Planet Earth Amazing Animals of the Rainforest

Planet Earth Amazing Animals of the Rainforest

West, T. (2009). Planet earth amazing animals of the rainforest. New York, NY: Scholastic.

Tracey West, the author, is probably best known as the author of the Pokeman chapter books.  She is a well rounded author writing in many different genres.

Planet Earth Amazing Animals of the Rainforest is a non-fiction book that gives students a look into the interesting world of the rainforest.  The book is packed full of information about the animals and their interactions with the environment.

The book includes several text features. The first text feature students will encounter is the table of contents.  The author has divided and color coded the table of contents based on where the animal is found in the rainforest.  The first few are water animals, then forest floor animals and so forth.

Another text feature she has included is stunning real life photos of the wildlife found in the rainforest.  Accompanied by captions to explain and describe the animals in the photos.

This book includes a glossary with terms students might need defined. Several of the words on this list are required words to be taught in the fourth grade science content.  I can see this book being very useful when teaching about different habitats and animal interactions.

Another great text feature the author included is a map.  Showing the students where the rainforests are located around the world.  The map is also labeled with names, dimensions and location of each rainforest.

The author also included a list of things the students can do the help preserve the Earth.  She included a website they can visit to learn more about what is happening in the rainforest.

www.loveearth.com