Ruth A. Musgrave

I'm excited to show off a new book I bought for our library - Everything Sharks! You can never have too many "scary animal" books, and National Geographic Kids' Everything series has some great offerings.

This book is packed with tidbits of information, photos, art, facts, and more. There's a basic introduction to sharks, where we meet many different species and learn how a shark differs from a fish.
The second chapter tells us about a shark's life, from birth to diet and special abilities. We show more learn more about different shark species and some ancient shark history in the third chapter as well as how people study sharks and how sharks compare to humans. The last chapter includes more facts, but also blends in different activies and practical advice from avoiding shark attacks to making shark stamps.
Additional information includes how to help sharks who are threatened in the wild, where to go to see sharks in aquariums, a glossary combined with vocabulary-building exercises, and further resources.

This is a skimpier offering than National Geographic's Face to Face series, but well-suited for a younger audience that wants lots of facts and pictures. There's enough to whet the appetite of a younger reader or shark-enthusiast and the special activities are a nice touch.

Verdict: Highly recommended for all collections, add this one in conjunction with Face to Face with Sharks so kids who want to know more can move on to read further.

ISBN: 9781426308024; Published April 2011 by National Geographic; Borrowed from my library. show less

National Geographic offers a new board book series, Little Kids First Board Books, with photographs, simple text, and some basic facts.

In Animals on the go, a variety of animals are shown in movement. An ostrich, snake, ladybug, orangutan, and penguin are some of the animals included. Each spread has a simple sentence describing the animals' movement, "Penguins slide across the snow on their bellies". Some pages include a yellow circle with additional facts, "Dolphins use their tails to swim show more and jump." Other pages may include this and an activity, like the dolphin page "Touch each dolphin's tail" or "Flap your arms up and down to swim like a sea turtle." The photographs are clear and bright, some covering a whole spread with text superimposed over the photo, others include the text on a colored background facing the page-size photo.

I've looked at several astronomy and science-based board books and all were way too complex for a baby or toddler. Or a preschooler, for that matter. Space, however, does a great job of explaining simple concepts to young children. Photographs of planets, landscapes, and space take readers from a simple explanation of earth's place in the cosmos, "Earth is a planet in space./Planets are round, like balls." to a photo of the Milky Way and pictures of space craft. Additional facts, "The Milky Way is a spiral shape." and a few cute exclamations, "Let's race! Bet I can run rings around you." says Saturn, are spread throughout the pages. The final spread shows a variety of planets and encourages children to trace shapes, sing to the stars, and find Earth.

Verdict: This new series has a nice combination of simple text and photographs, filling a gap for collections needing more nonfiction offerings for the youngest of readers.

Animals on the go
ISBN: 9781426333125

Space
ISBN: 9781426333149

Published April 2019 by National Geographic; Review copies provided by publisher; Donated to the library show less

My son loves these books. We started reading National Geographic Kids books when he was about six (he's nine now) and I can honestly say that these books have been instrumental in teaching him to read. One weekend, the child actually read a 300 pg. book (one from the Weird, But True Series) to my husband and I over the course of two days - 50 pg.s three times a day until he'd finished. I mention this because last year my son was sent to a reading specialist because his teacher was concerned show more that he was reading below his age-level. Although I was happy for him to receive the extra attention from the specialist, I always doubted that he had any real problems reading because he read the Nat'l Geo books to us constantly. Thankfully, I was right. He no longer sees the reading specialist, reads above his grade-level, and even reads out-loud to his classmates at lunchtime.

Why is this so important? Because kids are often labeled as poor readers when it's not that they can't read, but rather that they simply aren't interested in what they are being given to read. My teen-age step-daughter grew up thinking that she was a poor reader, too. That all changed when I gave her the Twilight Series. She read the last book, "Breaking Dawn," (756 pages) in less than 48 hours!

There are several elements that make the Nat'l Geo series so appealing, particularly to elementary aged boys. The layouts are very simple, not cluttered. Each joke (or fact in the Weird, But True Series) is only one or two sentences long. The font is much larger than what you would find in a typical chapter book designed for this age group. And the visual images are excellent - exciting, funny, interesting - they immediately draw the reader in, curious to find out more.

The Just Joking Series is one of my son's favorites. We'd previously purchased the first book in the series and my husband and I had each spent several evenings with my son taking turns with him reading the jokes aloud and cracking each other up. We purchased the box set (includes books 1-3) in September for his birthday and are almost through the other two books, as well. We've also pre-ordered "Just Joking #4."

The jokes in these books are mostly very funny, very clean, and only occasionally so dumb that they merit the buzzer sound (think "America's Got Talent"). The joke books also include several tongue twisters. Truthfully, our son doesn't really care for these, but the jokes more than make up for this.

Of all the joke books we've got, these are our favorites. As a parent, teacher, library volunteer, and chairperson of my son's Scholastic Book Fairs, I can definitely recommend both the boxed set and the individuals titles in the series for lower elementary-aged children. show less

The MISSION RESCUE series from National Geographic is intended to inspire young people to learn about endangered animals and how they can be saved.

MISSION SHARK RESCUE begins by exploring the threats facing sharks. Then, each chapter explores some aspect of sharks including their role as predators, their habitat, life cycle, physical characteristics, and connection with humans. Stories, facts, photos, and rescue activities and challenges are woven through the book to keep readers engaged.

The show more series also includes titles focusing on lions, wolves, polar bears, elephants, tigers, and sea turtles.

Librarians will find that this series appeals to animals lovers as well as children who enjoy nature, the environment, and social change. Students who enjoy biographies will like the many one-page interviews woven through the books. The focus on photographs, infographics, and small blocks of text will be of interest to nonfiction fans.

Published by National Geographic Children’s Books on March 8, 2016. ARC courtesy of the publisher. show less