Tomato

November 1, 2012

K-Gr 3-Attractive layout, clean design, and intriguing close-up photos will lure browsers to these explorations of plant and animal life cycles. Curiously, the indexes do not include references to the photos even though the visuals and captions provide relevant information. Because of the many extant titles on these topics, collections may not need the entire set. For example, Bellwether Media's "Blastoff! Readers: Life Cycles" titles have a smaller format but clear explanations of life stages of a butterfly, bee, frog, and ladybug. Outstanding photo-illustrated introductions to butterflies and frogs by Nic Bishop and others also serve browsers although they may not concentrate directly on life cycles. The oversize format of Riggs's titles will be especially effective for group sharing followed by individual exploration. Select those volumes that will update or enhance collections as needed.

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