Exploring Food Chains and Food Webs

November 1, 2012

Gr 2-5-In this set of loosely connected titles, Food Chains clearly explains basic concepts. Some confusion may result between Ecosystems and Environment. Both define their subjects similarly: a place where plants and animals live or interact and offer the backyard and a pond as examples. Nutrition references the new USDA MyPlate guide, while Heredity offers a good visual and text explanation of dominant and recessive genes. Both provide adequate introductions to their topics. Though Living Things contains useful information about domains and kingdoms, it is not well organized. Bacteria and Archaea are mentioned first but discussed after all the kingdoms in Eukarya except protists. A chart classifies a housecat from domain to species without clear definitions of phylum, order, or genus. Color photos and the occasional diagram illustrate each volume.

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