Isabel of the Whales by Hester Velmans

This book is a breath taking novel that leaves readers in a magical world of wonder. I absolutely loved this mystical telling of a young lady “the chosen one” who turns into a whale for a year. She gets to learn secrets about whales that no other human being gets to know or see. She also gets to discover the wonders of the deep.

This is a story that will keep students on the edge of their seats. Velmans does a great job with suspense and for shadowing. Her work is high quality. She does a great job of using sensory details and descriptive verbs. She also shows her readers thing instead of telling them, always a sign of a good writer. She does an excellent job making her work of fiction logical and organized. It not only brings up life questions about what it means to take care of the world around us but gives detailed information about whales. Her story telling manner of delivery information will help make the facts more memorable and meaningful. She does not use statistics to discuss the decline in whales over the recent years but has students experience it through her words. She also shows students the beauty of being a whale and what might a whale’s life be like.

I would use this book in my classroom as a read aloud or free read. Either way it would be a great book. I recommend it for the upper grades because of the discussion possibilities but no doubt most of the younger grades would enjoy the mystical tale as well. I recommend this book to teachers.

Publishing: 2005

Hello Ocean written by Pam Munzo Ryan and Illustrated by Mark Astrella

I loved this book. It was well written and its illustrations were breathtaking. The picture continues on the front to the back of the cover as well as the story began before the publishing.

Munzo does  a brilliant job with her descriptions in a poetic and informative way. She also uses great descriptions. It also uses words that mean the same as the meaning. She does a great job using detailed verbs.

The illustrations however make the story. They are so life like. I would love to read more books illustrated by Astrella. He does an amazing job. He uses shadows and sunlight to bring his illustrations to life. Each one is rich with details and illusionistic texture. The pictures are so real one might actually think they’re there.

This would be a great book for a read aloud as well as a free read. This book would be a good choice to read if they ever went on a beach trip or had a class discussion about the sea shore. I recommended this book to teachers.

Publishing: 2001

Migration of a Whale written by Tanya Kant and Illustrated by Mark Bergin

I found this book very informative. I think I might have enjoyed it more if it was not the tenth book on the same subject for my text set. That in mind it was a well written book.

The text was more informational than focus minded. It also broke up the text into little paragraphs and had individual words for diagrams to help with the descriptions. Breaking up the text makes the book easier to read and more engaging. Every two pages or so is a new topic so it doesn’t matter if you read the book in order.

The illustrations are very basic and hardly change from page to page. There is no background illustrated but only cookie cutter-appearing whales. There were no little details or exciting coloring to cause the reader to want to read more. I found the illustrations very boring for that reason. In the end I did not care for the pictures.

I feel like the text is good but the illustrations bring it down. For that reason I feel that I could find a better illustration informational picture book for my classroom. I would not recommend this book.

Publishing:2008

Dolphins written by Sharon Bokoske and Margret Davidson and Illustrated by Courtney

 I found this book very informative and its pictures engaging. I felt that it made learning fun with its little anecdotal stories and interesting facts.This is definitely an informational book. There is not one consistent story throughout the entire book. It does give short stories about dolphins. It tells some fascinating tales of how they heroically save and work beside people. The illustrations are also very detailed and realistic. They add to the story as well as give specific details about the text.

I would use this book for a text set or a paired book. I would not use it as a read aloud. It would be a great book to have as a free read in a library.

Published: 1993

Special note Courtney’s last name is not mentioned.

A Listair and Kips Great Adventure! Written and illustrated by John Segal

I found this book entertained and enjoyable. I felt that this book might be one in a serious of picture books. It used a common theme of cats and dogs. The illustrations were simplistic and yet formatted in a fun way. The illustrations are formatted at times like a graphic novel and most definitely paint the story. The illustrations tell the story almost more than the words.

The text is simplistic and yet informative and is written as a graphic novel might with a sentence or two per illustration. It also at times uses words that sound like what they might mean like “boom” and “crack.” The story definitely has moments of suspense and action and will draw readers in.

I would use this book as a free read in my library. I would not use it as a read aloud as it does not have very many moments for dramatic action. This book could be for younger ages as well as old. However the illustrations may be due to style aimed for younger ages.

Publishing: 2008

Story of Dolphin by Katherine Orr

All though this book is not my favorite I did enjoy it. I found the story interesting and very descriptive. It definitely had a message but the message did not get in the way of the story.

            The illustrations were much more simplistic than some of the illustrations that I have seen before. It had a very distinct style of print that some people may not prefer but I found enjoyable. Orr definitely utilized a variety of colors that goes perfectly with the mood.

            The text has many details that help paint a picture. This book does have a lot of word competed to other picture books. There might be several paragraphs on page. That is why I recommend it for older students.

I would use this as a free read. I would not use it as a read aloud because of the amount of words. I might however use it with a text set.

Published: 1993