Diane Swanson

READING LEVEL: 4.9 AR POINTS: 0.5

Welcome to the World of Coyotes by Diane Swanson is the perfect book for children around ages 5-7, and even older. My 6 year old grandson needed a little help pronouncing some of the words.

A week ago, late at night, I heard a couple of coyotes howling close by in the woods. We knew they were around because we found a couple of chickens missing with feathers all around. I opened the window and recorded their awesome howling with my iPhone so I could show a few of my young 'outdoorsy' grandsons. They became so intrigued and started asking question after question. So I decided to surprise them with this little book with simple facts about coyotes that they could understand. They loved it.

Sadly, a couple of days ago, we saw one of the coyotes had been hit by a car out on the highway. And here it is spring. I'm sure she or he (they stay together in pairs) most likely has babies in a den somewhere in the woods.… (more)

This book contains vibrant photographs of sea creatures and contains great informational text features that are not common in children's literature. This book has headings, sidebars, a table of contents, and an index. I like this book because it specializes in the Pacific Northwest which makes it more relatable to the children because many of them could have traveled to the beach. The book is also split into five parts (Plants, Spineless Stars, Fish, and Mammals) so I could assign one part to each group and they could create projects that they present to the class to teach their part of the book.… (more)