Features
- Reading level: Ages 9-12
- Library Binding: 32 pages
- Published by: Lerner Publishing Group December 1993
- Written in: English
- ISBN 10 Number: 0822524562
- ISBN 13 Number: 978-0822524564
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Book Dimensions:
11 x 9.2 x 0.2 inches
- Weighs: 12.8 ounces
From School Library Journal
Grade 3-5-Two amusing activity books that have attractive formats but little value as science titles. More than half of each double-page entry is devoted to full-color photographs and illustrations, many of which are more decorative than informative. A few of the topic headings are catchy but misleading. In Plants, for example, "Breathing Out" covers photosynthesis and respiration (the latter term is never used). In both books, most of the text consists of brief paragraphs that read like extended captions instead of flowing narratives. Arrows direct readers' attention to the related illustrations. Brevity and oversimplification lead to confusion. In Plants, for example, statements about green plants are made as if they applied to all plant species, and a tuber is identified as "the thick part of a plant's underground root," although it is correctly defined as an underground stem in the glossary. Warnings for some activities, including the need for adult supervision, are inadequate. Both subjects are covered just as well or better in other titles, including Wendy Baker and Andrew Haslam's Plants and Electricity (both Aladdin, 1993), Neil Ardley's The Science Book of Things That Grow, The Science Book of Electricity (both Harcourt, 1991), and Electricity (New Discovery, 1992).
Carolyn Angus, The Claremont Graduate School, CACopyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Card Catalog Description
Presents basic information on plants and simple experiments that demonstrate some of their characteristics.
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