Reviews
Series Made Simple
This series makes crucial events in U.S. history accessible to younger readers. Through clear writing and organization, the books describe the causes, the outcomes, and the conclusion of each turning point. Photographs, sidebars (which often contain facts and critical thinking… View →
California Gold Rush
This graphic-rich introduction to the 1849 California gold rush walks readers through the basics, from the discovery of the first nuggets to the mass migration of hopeful prospectors to the sudden appearance of boomtowns to San Francisco’s transformation into a teeming metropolis.… View →
Series Made Simple
Children with disabilities deserve to be positively represented in the books they read. This excellent series in Spanish introduces readers to ability diversity in a compassionate and practical way. Readers will be drawn in by the book’s full-page color photographs of children from all… View →
Series Made Simple
This series in Spanish introduces beginning readers to all the colors of the rainbow and where to find them in nature, at home, and more. Examples of everyday objects in every color are shown in detailed, vibrant full-color photographs. Each page is limited to one line of text or a short View →
Booklist Top Ten
Each title introduces beginning readers to a planet, as well as the sun, the moon, and Pluto and the dwarf planets, through large font and simple text. Close-up color photographs reveal the solar system’s composition, beauty, variation, and size comparisons. —Angela Leeper View →
The All Kinds of Friends series (6 titles) does an excellent job of educating readers about differently abled individuals while presenting them as perfectly normal. This book, aimed at beginning readers, showcases how deaf children can communicate (through sign language and speech… View →
An array of animal noses are on display in this entry in the Animal Part Smarts series (6 titles), which is designed with the youngest readers in mind. The well-labeled pictures take center stage, while simple, declarative sentences assist in emerging readers as they make their way… View →
Booklist Review of Snake Cake
What do you get when you mix a green tree python with a red velvet layer cake? A recipe for some silly rhymes. This entry in the Read and Rhyme: Level 2 series (8 titles) takes on the –ake word family by crafting a short narrative about Jake, who bakes a cake that gets eaten by his pet… View →
The Circulatory System
With a tight focus on the heart, blood, and blood vessels, this level-3 reader helps “early fluent” readers understand these essential elements of the human body. Pettiford concisely identifies the circulatory system, explains how it works, and discusses why it is important. The book is… View →
Sedimentary Rocks
Sedimentary rocks may not be as flashy as gemstones, but that doesn’t mean they’re not fascinating. After all, there would be no Grand Canyon and very few fossils without them! A quick explanation of what these rocks are—“bits of mud, sand, minerals, and sediments”—also encompasses how… View →
The Betty and Barney Hill Alien Abduction
The graphic-novel format of the Paranormal Mysteries series (6 titles) makes an already high-interest topic extremely accessible. This readable volume tracks the strange experience of Betty and Barney Hill, who claimed to have been abducted by aliens while driving near Lincoln, New… View →
Garland Independent School District Review of Farm Charm: In the Field
This book takes readers to describe what they see when in a field. The left page poses the questions, “What do you see?” and the right page describes the stock photos (ex. I see cows in the field.) This books uses high-frequency words & a repetitive sentence structure.… View →