Jerry Pallotta

Kind of an interesting concept - kid goes out on his own in a dory, then sees the food chain in action. You start thinking it's a little far fetched when he starts seeing orcas and a humpback whale, but then it's revealed that he's just telling this story in the bathtub. I loved that he pointed out that the humpback doesn't eat orcas, it actually eats the tiniest krill and the food chain is actually more of a food web.

[The Frog Alphabet Book] is lusciously illustrated with zoological accuracy by [[Ralph Masiello]]. [[Jerry Pallotta]] provides the text--basic information or trivia associated with each of the presented species in simple terms that generally can be grasped by even fairly young children. The art is very much focused on the animals, with just enough habitat shown to provide some context. The only human glimpses are a boy squatting next to a stream (on the page for "J"), arms holding the show more goliath frog (presumably to provide a sense of scale), a framed drawing of a skeleton of a long-extinct species ("I"), and tree stumps in the background ("U"). Pallotta makes sure to include the range of amphibians: frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, and caecilians from diverse habitats on multiple continents. It's a beautiful book for introducing small children to the English alphabet and slipping in some basic science/environmental knowledge. Apparently, this book is part of a large series of comparable books by the author focusing on various charismatic organisms and similar topics. Nothing says love like cute critters that are in decline worldwide thus pointing to their use as one of the most sensitive bioindicators on the planet. Who needs canaries? show less

The alphabet book is a staple in the children's library, and readers have a vast selection to peruse in this sub genre of the picture book world. Some of the choices are fabulous, and some are much less so. This particular selection is unfortunately of the latter category. It uses small paragraphs to describe a sea mammal corresponding to each letter of the alphabet, with corresponding realistic illustrations. The pictures are attractive and detailed, but the text is just average. The book show more conveys a lot of fascinating facts, but the reading is too dry. Especially bothersome was that the authors chose such a narrow subject they couldn't find animals for certain letters of the alphabet. And not just for the letter X, which everyone has trouble with, but for other letters, like Q and N.The story uses a wise dose of humor to address these gaps, and I particularly liked the page that was absent any animals to depict an extinct species. However, the repetition of letters that couldn't be matched to an animal just made me feel that the authors should have chosen a different subject. Pallotta has written numerous alphabet books, and many are good, but this one felt like the author was reaching for a new subject to make yet another alphabet book. My youngest daughter loves animals, so we enjoy skimming through the pages of this book, if not actually reading it through. show less

Oops... no maps, despite the global reach. But that's ok, because of course educators can make a lesson out of finding all the places mentioned. (Just remember to choose your projection wisely if you don't have a good globe; do *not* use a Mercator!) Also readers will want to know more about certain animals; I'm going to do my own research on the kulan.

As always, Pallotta keeps the focus on the concept, but adds enough detail to keep the reader engaged. In this case I was almost beginning to show more mechanically flip the pages to get to the end when I noticed the surprise on the Palmate Gecko page. I won't spoil it for you; see for yourself!

I would have loved this when my boys were young and we lived in Nevada... there are different deserts all over the world!

Then one thing Pallotta didn't cover is Antarctica, or other frozen deserts. But I won't mark him down for that. I do highly recommend this, if you're willing to do research yourself instead of relying on notes, bibliography... in many books those are crucial, but here it's just so easy the inclusion is unnecessary.

New Scrabble words: jird, kulan, xerus, zaita... ;) show less