Erica Donner

My nonfiction selections today are an addition to a series offered by Bullfrog books and a new series.

Birds is part of a new, six-volume series covering animal classification. It covers basic aspects of the animal - for birds it's feathers, flight or non-flight, eggs, and beaks. Back matter includes a diagram of a bird, picture glossary, and a brief index and bibliography.

Chinchillas is an addition to the My First Pet series. It previously included more traditional pets like cats, dogs, show more gerbils and birds but is now expanding with snakes, lizards, guinea pigs, horses, hermit crabs and chinchillas! They are very furry. Just look at the furriness! This book pictures several kids, including one in a wheelchair, holding and caring for their chinchilla pets. It also lists some basic facts about the animal and their care. It includes a page of chinchilla basic needs, picture glossary, and an index and bibliography.

Both titles have short, simple text. It works well for beginning readers as well as reading aloud to kids with short attention spans who like nonfiction. The animal classification series is superfluous; The About series by the Sills is better quality text and art and less expensive. I would recommend purchasing additional copies if more simple animal classification titles are needed.

However, the My First Pet series is a stand-out. While it doesn't offer enough information to actually teach a small child how to care for a pet (and I would hope that nobody is getting young kids a chinchilla anyways) it does meet kids' need for and interest in different kinds of pets and gets them started on researching different kinds of domestic animals. There aren't a lot of pet care titles, especially ones at this low reading level and this fills a much-needed gap. Plus, you know, furry.

Verdict: Skip Animal Classification, but My First Pet is a good addition to any section, easy reader or picture book, in your library.

Birds
ISBN: 9781620315378; Published 2016 by Bullfrog; Review copy provided by the publisher

Chinchillas
ISBN: 9781620315491; Published 2016 by Bullfrog; Review copy provided by the publisher show less