Carolyn Otto (1958–2011)

In my opinion this is a great book. I liked this book for a few different reasons. One being that the author incorporated smaller simple sentences in bold colorful text, while the detailed paragraphs were in smaller font. Such as when the author wrote, “we celebrate music and dance” in bold colorful letters, but wrote the more detailed text in a smaller font. I also liked this book because it provided recipes, glossary, and simple fact in the back of the book. I liked that the author show more provided a recipe for a burrito, because it shows apart of the Mexican culture. I also like that the author used real images from celebrations of Cinco de Mayo, because it made the reading more interesting.
The main purpose of this book is it to inform the reader on the history and traditions of Cinco de Mayo. show less

This was an amusing realistic non-fiction book. This book showcases how a child can know the objects in their world by the way that they feel. I can use this book as a way to work on my kindergarteners sensorimotor skills.

Young children are naturally curious about the world around them. Learning about and understanding shadows tends to a hot topic in my kindergarten class. In the Scholastic Science Readers series, the book SHADOWS does an excellent job of helping students understand what makes shadows and why we have them. This book is a level 1 reader for children from ages 5 to 6. The text in the book is a little challenging for a level 1 beginning reader. Personally, I feel this book is more of a level 3 show more book. That being said, unlike most readers, this book would make for a good read aloud in a classroom. The author includes some very interesting information about shadows and uses some new vocabulary words to help students enhance their speaking skills. Additionally, the author includes some experiments that students can do with flashlights to learn more about shadows. Students will enjoy looking at the pictures to see if they can create shadows like the ones in the book. Overall, this book would be beneficial to have in a classroom library. It might be a little difficult for the students to read independently, but the pictures are interesting to look at. show less

Clever introduction of a concept book on camouflage, nothing special but not a disappointing book. The book introduces readers to the world of animal camouflage and animal disguises. It is fun to try to find the camouflage animals throughout every page. The illustrations are well done, precise, clean, and very detailed. I did like the text in the aspect that there are many interesting, odd, unique animals that are in the book. I can see this book as a useful tool, students would enjoy show more looking through the illustrations to discover the hiding animals, while learning from the text along the way. The book has a grown-up, education feel to it, a bit different from other concept books that I have come across. I have noticed that many of the concept books are very childish and drawn to a young audience. The book belongs to the LET'S-READ-AND-FIND-OUT SCIENCE. show less