Elizabeth Tayntor Gowell

This is a fine starter series for kids interested studying different animals. Whales and Dolphins: What They Have in Common is our most recent adventure with the wonderful and interesting Animals in Order series...what can I say, my kids just can't get enough of these! What I like a great deal about this series is that it takes time at the beginning of each book to look at (briefly) what makes an animal a cetacean, specifically getting into what traits exactly make an animal a cetacean. The book then goes into the "order" of living things which details the kingdom, phylum and class , order, family and species (with a handy visual chart for reference, great for younger kids, so they can SEE how it works rather than just read it or have it read to them). This is one of the better features of this series and the exact same text in this particular section appears in every book in the series. Next the text goes specifically into where cetaceans fit into animal kingdom, breaking it down (in words and pictures again) to kingdom (animal), phylum (chordate), class (mammal) and order (cetacean). In this section we learn that there are 17 orders of mammals and that cetaceans can be further divided into several different families and genera which can and that there are about 90 species of cetaceans!

The book also talks a bit about where cetaceans of all types and sizes fit into food chain and looks specifically at dolphins, porpoises, toothed whales and baleen whales. Whales and Dolphins: What They Have in Common goes from there into an overview of fourteen species complete with full page, color photographs for each one, which really serve to bring the information to life. This section includes Family, Common Example, Genus and Species and Size for each cetacean discussed and each animal is given one full page for written description and one full page COLOR photo...excellent for fully engaging the reader! Cetaceans included here are bottlenose dolphins, river dolphins, porpoises, sperm whales, belugas, blue whales, and humpback whales!

Overall, a fantastic way to introduce various types of cetaceans to your curious young reader! What you get in Whales and Dolphins: What They Have in Common is an excellent overview of cross section of types of cetaceans. A unique feature of this particular book (something that isn't in other books we've read in this series) is the section near the end titled "A Look at the Future." This section very briefly (less than one full typed page (spread out over three with half-page photos) which looks at researchers and scientists who study cetaceans and some of the problems facing these animals (pollution, over-fishing, ect...). As always with this series, I was pleased to find that at the end of the book the author/publisher also included a short recommended reading list and some really great web pages to do more research on...the kids in particular LOVED this! The books in this series would make a wonderful addition to a classroom library or as gifts for your favorite young reader who has a passion for animals; the information here is scientifically presented, accented with wonderful color photos and is both interesting and informative!… (lisätietoja)