Posted in Intermediate, Non-Fiction, Non-Fiction

Scanorama Books lets kids take a deeper look at animals… and dinosaurs

When I was in my early 20s, and the first Jurassic Park movie hit theatres, one of the coolest books I ever saw was a 3-D X-ray book about dinosaurs. The red and blue glasses came tucked into a pocket on the cover, and you could look at dinos in 3-D AND put together a little dino model that came with the book. I was in my 20s, and needed this like I needed the wooden fossil statues I put together when I was a kid.

Thanks, Google Images! UK version of the dino mag I had.

Technology has improved quite a bit since those *cough cough* decades ago, and now, my to-be Kindergartener loves Silver Dolphin’s Scanorama series, which lets kids slide an “x-ray” panel across different animals, dinosaurs, and arachnids to view their skeletons, learn facts, and explore nature through infographics, color photographs, lift-the-flaps, and lists.

Scanorama: Dinosaurs, by Anna Claybourne/Illustrated by David Boumie, (Dec. 2016, Silver Dolphin), $18.99, ISBN: 978-1-62686-630-0
Recommended for readers 5-10

Scanorama: Deadly Predators, by Anna Claybourne/Illustrated by David Boumie, (Sept. 2016, Silver Dolphin), $18.99, ISBN: 978-1-62686-632-4
Recommended for readers 5-10

Scanorama: Amazing Animals, by Anna Claybourne/Illustrated by David Boumie, (Sept. 2016), $18.99, ISBN: 978-1-62686-631-7
Recommended for readers 5-10

Each book is a mix of color photos and illustrations and are loaded with facts. The books suggest a readership of ages 7+, but my 5 year-old loved exploring the books’ flaps, x-ray panels and pictures as I read to him. The books are constructed well, but will take a beating in a public library – this may be better for reference collections, classroom collections, or personal bookshelves.

The Scanorama series just consists of these three books so far, but I hope we’ll see more – they’re fun for young learners to explore.

Posted in Animal Fiction, lift-the-flap, Toddler Reads

Book Review: Where’s Spot? by Eric Hill (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1980)

where's spot

Recommended for ages 0-4

It’s supper time, and Sally the Dog is looking for her puppy, Spot. She looks for him behind doors, under stairs, inside clocks, and other hiding spots and encounters his friends on her search. But where’s Spot?

Part of the popular “Spot” series of books by Eric Hill, Where’s Spot? offers toddlers and preschoolers familiar characters and cartoon-like art with bold, black lettering for sight-word learners.  For printables and online games, parents can point their browsers to http://www.funwithspot.com/us/.  For the youngest Spot fans, make sure to check out his board books!