A Little Book of Sloth by Lucy Cooke

A Little Book of Sloth

Cooke, Lucy.  New York: Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2013.  9781442445581

Quantitative Reading Level:  Reading Level 4.6, Lexile 870

Qualitative Reading Analysis:

This is a deceptive book.  At first glance it has the “cuteness” factor but there is actually a lot of text and information.  I would rate this as Middle Low on the “Text Complexity: Qualitative Measures Rubric for Informational Text”.  There is some vocabulary that may be unfamiliar but the photographs help to support what is being said in the text.  The purpose is implied – to educate people about sloths.  The book is set up as a narrative so there are no common nonfiction text features.

Summary:

 

This book informs reader about sloths and introduces them to a group of sloths that live at the Aviarios del Caribe sloth sanctuary.  The author introduces the reader to 10 sloths living at the sanctuary.  The photographs are adorable and draw the reader in and then the information is interesting.  This is a well done book about a little known animal.

Sloth Sanctuary Website: http://www.slothsanctuary.com/

Personal Thoughts:

The photographs are adorable.  My students have been enamored with the cuteness.  It is also chock full of information.  Lure them in with cuteness and hit them with information – good plan.

High Interest Annotation:  Everything you always wanted to know about sloths.  Or maybe you didn’t want to know but now that you see how cute they are, you’ll want to know.