Living and Nonliving in the Desert

K-Gr 2—These repetitious books do little to tie information to particular habitats. After a brief definition (e.g., "A mountain is a rocky, tall landform"), the texts contrast living and nonliving things. Simple sentences assert that living things need food, water, air, and sunlight. They grow, change, and move on their own. Nonliving things do not. After applying these characteristics to six examples, the books challenge readers to categorize a seventh item. Five volumes include a rock as a nonliving example, and Mountains asks readers to identify if a rock is living or not. Instead of naming habitat-specific animals, the titles mention "a bird" or "a lizard." Each brief picture glossary repeats again "living" and "nonliving" and defines "sunlight" as "light from the sun." Insistence on sunlight as a requirement for living is inaccurate. Carol K. Lindeen's Living and Nonliving (Capstone, 2008) covers essential concepts in a single volume.