Informational Text

Featured Book:

According to Short et al, good informational text should be written in clear, direct language in an easy to understand style. The information should be accurate, current, and avoid personification. The information presented should encourage readers to analyze the text and offer explanations, and not just include facts. There should be a clear theme or idea that connects the information in the book. The text and pictures should be age appropriate, and the author should provide easy to understand captions. Finally, the book should be visually appealing and fit the content being represented (p.153) .
Arnosky, in Shimmer and Splash: The Sparkling World of Sea Life, wrote and illustrated a book that met the requirements noted by Short et al up above.
He takes his audience alongside him into the ocean environment. A naturalist, you feel like you are beside him as he takes photographs, sketches, and uses descriptive language to invite his reader into his visual and sensory experience of exploration.
Arnosky reaches an audience of 1-5 graders. This wide range provides a book that appeals to a variety of students and would make an engaging read-aloud book for multiple students at differing levels of comprehension.
Captions and labels are concise, easy to understand and locate. While not a chapter book, each section has a title and so has a bit of a chapter book feel.

Illustrations:

Arnosky provides an engaging back and forth between telling about his own experiences during his work as a naturalist, creating shaded pencil sketches as he would out in the field…

…and then brings the reader into beautiful 2-page spreads with vibrant colors and photograph-quality acrylic paintings of ocean life amidst labels and ocean-life facts.

Classroom Connection:
Students will discuss with their group one new fact they learned about an ocean animal while listening to this book.

Reader’s Response:
Before reading the book, the teacher will note that the author, Jim Arnosky, is a naturalist. As the story is read, students will use the text to decide what they think a naturalist might be.
Once the story is read, and class discussion is over, students will be asked to think back to the story, using the text to write a short paragraph about what they think a naturalist” means, is, and/or does?