The Wild Life of Bears

K-Gr 3—These slight overviews introduce different animals through seven interview-style questions, such as "What are you?" and "What do you eat?" The questions serve as chapter headings, followed by the animal's first-person response ("I eat juicy bugs!"). The remaining spread space is full of examples or variations on the answer, a groaner joke, various insets, and an occasional life-cycle flow chart. Separate "Activity Time" and "Puzzle Time" sections include a varied mix of age-appropriate projects, including crafts, mazes, rhyming words, imaginative play, and (very simple) recipes. The titles end with a story about the animal, original or adapted from a folk- or fairy tale. The oversize font, brightly colored labels, and call-out boxes, plus vivid, close-up photos that vary from full page to silhouette against white add to the appeal. The indexes miss multiple entries, so they won't offer much help to researchers.