This series explores a variety of wetland animals including: alligators, beavers, crocodiles, fishing cats, flamingos, herons, hippopotamuses, platypuses, river otters, and wood ducks. Geared toward early readers ready for a bit more text and varied sentence structure, this series would be perfect for elementary students pursuing animal research. Each cover features the animal of focus surrounded with a bright depiction of the habitat they live in, offering a realistic scene that draws the reader in. Complete with a table of contents at the beginning, and a glossary and index at the end, this series is a great way to teach students text features included in nonfiction. The subtitles, infographics, maps, and charts all help the reader process the information easily, and lend themselves to the skill of going back and rereading to find information and important facts within the book. For example, the book River Otters from this series, includes a map highlighting North America where river otters can be found. Each book also includes a scale of how vulnerable each animal is in relation to extinction which students will find important. Teachers will appreciate the included resources to use to learn more about each animal, including additional books and a factsurfer web link. As a school librarian I am constantly looking for resources that our elementary students can use in their inquiry process that are easy to read and that draw the reader in with engaging facts and pictures. This series fits the bill. It’s definitely a must for any elementary school library!
