Under the Sea (First Discovery Books) - Softcover

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French

Grade 1-3-Under the Ground suffers from its European origin. Rabbits there do live underground, but not North American cottontails. The kingfisher pictured is also the European variety, not the North American belted one, and the woodpecker is a European great spotted, not native to the New World. (And why include a woodpecker at all?) Two or three lines of text provide minimal information on each pictured critter. Under the Sea provides one factoid per creature and briefly displays the methods by which humans visit this realm. Purists may balk at the terms starfish and jellyfish as opposed to sea star and sea jelly (neither, after all, is a fish). The books use what might be termed "obscurancies," very dark transparencies underlaid with solid black pages, making the imposed images extremely shadowy. Both have a punch-out "flashlight" complete with a white circle of "light" at one end that, when passed between the obscurancy and the black page, spotlights the featured creature in full color. (A slot is provided at the back of the book for flashlight storage, but one suspects it will vanish early on.) Hardly founts of information, but if you're into tidbits and toys, certainly fun to play with.
Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.