When Is a Dolphin Not a Dolphin?
Written: Sep 01 '06 (Updated Sep 01 '06)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Clever introduction to science concepts, adaptations, marine environment
Cons: Too simplistic for older learners, best for 4-8 year olds
The Bottom Line: Dolphins fascinate the youngest to the oldest toddlers. This book teaches through comparison.
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| pestyside's Full Review: Loran Wlodarski - If a Dolphin Were a Fish |
What can a dolphin be if it’s not a dolphin? In a game of pretend a bottlenose dolphin explores the possibility of trading identities with another ocean animal.
Delfina enjoys her marine friends and would like to trade places with them but she quickly realizes her unique characteristics won’t fit with the other animal’s adaptations. If A Dolphin Were a Fish, by Loran Wlodarski, teaches about dolphins through a simple study of comparative anatomy. For example, can dolphin be a fish?
Delfina would really like to be a fish and spend every day under water, but she can’t. ”A fish uses gills to breathe underwater. Delfina comes to the water’s surface to breathe air through a blowhole on top of her head. Instead of gills, a dolphin breathes air with a pair of lungs.” Young readers who are paying attention learn a little about how both fish and dolphins breathe.
Illustrator, Laurie Allen Klein, disguises Delfina as a large fish with her pastel pencil art work. Children will still recognize her, even as a large fish, but they will need to look close. The illustrator morphed Delfina into an image that resembled both the dolphin and animal she was pretending to be.
Through this game of pretend we learned about several ocean animals and animal adaptations. Delfina pretended to be a sea turtle, shark, manatee, pelican, and octopus. One of the following adaptations suited Delfina, but the other suited another animal. In each pair one is a dolphin and the other is one of the animals she pretends to become. Can you match the adaptation to the animal and can you determine which description belongs to Delfina?
▪ Live birth of one offspring
One hundred eggs at a time (Sea turtle, shark, manatee, pelican or octopus?)
▪ Finds food through echolocation
Smells food from far away.(Sea turtle, shark, manatee, pelican or octopus?)
▪ Eats animals
Eats plants. (Sea turtle, shark, manatee, pelican or octopus?)
▪ Has a skeleton of hard bones
No bones in body. (Sea turtle, shark, manatee, pelican or octopus?)
Comparisons, such as the above, introduce young readers to simple ocean animal adaptations and differences, as well as new vocabulary. Each of the above comparisons include Delfina and a different animal. The author cleverly taught about similarities and characteristics of organisms.
Does Delfina ever accept herself? What do we learn from author Loran Wlodarski's If A Dolphin Were A Fish?
About this Book
Young readers (4-8 year olds) might want to do their own comparisons while examining the ocean animals in If A Dolphin Were A Fish. Can they compare their hands to a part of the dolphin’s anatomy? This book offers good science content and is aligned with national science standards for form, function, and characteristics of organisms. Will your young readers begin to question the functions of their various body parts?
Both the author and the illustrator work in education at SeaWorld Orlando. They carefully teach, through comparisons and illustrations, why the dolphin is unique. Full-page illustrations provide glimpses into the ocean environment. The author and illustrator tend to be whimsical when the dolphin features morph into another animal, for example the sea turtle. I recommend looking close.
As with all Sylvan Dell Publications, the last three pages offer activities and additional learning. For Creative Minds provides more information about the beloved and intriguing Dolphin family. Dolphins and porpoises are different animals, but why? Did you know that there are more than 30 types of dolphins in the oceans, and five types that live in rivers? The Fun Facts explain echolocation (it's not just for bats), herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores. Further fun is provided for readers wanting to create a different animal using some of the adaptations introduced in the story.
Don’t stop here. Go online and explore the Learning Links. Web resources include some helpful sites, interactive games, puzzles, and downloadable fun and fun facts, conservancy issues, and classroom support will extend the learning. It’s easy enough to learn about dolphins using this book, but the author and the publishers have made it simple for teachers to develop an entire learning experience around this topic. I recommend If A Dolphin Were A Fish for school and homeschool teachers as well as preschool teachers. Parent's of young readers will enjoy playing the "what if" game and learning about dolphins. The next time you see dolphins at a marine exhibit or running along shore next to a beach (or small boat) try challenging your children to see who remembers the most about dolphins.
Recommended:
Yes
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