National Geographic Readers

June 1, 2016
National Geographic Kids mines its photo archive for another in its series of readers.It's hard to resist the beautiful, crisp photos of different breeds of ponies in their environments. These are paired with the briefest text highlighting some of their characteristics. Dartmoor ponies graze on a windswept moor, described as "grassy and hilly," while Chincoteague ponies are on a beach. Some ponies, such as Exmoor ponies, have "dark hair"; a picture of a Welsh pony is paired with the statement that some ponies have "light hair." "All ponies eat grass," such as the Norwegian fjord horse. Unfortunately, what some might consider the most distinguishing characteristic of ponies, their size relative to horses, goes unmentioned. Still, those enthralled with all things equine won't mind. Companion title Play, Kitty! is a direct accounting of what a house kitten likes to do, including stretching, climbing, eating, and sleeping. The fact that the featured cat often seems to be wearing an entirely serious, sometimes even worried, expression only makes it all the more adorable. Both titles feature an introductory "vocabulary tree" that presents a sort of taxonomy of words introduced and elementary concluding activities. In both this title and its companion, the images are the draw. (Informational early reader. 3-6)

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