Ginjer L. ClarkeReviews

Independent Reading Level: Grades 2-4

Deep in the swamp, a baby alligator crawls out of its broken shell. What's in store for this little reptile? Follow it through its first adventures, and get a glimpse into the world of these amazing creatures. The easy-to-read text describes how alligators live, from what they eat to how they swim so quickly. You'll also find fun facts about alligators' dinosaur-hunting ancestors and their more contemporary cousin, the crocodile.

This book is absolutely delightful. Bright, bold, and vibrant, it is filled with hundreds of full-color pictures of various animals and tons of animal facts. Its appeal will be universal. Children with the smallest interest in animals will not be able to resist flipping through its pages and I am certain parents will also enjoy it.

Each section is color-coded, making it easy for youngsters to find their favorite animals just by looking at the fore-edge of the book. It is listed for the 9-12 crowd and the facts are written with that level of reading in mind. The largish softcover book will probably work best with that age group as well. I would, however, go so far as to say that it is appropriate for any school-aged kids. With help, younger kids will enjoy learning about new animals and beginning readers will be motivated to read and learn the facts.

It would be a great addition to any private collection, and also to any classroom or homeschool library shelf. With its multicolor, multi-font text, it is perfect for silent reading time or class discussion. The facts are fun and easy to memorize and would also provide a jumping-off point for any in-depth unit study or research project about animals.

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I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. My thoughts and opinions are my own.

My main issue with The Fascinating Animal Book for Kids: 500 Wild Facts! was the formatting. The information was all over the place, so it's hard to know where to look. I kept feeling like I was going to overlook one of the facts, since there's no order to the layout or the way it's presented. Additionally, the fonts were crazy, which I guess is supposed to entice children, but it was more obnoxious than anything else. The only consistency was how inconsistent everything was.

Despite my issues with the book's presentation, the kids really enjoyed the content. It's a lot of random facts that most people would never think to consider, and often sound too unbelievable to be true. "When two prairie dogs first meet, they lock teeth, and it looks like they're kissing." I want to know why they lock teeth, but this book doesn't explain any of its facts. If you're going to introduce a child to something new, I think you should back up your information with evidence and examples.

The Fascinating Animal Book for Kids is simple in its delivery, but effective with it's entertainment. The monsters frequently pull this book out on their own just to look at the pictures. Occasionally, they'll ask what something is, if it looks particularly interesting, but they're usually content to just look at the pages. (★★★⋆☆)

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"The Fascinating Animal Book for Kids: 500 Wild Facts! "--from author Ginjer L. Clarke--is a real reader's treat for animal lovers of all ages. Every single page is filled with photos and facts, making this book an especially fun and interesting read. The sections include: "Magnificent Mammals"; "Creepy Crawlies"; "Water World"; "Scaly Things"; "Amazing Amphibians"; and "Feathered Friends". Here are a few of the fascinating facts that you'll find: "A tiger's night vision is six times better than that of a human."; "A group of meerkats is called a mob."; "A Kodiak bear can be 10 feet tall standing upright."; "In Alaska, there are more caribou than people."; "Dragonflies are the fasting flying insects at 35 miles per hour--faster than the best human runners."; "Jellyfish are 95% water and have no brain, heart, or bones,"; and "The massive Galapagos Tortoise can live more than 100 years." There's just not enough room to list all 500 amazing animal facts, so you will have to discover them yourself in the pages of this entertaining and educational book.

Book Copy Gratis Callisto Publishers

Technically, this is an easy reader, however Penguin level 4 is generally too high for my easy reader section. I usually place them in the juvenile nonfiction and consider them part of the beginning chapters.

This nonfiction title starts with a brief introduction to the rainforest, a map, general description of the weather, and the layers from forest floor to emergent trees.

Each chapter in the main section focuses on selected animals from a different area; dolphins, capybara and caimans in the river, jaguar and tapir on the forest floor, and so forth. Some of the animals are familiar - boas, bats, spider monkeys, and sloths. Others are more unusual like the hoatzin (a bird), harpy eagles, and ocelots.

The final chapter briefly addresses the destruction of the rainforest and ways readers can recycle and otherwise help. Back matter consists of a small glossary.

The book is illustrated with photographs, many of them set in frames, with a few full-page photos. This is a nice introduction to the rainforest, which would also work well as a supplemental resource. However, I feel there is a major gap in this story; there is no mention of the approximately twenty million people who live in the rainforest and are as much a part of it as the fascinating creatures that also call it home. The only reference to the inhabitants are a mention of the use of poison dart frogs in blow darts and a photo of said dart guns. I've noticed that many calls for "saving the rainforest" seem to ignore the people who live there and should be part of any conversation involving its current and future use and preservation.

Verdict: This serves as an introduction for rainforest animals, but should be supplemented with more materials that include all aspects of the rainforest.

ISBN: 9781524784881; Published 2018 by Penguin; Review copy provided by publisher; Donated to the library

Written for children, this volume presents a brief outline of the life of the alligator from hatching from the egg to surviving the first weeks of life. The author also explains how alligators have existed since the days of the dinosaurs. One fact i learned from this is that alligators are found only in the southern USA and China. Crocodiles are found all over the world.

Genre: Nonfiction
Age: Primary
Review: This book was about multple different types of lizards and fun facts about each one. This is nonfiction because the book is all about facts of different lizards.
Use in classroom: This would be a good book to suggest for a boy student because it teaches them about different types of lizards and the cool things they do.
Media: paint

This was a very good book that allows you to learn about lizards. I am in college and was still able to learn a great deal about lizards. It talks about most of the different types of lizards around the world. Talks about what a lizard does everyday and what country they reside in.

Discusses the different types of insects there are and what things they can do
1 book

an animal book discussing all the different strange things that different animals do to survive (vampire bats drinking other animals blood)
3 book

discusses in depth about the different aspects of sharks. where they live, what they eat, how they survive.
for older children.
1 book

I really wanted to like this book - I'm in the market for more chapter-book-like nonfiction and Ginjer Clarke has done some very serviceable nonfiction series before. However, there were some layout decisions and other elements that made me take this off the list, for my library at least.

The rainforest and general terms and concepts are covered in the introduction, then the book is divided into sections covering the Amazon river and the different levels of the rainforest. There are chapters on the native peoples of the Amazon, different products and medicines we get from the rainforest, and how readers can participate in conserving the rainforest. Back matter includes a brief bibliography, lengthy index, and fold-out map.

The book is a small paperback size, 140 pages. I like the glossary included directly into the pages and the many photographs and additional information breaking up the text. However, there were a couple things that annoyed me. First, the book is formatted like a journal, complete with water stains, highlighting, and areas on maps and photographs are circled by what looks like red marker. I don't know about other libraries, but this type of book in my library inspires an endless stream of kids to the desk "Ms. Jennifer, someone WROTE in this book!" and those who don't join that stream are busily scribbling on the book themselves, since "someone wrote on it already."

I found several typos; one on page 27 "One night, a water lily blooms a giant white flower that smells like pineapple." and some turns of phrase that I just didn't appreciate, like the anaconda's "fangs" on page 32. Now, it's true that all snakes have teeth of some kind, but I think it would have been better to explain how the anaconda's fangs are used, rather than inadvertently joining in with the "all snakes are venomous and will attack you" sensationalist view. Again on page 40, when talking about piranhas, it labels them "deadly" and mentions that the native people tell stories about them attacking humans, but it's my understanding that piranhas do not attack large prey and only eat humans and other large mammals if they are dead or dying. I'm skeptical about the claim of poison dart frogs having the "strongest poison in the world!" on page 93. Maybe, maybe not, but there's no source to prove it either way.

Verdict: So, basically, I liked the idea of the book and the chapter book size, but the journalistic details bothered me and I found myself reading skeptically the information included. It would probably be fine as an introduction for kids who just want to read about the rainforest, but I can't quite bring myself to recommend it.

ISBN: 9780448481036; Published 2015 by Grosset & Dunlap/Penguin; Review copy provided by publisher

Bug Out! is a book that is an informative source about all different sorts of bugs that exist in the world. I liked the way it came out with the pictures and informative information throughout the book. I liked the illustrations a lot because they described the actions that were occurring on the book very well. There was a section about predatory insects and it showed the ones that killed, through pictures of insects stinging and incapacitating their prey. Another aspect of the book I liked was its hold as a nonfiction book, giving valuable information at a level that is easy to understand. It talks about scorpions for example and explains its anatomy and the poisons power.

Read about the platypus, one of the most unique animals on earth.

I liked this book for many reasons. One thing that I really enjoyed about this book was the way in which it was organized. It walks through a typical day of a mother cheetah and her cubs, and includes their daily activities, how they sleep, and what they do when they wake up in chronological order. While telling about these different parts of their day, the author incorporates additional information and facts about cheetahs, such as how the mother cheetah protects her cubs and what the cheetahs eat. I also like that it shows how the cubs develop over time. For example, they begin by depending on their mother for food and protection but by the end of the story the cubs are grown cheetahs that now know how to survive on their own. Another reason I liked this book was because of the illustrations. I thought that it was an interesting approach to include drawings rather than real pictures of cheetahs in an informational book. I believe that these illustrations would be more appealing to the younger children that this book is geared towards. The illustrations also accurately depict what is being said in the text of the story. For example, they included a close up illustration of just the cheetahs fur on the page that describes what a cheetahs fur is like. The illustrations are extremely realistic which I believe adds a lot to the story. I also liked the language use and writing in this book. It was written with simple vocabulary that was easy to understand, while still giving a great deal of information about these animals. This clear and concise language is easy to follow and clearly gets the information across. I believe that the big idea that this story is trying to get across is that all animals grow and are babies at one point but develop overtime. They showed this by explaining the lifecycle of the cheetah.

Content: Freak Out! is a levelled science reader about animals with strange and uncommon features or abilities. It is told in shorter sentences to make it easier to read and includes such animals as pink river dolphins, cassowaries and hoatzins.

My reaction: The illustrations are colourful and true to life. The subject matter is very appealing to the intended age group and the book is well paced (only two pages are dedicated to each animal) so that readers will not lose interest.

Recommended Age Level: 6 – 10 years old

Series Information: Part of the “All Aboard Science Reader” series

This book is fascinating because it is divided into chapters that show the different jobs that animals have, how animals communicate, and how they work together. It makes students think about animals in ways that they might not have thought of before.

Beautiful illustrations accompany this very simple story about a day in the life of the platypus. Aside from the fact that it's about my favorite animal, I like that it introduces young readers to animals a bit more exotic than the grey squirrel or the cow.½

Summary:
This nonfiction book discusses animals that live and function primarily in the dark. Some of the animals discussed are the genet, the luna moth, and the blind fish cave. The book is broken up into a few chapters, each of which discusses a different type of animal that lived in the dark, such as those who live in caves, and those who live in the bottom layer of the ocean. It also compares and contrasts how their lives are different from ours and other animals who are not generally nocturnal.

My Personal Reaction:
This book was very informative and would be great for any animal-loving student. I thought there would be various "dry" spots throughout the book, but it truly stayed interesting throughout the entire book. The animated pictures of animals that are very unusual looking in real-life made this book appropriate for even the youngest students.

Classroom Extension Ideas:
1. Have students choose two animals and create a Venn Diagram showing likenesses and differences between the two.
2. Based on what students know abo ut nocturnal animals, have students create their own animal and make a list of its characteristics.

A great information book about sharks including information on various types of sharks, where they can be found in the world, their diet, etc. Great illustrations accompanied the important information.

This is a good informational book that is well illustrated. It describes many different types of night creatures ranging from owls to blind salamanders.

550L,GRL M,GL 2.75,10 copies

550L,GRL M,GL 2.75,10 copies