I did not like this book for a number of reasons, one being the way in which the information was presented and organization. The book was about Africa and the many variations of culture, climate and wildlife that inhabit the continent. However, it was a lot of information and I believe could have been broken up into smaller chapters to make readability easier. While the book does not jump around from topic to topic, I think the content could have been organized a little better. I also found the informational text to be a little boring and did not feel engaged by the author or the contents described in the book. Understanding that the point is to get information about Africa across, it might have been better if more characters were developed or point of view had changed. Especially for young students, reading information text needs to be something they will not get bored reading.

For example one page at the beginning describes Africa’s rivers, “The other great rivers of Africa are the Niger, the Orange and the Zambezi. At the head of the Zambezi River is a spectacular Victoria Falls, which is twice as high as North America’s Niagara Falls” (Sabin, 16). If the author had used language that is more descriptive or used a character to talk about the rivers, maybe students would be more engaged. After reading, I discovered the big idea was to inform students about the continent of Africa by describing the geography, climate, wildlife and culture. ( )