Weigl Book Review

For this review I had the opportunity to check out three different types of books from Weigl Publishers and the digital content that accompanied each book. We reviewed Glaciers, A Lion’s World, and There Once Was a Cowpoke Who Swallowed an Ant. These were digital books with interactive content. For each book you receive a PDF of the book and inside the PDF there are instructions for going to the website and entering in the book code to access the digital features of the book. You do need internet access in order to use the digital content and extras but you can view the PDF of the book without internet access once you have it downloaded.

The first book was Glaciers from the series “Earth’s Water” published under their imprint Lightbox. This book was geared towards upper elementary and middle grades students and packed with information. While it technically is a nonfiction book, it was so much more than a book.  There were awesome web links, videos, and other activities included as you read through the book. I could have done an entire unit study on glaciers based off of this book and the extra activities and information that were linked in the book. There were maps and even quizzes included with the book. The illustrations were excellent including real photographs as well as diagrams that were beneficial to understanding the science concepts. The end of the book included a cool science experiment. We thoroughly enjoyed this book and plan to go back and revisit it later when it ties into our regular science curriculum. I do want to mention one thing that may be an issue for some of my readers, it did discuss a timeline for glacier movement that spanned millions of years.

The second book we looked at was A Lion’s World belonging to our “EyeDiscover” series. Weigl says that it is intended for a K-2 interest range which I believe is appropriate but my four year old also really enjoyed it. It was much shorter with more basic (age appropriate) information. It included audio aspects that were a great way to keep younger children involved and interested. Benjamin (4) said when reading about lions and watching them run, ” That is like how fast I can run with my big strong legs.” Each page had one sentence and the sound and movement made the book a wonderful experience for my son. After I showed it to him initially he asked several times to read it again.

The third book was a fiction title that was geared toward lower elementary school students, There Once Was a Cowpoke Who Swallowed an Ant. This was a silly rhyming fictional book. You could choose to have it read to the student or for the student to read it themselves. While this was probably our least favorite book as a family, I know some other students who would have really enjoyed the silly story. The ability to have it read to them while they followed along with the words is a great strategy for developing readers.

We enjoyed these books, particularly the non-fiction titles. I recommend them for families looking to add a digital element to their reading or wanting to support developing readers with the read aloud options. Check out all of the available titles by Weigl Publishers and let us know which ones you think your family would most enjoy.

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