Elephant Calves

Minimal text and highly appealing photographs of baby animals make this series a good choice for beginning readers of nonfiction. Seven full-page spreads highlight the visual appeal of the young animals, with a good mixture of full-body views, close-ups, and interactions with others. Simple declarative sentences, some as short as two words, provide the briefest descriptions. Three spreads featuring exceedingly cute photos of a gorilla infant, for example, are accompanied only by: “It eats. It walks. It plays.” The limited amount of facts makes sense given the intended audience, and the simplicity of words and sentence structures make the books accessible to the very young. VERDICT This series is just right for newly emerging readers.

With its simple, easy-to-follow narrative and huge, glossy photos (of irresistible baby animals, no less), the Safari Babies series (6 titles) uses just about the cutest critters on the planet to get new and emerging readers working on their language skills. Geared toward the very youngest readers, this title uses a repetitive sentence structure, limited vocabulary, and visual clues to guide kids through the text. ""I see a calf,"" the book opens, while the clearly labelled illustration indicates the elephant calf standing beside its mother. “It is a baby elephant!” From there, the book diagrams parts of the elephant in words and pictures (“See its ears. They are big”). An ending picture glossary recaps everything, while an index helps introduce them to the basics of nonfiction. Clear, useful, and adorable—what more could you need? — Maggie Reagan