Booklist

Series Review: Preschool-Grade 3 – The Spot Ocean Animals series (6 titles) swims (and crawls) alongside beach and ocean critters, introducing their key physical traits and habitats to youngsters. These books are wonderfully suited for beginning readers, as each volume starts with a photo-illustrated vocabulary page of four words kids will encounter as they read. The double-page spreads that follow utilize crisp color photos that often get up close to the featured animal and clean layouts featuring three to four short sentences in a text box and one of the vocabulary words printed largely in a colored spot. The last page contains an answer key to the word-finding challenge, also identifying the images that correspond with the terms. Jellyfish has the most beautiful photographs, making the search for arms, bell, mouth, and tentacles nothing short of a pleasure. The scientific information relayed by each title is decidedly shallow, but new and even prereaders will find themselves hooked by the series’ excellent illustrations and simple, repetitive text.