Jellyfish

November 1, 2016

Gr 2-4-An excellent series for adept young readers that focuses on ocean animals including sea stars, sea horses, stingrays, and many others. Chock-full of interesting details, weird facts, helpful diagrams, and color photographs, these books offer plenty of information for reports or general browsing. The writing here is engaging but does employ longer sentences and more advanced vocabulary, making these titles perfect for those ready to move on from early readers. Highlights include an eye-catching layout and a species spotlight "Catch of the Day" sidebar that shows what each creature feeds on.

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2017
Grades K-2 These exuberant books in the Ocean Life Up Close series make a great effort to draw readers inand, for the most part, they succeed. Everything is bright and eye-catching, from the background colors to the bold text to the plentiful photos with labels; the pages may even feel a bit overstimulating to some readers. Each spread typically includes two short sentences of text with one large photo or three small, labeled photos. The authors do a good job of presenting substantial information in simple, engaging text. The photos are well chosen, many dramatically fulfilling the promise of being up close. The boxed featuresthough sometimes distractingadd detail in a concrete way. In Jellyfish, Identify a Sea Nettle labels the three main parts of the jellyfish. Young readers will enjoy diving into these under-ocean books.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)