Moray Eels (New Naturebooks, 1264)

Gr 1-3--Animal lovers will enjoy leafing through these titles, but report writers will come up short. The large-print texts relate general facts about each animal, but the presentations are sometimes confusing and ambiguous. Part of the problem lies in the fact that the full-color photographs, though vivid and appealing, are not captioned. For example, Rothaus states that moray eels around the world are easy to differentiate by their color, pattern, and size; but none of the eels pictured are identified. The index is slight too, which makes some of the descriptive information difficult to find. Gail Gibbons's Sea Turtles (Holiday, 1995) has illustrations rather than photographs, but its information is clearer and more concise. Excellent snake books abound, such as Caroline Arnold's Snake (Morrow, 1991). Individual titles on armadillos, moray eels, and leopards are not readily available for this age level, so these books may be of interest as additional browsing items.

Ellen M. Riordan, Enoch Pratt Free Library, Baltimore, MD

Copyright 1996 Cahners Business Information, Inc.