Lori Stein

This is a great book that anyone who has an interest in dinosaurs will love. It is geared for junior grade (9 and up) students as younger ones will not be able to read it. There are a huge number of facts given in this book, but it is organized in a way that is easy to follow. The illustrations are great. They use images of fossils and museum displays as well as illustrations. Within the ten chapters were sections entitled Dino Details, Facts Files, and In Your Newsfeed that give the reader some fun, informative facts. This is not a book that a child could consume in one sitting, there is so much information, they would need to take their time to take it all in.

There is a pronunciation key at the end of the book which would be very helpful for anyone not familiar with all the types of dinosaurs. The resources listed, other books and websites, would be great for the reader or teacher. If a family is looking to visit a museum with dinosaurs, they even list several of them at the back of the book. This would be a great book to have in public, school, class and even family libraries.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

… (altro)

This is a great non-fiction book geared to young readers. The images and illustrations are amazing and give so much information in themselves. There is so much information in this book that youngsters will need to read this in several sittings. From birth, family life, food, hunting, appearances, migration, communication etc. it is all here. The book starts off telling us what all sharks have in common, then promptly tells us about all the many differences. We learn about their amazing senses, why their bodies are so light and why they can move so quickly. No book is complete without information about The Great White Shark. Learning about "Mary Lee" a great white that has been tagged and how the information they gather is used to keep humans safe. You can also go a website to see her being tracked. There are several species discussed in various chapters on different topics. The book shares a section on shark bites and myths about shark attacks. There is also a section called "Why Sharks Matter" dealing with how they help the environment and ecosystem and about how and why they are threatened.

I learned things about sharks that I did not know. I thought they had to keep moving so they could breathe, but found out that they have developed ways that they can actually sleep and still breathe based on currents and moving their muscles or that they have not bones, but are made of cartilage. There are several resources listed at the back of the book for further study.

This is a good book form young readers to learn about sharks. This seems to be a topic that is always of interest to people due to all the television coverage of sharks. I recommend this book to school, classroom and public libraries. This would be a great book for those reluctant readers as it does not seem like you are reading when going through this book.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.… (altro)

This is a new series of beginning chapter, nonfiction books from Animal Planet.

The first title is Sharks! and the second is Dinosaurs! Both present a basic overview of the creature, their evolution, habitat and habits, and mentions of scientific discoveries about them. Dinosaurs includes a discussion of fossils and recent discoveries; Sharks covers their endangered status and a brief reference to shark attacks.

Both titles include photographs, current news clips, an attractive layout that includes colored borders and additional facts, further resources, glossary, and sources.

I'm of two minds about these books. On the one hand, I honestly found them dull. The information was presented reasonably well (although the references to shark attacks were not as clear as they might have been) and there were lots of facts and photographs but the books just didn't catch my interest. In short, I felt that they plodded and I felt the information could have been organized better.

On the other hand, I have a strong demand for easier chapter books and there really isn't much in the nonfiction realm for this reading level except National Geographic chapter books. This series is available in both paperback and hardcover and I'm experimenting this year with putting a nonfiction, paperback series into our juvenile series paperbacks (little bee's BlastBack series).

Verdict: I'm going to take these to my book club and see what the kids think and see how my one nonfiction series in juvenile series goes this year. Next year I'll decide whether to add these to the collection in hardcover or as a new series.

Sharks
ISBN: 9781618934321

Dinosaurs
ISBN: 9781618931863

Published 2016 by Animal Planet; Review copies provided by publisherAnimal Planet Chapter Books: Sharks!, Dinosaurs! by Lori Stein… (altro)

Animal Planet Chapter Books: Sharks! by Animal Planet & Lori Stein is a terrific book on sharks that will have even those that fear sharks respecting the fishy fiends enough to know they are needed in the oceans. The book explains what makes a shark a shark, a very good question. This book is also loaded with the best images throughout the pages and full of the greatest trivia on sharks such as sharks can't get viruses or cancers! Can you guess who is the fastest or which is called "garbage gut"? Which is the "couch potato" shark? The book talks about jumping sharks, that's right, jumping sharks, and basking sharks. I guess those are the ones tired from jumping, lol. What do you call a baby shark? It is all in here, fun and exciting facts and it doesn't talk down to you. Great book! I loved the charts that showed the various shark's live spans and body sizes. Then there is a link to follow a tagged shark, Mary Lee, a great white shark, read about her in here too. A very informative book with excellent pictures with many closeups. Wonderful. Thanks NetGalley for suggesting this book.… (altro)