Hibernar / Hibernation

Many kids, including my girls, love to read informational texts about animals. Hibernar / Hibernation is part of a set of bilingual books from Capstone Press (Pebble Plus: Patrones en la naturaleza / Patterns in Nature books). The book walks readers through the process of hibernation, with the following headings: Why Hibernate?, Getting Ready, A Place to Rest, and It's a Pattern. It also introduces young readers to text features of non-fiction texts, with aspects such as a Table of Contents, Glossary, Internet Sites for further research, and Glossary. One common text feature that is not present, however, are captions and diagrams, with the exception of one cyclical chart with captions to describe the pattern.

On each two page spread about two thirds or the left hand page has a light colored background and text, while a photograph spans the full right side extending onto the remaining third of the left side. All off the text is large, with a lot of space in between, making it a user friendly read for emerging readers (or for parents and teachers to model tracking for those who are not quite reading this level of text independently).

My daughters were fascinated to read about the various animals that hibernate, as well as differences in their processes. As always, they loved the photographs, and the ideas presented naturally spark additional questions to inspire an early love of curiosity toward the natural world. This book is a great addition to the classroom library for independent reading and would also support units specific to animals.