Backyard Detective

Title:  Backyard Detective

Author: Nic Bishop

Illustrator: Nic Bishop

Publisher:  Scholastic Press

Genre: Informational

Level: Upper

Number of Pages: 48

Pub. Date: 2002

Summary:  This book uses life-size photographic views of the natural world that combines the challenge of I Spy with the learning about insects and creatures that you may not normally see.
The book features more than 125 bugs, worms, and small critters. There are seven life-size backyard environments, from the soil, to the vegetable garden, to the air above, etc. Scenes are followed by informational spreads which identify all animals and relate intriguing facts about survival in each environment. It also includes natural science projects, essential safety information, and a "visual index" for easy reference.

Nic Bishop

Critique: This book is very engaging for children and also very educational. The facts are accurate and have multiple sources to back them up. The book is organized in a very clear manner with a table of contents at the beginning along with a page about how to use this book effectively. There is the scene and then information about what animals are in that scene. There are also helpful text features like bolded words and headings. The writing is clear and direct with interesting facts about all of the critters.

Response: I made a text-to-classroom observation (it’s a new one I made up lol). I remember seeing many of the boys in the 2^nd grade classroom I was just observing in picking I Spy books. I would love to have had known about this book so they could really get information from the book and learn something instead of just finding pictures of different objects.