Pythons

April 1, 2015

Gr 3-6-These books introduce each animal with a scene describing an interesting activity in its life. Information includes appearance, habitat, lifestyle, food, self-defense, growth and development, and current status. The appealingly uncluttered presentation describes the basics in the main text while examples, facts, and captions fill the page borders, which are neatly defined by lightly dotted lines. (Boas and Pythons, for instance, include lots of facts about the size of these snakes.) Clear, full-page photos show the variety within the group-although Piranhas focuses almost exclusively on the common red-bellied species. No other visuals are included. Flaws mar an otherwise nicely done series: Tigers mistakenly lists lions as a predator of their young, and Chameleons contains conflicting material about the life spans of these creatures when kept in captivity. VERDICT Apart from some errors, these titles are worth consideration.

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