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A True Book
Oceans
Look! Up there! In the tree! Is it a bird, a mammal, an insect? From the highest part of the rain forest to the deepest part of the ocean and the various places in between, this series explores the world's ecosystems and the fascinating and bizarre creatures and plants that live there. This book features facts from freaky to fascinating, and photos of creatures rare and wonderful. You'll learn about the dangers each environment faces from humans as well as nature, and what we can all do to help preserve these beautiful, unique worlds.
48 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 22, 2012
Non-fiction book, Oceans by Peter Benoit is part of the “True Books” series by Scholastic. With its colorful pictures, interesting and descriptive captions, and easy to understand content, Oceans is a terrific book for young readers. It also starts out, like a “True Books” do, with a “True/False” section with questions with answer in the book. The statements in the section are not simple and most likely would not be known with general knowledge. The book discusses oceans zones, animal life in the ocean, how the oceans moves, and the ocean’s relationship with climate. Overall, the book is a great book to readers new to non-fiction books.
For many reasons, Oceans is a terrific non-fiction book for young readers. One of the most important reasons is that it has bolded text for new ocean related vocabulary words. These words are described in the text itself, however if the child still needs a bit of clarification, the back of the book has a glossary labeled “Important Words.” There is a definition and pronunciation guide. Another reason is that there are clear, exciting captions to all of the photographs. For example, on page 31, there is a picture of a man surfing. The caption is “Surfing is an ancient sport among Pacific Island peoples.” This is a fact that most readers would not already know. There is also a timeline of ocean exploration with pictures to give meaning to the text. The end of the book is the true gem though. As I mentioned before, there is an “Important Words” section. There is also a page of resources, organizations for more information about oceans, places to visit, a page with the answers and reason for the True/False page at the front of the book, and a statistics page filled with the statistics mentioned in the text. These are terrific because they help the reader move beyond the page. With all of the resources provided in the back of the book, a child, interested in oceans, has places to go to get more information. The end of the book promotes continued learning.
Although the book has many highlights, there were a few small things that could have been changed to make the book perfect. There were a few editing errors such as stating there are three zones, then describing four. Also, the chapters were not clearly titled. The second chapter is titled “Ocean Life” and is only about ocean life in the top layers of the ocean. This can be misleading if a reader is not reading cover to cover but looking up information. The last small problem with the book was that the timeline of sea exploration was with the deep sea creatures. Most of the events were not about animals. The timeline could have been more beneficial if it used more of what was in the text, putting the content in another format and providing more information.
As mentioned previously, this is a non-fiction book. It fits this genre well as it has many text features such as bolded words, a table of contents, and an index. This book could be used a teaching tool to introduce the concept of vocabulary words, table of contents and using an index as they are clearly laid out and the subject is one many students enjoy. The writing style of Peter Benoit is a nice pairing for the book. It is explanatory without insulting the reader’s intelligence. For example “Each species is adapted to a habitat that meets its requirements to live and reproduce” (Beniot, 2011, p. 16). This explains the next vocabulary word (habitat) but also gives information specifically about ocean creatures.
Peter Benoit has written close to twenty books in the “True Books” series. They range for Native American tribes to Nuclear Meltdowns. His education is in mathematics but, obviously enjoying learning about many other subjects. Benoit’s diverse interests can be seen in the book Oceans. It not only discusses the animal life of the oceans, and the way the ocean moves, it also takes it a step further and discusses the future of oceans and its impact on climate.
Oceans was published by Children’s Press in February 2011. Its ISBN is 978-0531281055. It is listed at $6.95 and is recommended for readers 8 and up.
For many reasons, Oceans is a terrific non-fiction book for young readers. One of the most important reasons is that it has bolded text for new ocean related vocabulary words. These words are described in the text itself, however if the child still needs a bit of clarification, the back of the book has a glossary labeled “Important Words.” There is a definition and pronunciation guide. Another reason is that there are clear, exciting captions to all of the photographs. For example, on page 31, there is a picture of a man surfing. The caption is “Surfing is an ancient sport among Pacific Island peoples.” This is a fact that most readers would not already know. There is also a timeline of ocean exploration with pictures to give meaning to the text. The end of the book is the true gem though. As I mentioned before, there is an “Important Words” section. There is also a page of resources, organizations for more information about oceans, places to visit, a page with the answers and reason for the True/False page at the front of the book, and a statistics page filled with the statistics mentioned in the text. These are terrific because they help the reader move beyond the page. With all of the resources provided in the back of the book, a child, interested in oceans, has places to go to get more information. The end of the book promotes continued learning.
Although the book has many highlights, there were a few small things that could have been changed to make the book perfect. There were a few editing errors such as stating there are three zones, then describing four. Also, the chapters were not clearly titled. The second chapter is titled “Ocean Life” and is only about ocean life in the top layers of the ocean. This can be misleading if a reader is not reading cover to cover but looking up information. The last small problem with the book was that the timeline of sea exploration was with the deep sea creatures. Most of the events were not about animals. The timeline could have been more beneficial if it used more of what was in the text, putting the content in another format and providing more information.
As mentioned previously, this is a non-fiction book. It fits this genre well as it has many text features such as bolded words, a table of contents, and an index. This book could be used a teaching tool to introduce the concept of vocabulary words, table of contents and using an index as they are clearly laid out and the subject is one many students enjoy. The writing style of Peter Benoit is a nice pairing for the book. It is explanatory without insulting the reader’s intelligence. For example “Each species is adapted to a habitat that meets its requirements to live and reproduce” (Beniot, 2011, p. 16). This explains the next vocabulary word (habitat) but also gives information specifically about ocean creatures.
Peter Benoit has written close to twenty books in the “True Books” series. They range for Native American tribes to Nuclear Meltdowns. His education is in mathematics but, obviously enjoying learning about many other subjects. Benoit’s diverse interests can be seen in the book Oceans. It not only discusses the animal life of the oceans, and the way the ocean moves, it also takes it a step further and discusses the future of oceans and its impact on climate.
Oceans was published by Children’s Press in February 2011. Its ISBN is 978-0531281055. It is listed at $6.95 and is recommended for readers 8 and up.
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May 2, 2013What: This book gives children a glance into our oceans and how aquatic life functions down below. It also goes into some of the effects that pollution in the oceans is having on marine life and ecosystems.
So What: I think this is great for teaching kids about our environment and the way organisms function and work together in order to survive.
Now What: I used this for a text set on how water pollution affects people and the environment. I think it would also be a great tool for introducing kids to ecosystems.
So What: I think this is great for teaching kids about our environment and the way organisms function and work together in order to survive.
Now What: I used this for a text set on how water pollution affects people and the environment. I think it would also be a great tool for introducing kids to ecosystems.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews