Written by Lisa Regan
Kids will love this glow-in-the-dark book about glow-in the-dark fish. Every other pair of pages are marked with a star to indicate that they will glow once they have been exposed to light for a bit.
The pictures are good, and the pages glow well. There are usually three short sections on the page, and the pages are well designed and beautifully laid out. One section is a “Did you know?” section. It is a reference book, but there is a bit of dialogue in it with the reader. For example, it says the one sea creature is also called a sea gooseberry, but “don’t try to eat it though,” (teasingly, but they don’t say exactly why.)
The information is fascinating and focused on the topic of each two-page spread. Beautifully-ugly fish and invertebrates are pictured on each open spread.
The writing isn’t the strongest part of the book. One of the oddest parts is that there is random bold print. The bold print doesn’t indicate new vocabulary that would be in the glossary, or a phrase that is explained by the sentence. It just seems like the editors put interesting phrases, of words, such as “danger” in bold. There is a glossary that has some good information. These words are in yellow and are mostly at the beginning of the book. That seems like a good idea, but it doesn’t make up for the randomness of the rest of the bold print.
This is a beautifully-laid-out book. Children will love the pictures, lay out, and really interesting facts. It is not meant to be read from cover to cover, but to bounce around as the reader is interested.
Review by Cheryl Baker, Teacher, Mill Creek Elementary
Rating: ★★★½✩ (3.5 stars)
Interest Level: Grades 3-6
Way to Glow! Amazing Creatures That Light Up in the Dark
Written by Lisa Regan
Scholastic Inc
49 pages
Release Date: December 29, 2015
