Series Made Simple

K-Gr 1—Each of these volumes pairs 100 words—split into header phrases, one or two declarative sentences per page, picture labels, and a glossary spread at the end—with brightly colored photos...

Gr 2—4—Vivid writing (Land Roamers describes how "The giant millipede Arthropleura was as big as your bed!") lifts these otherwise ordinary surveys a bit above average...

Gr 3—5—These books offer a variety of games that will keep kids occupied and engaged...

Gr 1—3—Riveting, close-up photos of mantises looking inscrutably at readers and brightly lit centipedes and spiders either in natural settings or cut out and placed on blank backgrounds will draw young audiences to these introductions...

Gr 4—6—After brief overviews of the kinds of paper, pencils, markers, and paint to buy, these books include a "Master Class" spread that will help when creating some of the other drawings in the book...

Gr 2—3—Designed to prepare students for visits to zoos or nature parks, each of these volumes provides basic background information about a type of animal usually found in such places, enhanced by shaped cutout photos and shots of creatures in artificial settings...

Gr 3—5—Solid scientific material is presented in accessible language and a visually engaging, boldly colored layout...

K-Gr 1—Though possibly useful for extending ideas of what constitutes a "family," in other respects these volumes are of uneven quality at best...

Gr 9 Up—Aside from new introductions and (possibly) new material in the closing bibliographical essays, these independent surveys rearrange content from Britannica Online Encyclopedia to present broad pictures of the Middle East's varied physical and cultural landscapes, cultural highlights, and history (through early 2010, so the chapters on modern history in Egypt and Yemen are out of date)...