Millicent E. Selsam (1912–1996)

A dear little book, but one whose premise I cannot totally accept, although the Author's heart is good. Being myself a great friend of turtles, I think the best counsel is NOT to "get" turtles, except in rescue-situations. They have been doing very well without us, indeed despite us, for vastly longer than we have been around. If they haven't produced Mozart or Keats, they also have managed not to produce nuclear waste, Fox TV, or the Progressive-Conservative Party of Canada. Seriously show more though, enjoy turtles wherever and however you can, but don't encourage the pet-shop trade in them. And for your fingers' sake, be VERY careful when moving Snappers off the road: they can twisrt their necks around completely nd give you a Hell of a "Thank you!" if you aren't super-careful when moving them off the road show less

I am disappointed by this book mostly because of the way the information is presented both linguistically and visually. This book is about fruit vegetables and their defining factors, but the majority of the pictures are black and white. Also, throughout the book, the author merely describes how tomatoes grow rather than what makes them fruits. For instance, pages 6-22 explain how the leaves, flowers, and ovaries of tomato plants develop, without comparing its development to the requirements show more for something to be recognized a s a fruit. The distinction between fruits and vegetables were only inferred to on the close-to-last page when the author asks, “Can you think of other vegetables that are really fruits because they contain seeds?” The title of the book was misleading and I was disappointed, along with the few others I introduced the book to. show less

This book is great for young readers. Not only is the language easy to read for beginning readers, but the subject matter is interesting and Selsam's style draws the reader in.

The 10-year-old daughter of a friend brought this book for my 5.5-year-old daughter to read. We've been working on reading, but my daughter has, so far, been reluctant to try longer books than the board books she reads to her little brother. To my surprise, she opened this book and started reading. I helped her with a show more few words she'd not seen before and for which we'd not yet gone over the rules, but mostly she read on her own for 33 pages of this 64-page book! I read the rest of it because she was tired of reading but wanted to find out what happened.

I don't like the book only because it's the first longer book my daughter has read, but also because it's just a good book. Terry finds a caterpillar on a apple tree and decides she wants to keep it inside. Using a combination of deduction ("What does it eat?" she asks her mother. "Well, where did you find it?" her mother asks. "On the apple tree," Terry responds, and goes out to get some apple leaves to feed her caterpillar), asking experts (like her classmate, Benny, whose know-it-all-ness Terry barely tolerates), and doing research at the library. It's suspenseful as we're waiting to see what happens after the caterpillars have woven their cocoons (Terry ends up collecting and keeping three caterpillars in her room). And it introduces young readers to the idea of cycles and metamorphosis in nature. show less

A generally excellent book sure to delight small lovers of dinosaurs, dodos, and sabre-toothed cats.