Snowy Owls is one of a series on Arctic animals by Julie Murray.  A small map of the Arctic Circle shows the many countries included in the snowy owls’ territory.  Backgrounds for photos are colorful and work well with the large, black font, except on a couple of dark blue pages, where the text is harder to read.  Physical descriptions define males, females, and chicks.  Facts on what they eat, behavior patterns, and habitat are beautifully presented on these birds who mate for life.  Still and action photos are captioned and many pages include Uncovered! text boxes with additional facts.  A final WOW! page concludes the book with other related details.  The glossary defines words highlighted on pages.  Index and an ABDO website finish this engaging 32 page book.

Well-written text provides accurate information about this exceptional predator.  What type of animal the komodo dragon is, where they live, and what they eat is presented in a clear, easily read format.  Captioned, colorful photos and side boxes offer additional facts.  Web sites supplement pages with fascinating, additional material.  Captions not only offer more information, many share primary sources, and include questions to encourage deeper thinking.  Aligned to Common Core Standards, one is prompted to write reports or responses to observations made from the text.  Students will be drawn to this nonfiction book starting with the cover photo.  Teachers will see this as an excellent resource as a teaching tool for informational text.

Wonderfully illustrated with watercolor, appropriate to the topic, this is a story about a little girl who is attracted to but afraid of the water.  Maybe for humor, the parents make Heather wear arm floaties any time she is near water, including visiting a farm with water wells and going to an art museum with a water exhibit.  The arm floaties help create a fear of the water that the parent then have to fix.  To the author’s credit, the parents do get into the pool with her for swim lessons.  Heather soon realizes she wasn’t attracted to water out of fear but out of love.  Making a pact with it, she says she’ll learn to swim.  Progressing quickly, the older Heather even joins a competitive swim team.  When she wins, all of their cheering makes them fall into the water together.  This small amount of humor helps send the message that kids need to become accustomed to the water and that water is fun!  An additional purchase unless your library doesn’t already have something on the subject.

Trouper is a touching story of a black lab who is rescued from the pound.  Told from the dog’s point of view, readers learn that he ran with a pack of mutts until caught by an animal control worker.  The beautiful watercolor cover of this picture book gives hints of the emotional pull this story will have with readers, but the reason to make this a read aloud is to work with kids on the reading of the artwork.  The causal reader will be enjoying and predicting the storyline and then forced to re-read when they encounter the cover art’s page within the book 3/4 of the way through as the dog says “Before you found me, I thought all the kids were mean, though I dreamed each night I might find just one who didn’t mind so much my hairy stump, who liked the way I lean on those I love.”  The careful reader will have seen in the artwork that Trouper is missing a back leg, but this reader did not!  And first I went back to read only the text.  I then realized that the picture is worth all those words too!  What a great reminder for kids.  Or maybe they do this naturally and I am the one who needed the lesson.  Regardless, E.B. Lewis’s brushwork is extraordinary and deserves just as much attention as the text by Meg Kearney.  Trouper is a worthy addition to any library.