10 reasons to love an elephant

PreS-Gr 1-Published in association with London's Natural History Museum, these educational and colorful picture books offer 10 reasons to admire elephants and 10 reasons to appreciate turtles. Each book's front cover contains an inviting die-cut shape. With the touch of fingers along the die-cut's smooth edges, children can capture tactile impressions of an elephant's or turtle's body shape. Well-written descriptive text starts and concludes on the front- and end papers; numbered, large print headings divide the short sections of text. In Elephant, the writing touches upon the animals' tusks, ears, and intelligence as well as their communication. Turtle shares such details as how turtles lay eggs, shed salt accumulated in their bodies through tears, and are related to dinosaurs. Five scallop-edged circles set within selected illustrations contain additional text suggesting ways children can demonstrate love for elephants or turtles; for example, purchasing paper "made from recycled elephant poop" and avoiding items created from turtle shells. Clulow's artwork nicely places each animal in its native environment along with other native fauna and flora-most are accompanied by labels. In Elephants, Barr's text mentions African and Asian elephants, but most of the images depict African elephants. Out of the two, Clulow's artwork truly shines in Turtle, especially the spread on different shell patterns. These informative books flow well, presenting material in an easily understandable style. -VERDICT Attractive read alouds for small groups of young children curious about animals, as well as fun browsing -material.-Lynn Vanca, Freelance Librarian, Akron, OH © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

A set of elephant facts designed to spark lifelong interest in protecting these curious and unique creatures.Like its subjects, the presentation has a few wrinkles. Though otherwise rendered realistically enough to tell the different types apart, the pachyderms first visible through a shaped cutout in the front cover sport oversized googly eyes. Labels identifying some of the flora and fauna visible in Clulow's forest and grassland scenes are usually helpful, but seeing elephants tagged "African forest elephant" and "African savanna elephants" without explanation in the wake of the author's statement earlier that there are only two speciesAsian and Africanis confusing. Otherwise, along with inset suggestions for ways to find out more or to get involved in elephant conservation, Barr does offer a set of simply phrased physical and behavioral observationsthe titular reasons to love an elephantthat are strong in reader appeal: "1: They have the biggest noses in the world"; "6: They cuddle and care." The co-published 10 Reasons to Love a Turtle shares the appeal but has cracks of its own. It's really just about the seven kinds of sea turtles (an arbitrary limitation compounded by the bizarre claim that "all turtles live in the ocean"), and it features an animal cast that is all smiles (sharks included) and odd-looking eyes. Well-meant but too often oversimplified. (Informational picture book. 6-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.