Monday, April 6, 2015

The Queen's Shadow by Cybèle Young -- ADVISABLE

Young, Cybèle The Queen's Shadow: A Story About How Animals See. PICTURE BOOK. Kids Can Press, 2015. $16.95. Content: G.

In this mystery, the queen's shadow disappears during a blackout at her dinner party. Using scientific facts about how various creatures see, she and her Royal Detective, Mantis Shrimp, examine the animals in attendance to figure out the culprit. Sidebars enhance the text with fascinating information about each animal's use of sight. The end contains a glossary, a two-page spread showing how human vision works, and more interesting facts about each of the book's animals.

This story mixes fiction and nonfiction well; the mystery format keeps readers' interest, while the facts sprinkled throughout teach and entertain. The illustrations pair well with the tale and subtly offer further insight. While it is fairly long for a casual read-aloud, it would work well in a lesson about sight, or as a resource for a student research project.

EL -- ADVISABLE. Reviewer: Caryn

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