Camilla De la Bédoyère

Seed to Sunflower is a great, bright, science text that shows a squence of how a sunflower forms. The pages are very bright and fun while teaching the reader about growing a sunflower. Although there are words teaching the student about the flower, the pictures could help figure out the cycle of a sunflower. I love that there are vocab words, like pollen, bolded throughout the book and have the definition at the back of the book.

I think this could be in any classroom library from Pre-K to show more 8th grade. The little students will love the pictures and the teachers can make mini lessons about sunflowers. For 2nd to 5th grade, the students can use the book to build a project of the life cycle during a science class. 6th through 8th grade can use this book with multiple other books to cite during a science essay about life cycles. I would keep this in my classroom for a fall mini science lesson with different "fall" plants, like pumpkins, to teach about life cycles about plants. show less

Random dog facts interspersed with lots of nice photos and illustrations. It's just so random it's a bit dull to read it for very long at a stretch. I ended up picking away at it a little at a time for over a month.

Also, the title assures us there are 100 facts, but the book actually includes extra facts in the captions and in bonus circles inserted throughout. I'm not sure whether to be happy for the bonus material or irritated by the lack of accuracy in the title.

I was a bit rattled to see show more a traditional name for female dogs dropped casually into one quiz question with no previous definition of the term. Some parents may prefer to not deal with that word in a book intended for children.

FOR REFERENCE:

Contents [2006 edition]: Our best friends -- In the family -- Call of the wild -- Wolves -- Taming the dog -- A dog's body -- Scratch and sniff! -- Body language -- A dog's dinner -- Starting a family -- Puppy love -- Dogs are for life -- Caring for a dog -- Dog breeds -- Pedigrees and mongrels -- Snow dogs -- Unusual breeds -- Clever clogs [sic] -- Doing good work -- Legends and tales -- Canine characters -- Index show less

Bone Collection explores many different types of skulls found in nature, going through all kinds of different animals including humans. The images are huge and displayed technically and beautifully on the page so that kids can really feel like their examining and exploring the skull up close and personal. The information listed about every creature is thorough and care is given so that the topic isn't just macabre and disturbing. There would be potential for a book on just skulls to lean show more towards creepy, but this book celebrates the bones we have in our body and looks at how fascinating the bodies of animals are as well. I'm very interested in anatomy and I found this book totally riveting. show less

While not my favorite book on birds, the book has some intriguing information that bird lovers will enjoy. This is not your typical "backyard birds" type of book.

First some book "shortcomings" as I see them..... The digital illustrations leave much to be desired. An artist's hand and perceptive eye would have garnered more and better detail to bring life into the images. Then there is the text font and size. Much too small unless you are going for encyclopedic type of print jobs. So one's show more attention span might lapse because the font and size tire the reader. Then when the printer coupled the font and its size with colored backgrounds, they almost totally lost this reader.

Now some good things to look at..... The scope of the book looks at how birds are built, their habitats, their personal habits, and lots of other interesting things generally not covered in a "birding" book. I think that the tidbits of information will interest the targeted readers as well as adults.

Quite an interesting book.

I received a complimentary copy to facilitate a review. Opinions are mine, alone and are freely given. show less