AUDIO

About Insects: A Guide for Children/Sobre los Insectos: Una guía para niños

by Cathryn SILL
1 CD. 5 min. Recorded Books. 2015. $15.75. ISBN 9781501903670. digital download. BL
COPY ISBN
Gr 1–3—Listeners will learn facts about insects, their habitats, and more in this audiobook that alternates between English and Spanish. Two tracks, one with page-turn signals and one without, will help independent readers keep track when listening in conjunction with the physical book. Alma Cuervo, the narrator, paces herself through simple sentences slowly as listeners are then able to process new information. The rotation between English and Spanish feels clunky; there is not much emphasis on tone to break up the sentences, so it sounds a bit mechanical. This audiobook would be better paired with the physical book; on its own, this is not enough to keep listeners engaged.
VERDICT Only recommended when paired with a physical copy of the book. ["The realistic watercolor paintings are this book's main focus": SLJ 7/00 review of the Peachtree book.]
Reviewed by Katie Llera, Bound Brook High School, NJ
An accessible introduction to insects, featuring simple language in both English and Spanish. General insect characteristics are illustrated using a variety of different specific species. For example, “Young insects hatch from eggs / Las crías nacen de huevos” is paired with a painting of praying mantis nymphs emerging from an egg sac. An image of a giant walkingstick perched on a branch demonstrates that “Some [insects] crawl because they have no wings / Algunos caminan porque no tienen alas.” An afterword offers interesting details relating to each spread. For instance, in a paragraph about the whirligig beetle shown swimming in Plate 12, the text says that “Whirligig [b]eetles’ eyes are divided into two parts so they are able to see above and below the surface of the water.” John Sill’s strikingly realistic watercolors capture the featured insects up close in their natural habitats.
 , Mar 01, 2016

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