Bethany Olson

BABY CATS is one of the books in this new BLASTOFF READERS series. The books are at the First Grade reading level and given the current price, I'd say that the publisher is targeting libraries and classrooms. (The books are pricey.)

BABY CATS is at the mid-1st Grade level.

WHAT I LIKE about BABY CATS are the simple sentences and the large font. I also like the pages are color saturated with cheerful photographs of kittens and their moms.

WHAT I DIDN'T particularly like was that some of the pictures were fuzzy. They might have done that for the cover, to give the beautiful little kitten a warm glow; but other pictures later in the book were also fuzzed.

In addition, I thought some of the content was 'a waste of time'. Whereas just about every text block in the BABY DOGS book provided information, this book pointed out that "kittens stretch out to relax. Big yawn!". And twice it talked about how cats/kittens snuggle for warmth, and twice it pointed out that kittens are cleaned with a tongue.

SO, not quite as nice as the BABY DOGS book, but probably worth borrowing from the library, as the kitten photos --fuzzy or not-- are absolutely adorable. And this will certainly help motivate young readers.… (plus d'informations)

BABY PANDAS is a colorful and cute book for beginning readers. (Lexile: 330L)

It's part of a series called "Super Cute" and so far out of the three books I've perused, this one is my favorite. The pictures of the baby panda and mom are very cute, but even better, the text actually gives adults something to discuss.

Words like "Groom, Bond, and Bleat" might be ones that children aren't familiar with. And adults can explain those terms in more detail, along with point out that pandas eat bamboo, and that baby pandas live with their mothers for a long time.

Large font. Super simple sentences and pictures of pandas make this a book worth sharing.

The cub nurses
when it is young.
Later it eats
bamboo.

[sample pages and AR info/quiz numbers here: http://www.booksforkids-reviews.com/2014/03/review-baby-pandas.html]… (plus d'informations)