Whales: Ballenas (Bilingual English/Spanish)

PreS-Gr2This series includes favorite marine animals such as sea horses in a smaller trim size than the Pebble Plus series (Capstone). Each title is divided into four chapters and opens by describing typical attributes, such as the sharks hunting skills and the walruses immense tusks, followed by information on their physical characteristics and behavior, and different species, when applicable. On each spread, the text faces a full-page photograph; most are labeled. All but "Octopuses and Squids" include information on the creatures offspring, which enable these titles to compete with the many extant bilingual baby animal series. While not all of the volumes present the same facts (though the books cover diet, for example, "Walruses" mentions that the animal finds food using its whiskers, without clarifying what that food is) these titles represent a good starting point to learn about the animals. The translation is serviceable, although occasionally not totally in agreement, e.g., in "Dolphins", the English text states that these creatures are often hunted by sharks, while the Spanish says that this only occurs sometimes. These books offer unique features in comparison to other titles in this group: a list of (English only) Web resources that include videos for further study, as well as a bilingual further-reading list, making them excellent sources for book reports. Copyright 2008 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.