of fishy/water poems!  The pictures are wonderfully funny and cute.

The poems are creative and teach about many water dwelling animals.  The large font is easy to read.

What a fun book!

This is a funny story about a zombie child, his mother, and his struggle to go to sleep at night.

For kids who enjoy zombie stories, this would be a fun read.  The pictures are simple and fun.

The story is written as a rhyme.

I liked it.  O think kids who like monsters will like it too.

This is a fun kids cook book, full of yummy things kids would enjoy making and eating.

The interesting science facts with each recipe is a great way to teach applied science, and helps kid see science is around them in everything.

The glossary in the back explains terms new cooks may not be familiar with.  The colored pictures of how to-do-it

This story is full of funny words to familiar tunes.  Kids would probably think they are funny.

The story was just ok.  The sibling bugs have a poor relationship with each other, which never quite gets resolved.

The font is easy to read.  The vocabulary is beyond beginner.  It was just OK.

This is a nonfiction book with a very conventional, traditional format.  There are occasional captions which offer explanation of photos.  Along with this are the Fun Fact! captions which include something interesting in one sentence.  It is a good addition to the dry text.  The glossary (Words to Know) are in red, which is nice feature throughout the book.  There are also pronunciation cues in the back of the book.  Also included is a Habitat Map, located in the back of the book.  I’d like to see it in the front of the book, but am impressed that they have included it at all, since too many nonfiction books do not include this crucial information.  The size scale, comparing humans to zebras, was a perfect compare and contrast skill.

Find Out More, which gives titles of books and the www.factsfornow.scholastic.com website offers additional resources.  The website’s face is beautifully simple (less is better) and it offers a Grolier encyclopedia article.  The best feature is the simple search engine, but the articles are more dry text.  I like the fact hound site better, where there is a variety of vetted websites, some including games and fun activities and variety of resources.

Well, organized and informative non-fiction book would lend itself to a student led research report on this breed of dog.  The chapters are outlined with all of the classic information and each chapter is free of distractions such as captions, colors, graphs, etc.  The traditional format may work well with learners are need a straight forward focus.  This series has the typical glossary, and index.  The bold faced vocabulary words throughout the book were a bonus.  Included in this series is the website feature.  www.abdopublishing.com.  However, upon arriving at the website I could not locate the information about Cesky terriers.  I recommend reformatting the website with an obvious link at the top which allows the student to easy enter the name of the book and the suggested links will appear.  It’s a useless activity for children to follow the general information provided in the back of the book about going to the publishing website and looking for our Book Links page. This reviewer wasn’t able to locate it, I wouldn’t ask a student to do it.

Spiders  is one of 32 books in the Level 1: Emergent reader series Backyard Wildlife.

There are nine pages of simple text dealing with an amazing amount of good basic spider information. Each of these pages has two sentences in a large font. Opposite the text is a high definition photograph, often showing the great detail of the spider’s hairy legs or the patterning on the spider’s body.

The excellent glossary page includes: arachnids, fangs, insects, prey, and venom among 8 other words.

Includes: Glossary, To Learn More, On the Web (www.factsurfer.com), and Index.

Monster Trucks is one of 6 books in the Level 1: Emergent reader series Monster Machines.

There are nine pages of simple text. Each of these pages has two sentences in a large font. These trucks are definitely not your everyday variety of truck!  They’re huge. “Their tires are taller than a kid!” (page 8) . Their paint jobs, super-sized tires, and “super-charged engines” command attention. Opposite the text is a high definition photograph of a monster truck , usually in action during a rally. Young truck loving readers will enjoy this book.

Includes: Glossary, To Learn More, On the Web (www.factsurfer.com), and Index.

Baby Penguins is one of 13 books in the Level 1: Emergent reader series SUPER CUTE! of baby animals. This book lives up to the series title Super Cute!

There are nine pages of simple text dealing with hatching from an egg, covered in down, and being feed by the mother.Each of these pages has two sentences in a large font. Opposite the text is a high definition photograph of a baby penguin(s). Three of the nine photos may actually be life-size!

Includes: Glossary, To Learn More, On the Web (www.factsurfer.com), and Index.

I liked how this nonfiction book placed the vocabulary words at the BEGINNING of the book, instead of the end.  It’s after the fact at the end.  Appreciated is the no nonsense explanation of the antaomy, food, and lifecycle of fireflies.  The phones with the life cycle was an exceptional touch.  Missing is a geography page where we can locate these creatures on the planet.  Also a scale of size would be nice, how about a page comparing it to a common house fly, bee, robin, etc. so that the students could practice compare and contrast. Also, this reviewer wasn’t able to get to the suggested website, http://readysetflow.org/activitysheets/index.html.  Additional purchase