Diving Dolphin

by Karen Wallace

This Level 1 book is appropriate for children who are just beginning to read. A young dolphin's life is full of adventure! He wants to explore, but danger lurks! Can he escape the killer whale? For children who are just beginning to read and who have a limited vocabulary, these 32-page Level 1 books-about everything from tadpoles to puppies-use word repetition and simple sentences to convey meaning. Picture dictionary boxes with word labels "show" the meanings of words. These books contain between 400 and 450 words each, and they are 80 percent pictures and 20 percent text. The Dorling Kindersley Readers combine an enticing visual layout with high-interest, easy-to-read stories to captivate and delight young bookworms who are just getting started. Written by leading children's authors and compiled in consultation with literacy experts, these engaging books build reader confidence along with a lifelong appreciation for nonfiction, classic stories, and biographies. There is a DK Reader to interest every child at every level, from preschool to grade 4.

Genres: Animals, Childrens, Science, Nonfiction, Picture Books, 1st Grade

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Haaley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a level one reader that contained more content than I expected. The info was interested. There were basic things that are common knowledge and a few knew things that I didn't know completely.

[Heather Richard · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's fine, with nice photographs, but it's also really hard to impress me with any of these early reader books. I would have been impressed if it included info about dolphins nursing, as my kiddos ask why dolphins are mammals...

[Erin Penn · Rating 2 out of 5]

A non-fiction children reader. (Adult reading on own to see if appropriate to give to niece in another state for Christmas.)

A couple pages made me frown - the "funny" Ocean Cafe where the food is "served stunned by tail, rubbed on the ocean floor..." Which has a satire humor for the adult reading, but isn't really accessible to the concrete learning ability of the children. Not only is the humor inaccessible, but also presented in such a way they may learn something wrong unless the adults can explain it properly.

Likewise the Dolphin Boat Tours are clearly humor for the adults, but insert a situation into the book which must be explained carefully to the children.

Only two types of dolphins are presented in the pictures - bottle-nose and ocra, with the orca presented as a villain. More pictures would be good, and indicating the primary dolphin shown is a bottle-nose instead of just "dolphin".

The vocabulary in this "beginning to read" book requires some scaffolding. An adult will need to read the "story" with the child several time before letting them loose with it.

I gave a low rating because of the hard to explain humor and the missing information, which made this book less than desirable.

Excellent pictures, a simple science project, and a lot of good information keep the book from being a total loss.

[Halle Dean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary:
This book gives the detailed description of the life of a dolphin. It gives descriptive details from his life and the dangerous journey through the ocean. It talked about the dolphin's body parts, eating habits, and predators.
Evaluation:
This book is a good transitional book for older kids. It is a level 1 easy reader. It is perfect for a classroom library and for children to read alone.
Lesson Plan:
I would use this book as a guided reading book. It is a level H book. I would also use this book to introduce the topic of mammals to my students.

[Shelbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is very informational. We weren't able to read all of it as I felt like the concepts of hunting and eating live fish were too mature for preschoolers. We were able to look at real life photos of dolphins and read different facts that the kids didn't know for the most part. It was also nice to have a real dolphin character for the kids to follow. It is a little dry, but not bad for nonfiction.

[Lauri Meyers · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice nonfiction early reader told like a life in the day of a young dolphin. Reader doesn't a few parts of a dolphin and some behaviors. It has good emotion- from the love between mother and child and the drama of a looming killer whale.

[Trey Auntie Paige · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Five trillion stars! It's about cute dolphins!"

6 and I co-read.

[Lynn Davidson · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this little book are very interesting facts about a young dolphin; great illustrations.

Contents:
Growing up;
Finding fish;
Exploring together;
The next adventure;
A narrow escape;
Home again;
Glossary;
Index;
Quiz.

[Jenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Diving Dolphin is a great, informational book on the different aspects of a dolphin: body parts, eating habits, predators, etc. I think books like this story would be great to have in the classroom because children will find reading more enjoyable if they have books available to them that relate to their interests.

[Tony Petry · Rating 2 out of 5]

I felt like this book could of had more to it.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a nonfiction book about dolphins. It follows a dolphin through a day. The pictures are all photographs. It gives facts about dolphins throughout the book.

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very nice introduction for beginning readers.

[Abby · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this book I learned that a baby dolphin is always hungry.

[Claire Lee]

Diving Dolphin is a great book for a child to learn about dolphins in a fun way. It has breath taking photos of dolphins in the water and jumping in the air. It has a table of content which is also helpful because if the student needs to know about a specific fact about dolphins.

[Julian E]

kind of good book