Giant Pacific Octopus

April 1, 2013

Gr 1-3-Browsers and report writers alike will enjoy this series about giant animals. Readers will learn about the featured animals' diets, defenses, habitats (all titles include a map), physical characteristics, and life cycles. The size of the creatures is compared to objects young children would know, such as soccer balls, pencils, or refrigerators. Each spread features large, vibrant, color photos that emphasize the magnitude of the animals, a few sentences of text, and text boxes outlined in coordinating borders, such as dog collars or feathers, that offer additional facts (e.g., "One bite from a king cobra has enough poison to kill an elephant or 50 people"). Environmental issues and pet care are addressed in some titles. Just as in Bearport's "SuperSized!" (2007) and "More SuperSized!" (2010), each book concludes with a list of related animals and a picture glossary, which will help students discover visually the meaning of new words.

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