The topic selected between the provided options is Pets. The books chosen are Flip, Flop to the Beach We Go by Ellen Delange and Pooper Snooper by Jennifer Keats Curtis. Flip, Flop, to the Beach We Go is a fiction book that contains illustrations and text that develop a story about a boy and his dog going to the beach (Delange, 2022). There are no charts or diagrams present in the book, which is common for fiction, and it does not have a table of contents or index. The book mostly consists of pictures, which are clear and have bright and comprehensive details, which are suitable for teaching children of pre-school age. There is not much text, yet it is informative and does well in explaining what is going on in the pictures. Pooper Snooper is a non-fiction book about dogs and their detective skills. It contains illustrations, text, a table of contents, and an index, and it does not have charts or diagrams. The book is applicable for teaching preschool children as the information is not overcomplicated.
The books are assessed by the first, second, and sixth criteria from the set used by the NSTA and Children’s Book Council. Flip, Flop, to the Beach We Go has substantial scientific content about dogs and other animals in the story, yet it is not complex as it is a fiction book (Royce et al., 2012). The information is clear, and the descriptions are easily understandable. The book does not have any bias, as there are no social aspects emphasized. Pooper Snooper has substantial scientific content as well, as it describes the detective abilities of dogs (Curtis, 2021). Information in the book is clear and accurate, and it is free of social bias as well. The stories are connected to the topic because they both are about pets and have information about them. For example, in the first book, there is a page where the dog is chasing seagulls, and the behavior of the dog is described. In the second book, there is information about the research on dogs’ abilities to identify different animals by their feces, and an example of the pacific pocket mouse is provided.
References
Curtis, J.K. (2021). Pooper Snooper. Arbordale Publishing.
DeLange, E. (2022). Flip, Flop, to the Beach We Go. Clavis.
Royce, C. A., Morgan, E. R., & Ansberry, K. R. (2012). Teaching science through trade books. NSTA Press.