Jerry Pallotta

The first page made me cheer - it starts at zero! I have mixed feelings about the rest of the book. Some good science, some not so good. For example, it's good to introduce the word 'exoskeleton' to preschoolers, and to teach them that some 'bugs' are actually crustaceans. But to say Kissing Bugs are not very nice" is to be anthropomorphic, which is a perspective that interferes with youngsters' ability to understand real science.

I do love the ending. There are 26 entries - can you guess show more why? Maybe your big sister can...." show less

Who Would Win? Whale vs. Giant Squid is a must read for any age! This is a fascinating informational text that lets students make a prediction and have a conversation and even a discussion to help support their opinions before the cover is even flipped open! We live where we see whales all the time, so they are a favorite among my students, but is a Giant Squid able to take down our beloved whales? This book is a page turner! Every page the kids get more excited as they learn the powers of show more each animal. This book can lead to so many lessons and can be used in an animal research report and project. Did you also know that there is now a game Who Would Win? This can be an extension to the lesson! Go read this for yourself and you will see why your students will love this informational series. It is such a fun way to learn more about animals. show less

Alphabet books are always a challenge to come up with something for each letter. And this book got very creative and introduces us to lots of new veggies like the Kohlrabi. This is a good example of a really fun and informative food book that is a bit advanced in the ABC category. Meaning that it's not going to be for the toddler that is just learning the alphabet and letter sounds. It's not filled with your typical A is for Apple, B is for Banana. J is for Jalapeño, a great way to show more introduce older kids to words that are spelled differently than they sounds because of the word's origin and letter sounds being different in different languages. All in all we really enjoyed this book and the illustrations are beautiful! This appealed to both my two year old and six year old. show less

I remember when I first came upon this author and it was since of my elementary school. We had an assembly where the author was invited and ever since he told me there was a Julia butterfly I have been hooked with him.

The book writing is simple, large letters and easy for any child to read, especially with very young beginners. The author uses each entry to describe some fun facts for the children

The other thing that will catch the reader's attention is the beautiful detailed artwork and show more the interactive reading style that asks the reader to answer a question or whether you thought a non-butterfly was an actual butterfly. There are other parts that will have the reader trying to find the butterflies while the author closes with a suggestion that the reader go look for butterflies in their neighborhood with the put in warning to be careful since they are fragile (brownie points).

I was just disappointed a bit that the Julia butterfly wasn't included....

Definitely a literary gem! show less