Ranger Rick: I Wish I Was an Orca has a ton of facts about orcas and would be a good companion to a unit study about whales or the ocean. Even as an adult, I learned some new things. For instance, orcas live in pods and swim while they sleep (only half of their brain rests at a time.) Throughout the book, Ranger Rick asks engaging questions that allow a child to think about what it would be like to be an orca. These questions, unfortunately, are somewhat negative and leading. For example, "If you ate like an orca, what food would you miss?" The end of the book says (paraphrased), "Don't worry. You don't have to be an orca because you're you." It wasn't as uplifting as they intended. I wish the author stuck to the orca facts. The fact that the book title uses incorrect grammar; it should be "I Wish I Were an Orca"; further hurt this rating.

Recommended age: 7-8 years

Writing style: 3-4 short sentences per page.

Lexile score: 500L
Decoding difficulty: 3/5
Vocabulary difficulty: 4/5
Sentences difficulty: 4/5
Patterns difficulty: 5/5

Illustration style: Most pages are full photographs with the text in a white box. Occasionally, the Ranger Rick Raccoon pops in to ask an engaging question.

Reality-based: Yes. This is a nonfiction book about orcas. ( )

I’m most familiar with Sandra Markle as the author of many excellent science books for middle grade readers, often for Lerner. So I was very interested when I saw she had written a series of easy readers under the label of Ranger Rick. Each of these books encourage readers to imagine they are an animal and then learn about how that animal lives.

This book focuses on orcas. Readers learn that orcas live in oceans, eat fish, seals, and whales, and their feeding habits differ from area to area. They live in pods and breathe air, and calves learn from their pod how to live as an orca. More facts about orcas are included on each page, along with photographs. On most spreads Ranger Rick, the raccoon, pops up to ask readers to imagine how they can relate to the orcas - what if their family had a special way of talking, what if they could see using echoes, etc. The final spread celebrates the reader and the orca’s special abilities.

Back matter includes additional facts about orcas, some activities for kids to try, a short glossary, and a link to a Ranger Rick website.

This is supposed to be a level 1 reader, “simple sentences for eager new readers,” but like most nonfiction titles actually is a much higher level, an M in the guided reading level system, due to the more specialized vocabulary. It’s also much more text-heavy than I usually see for beginning readers.

Verdict: If you are looking for more nonfiction easy readers for intermediate readers, this new series has proven to be a popular one in my library and will serve you well. The cartoon Ranger Rick was annoying to me, and I think few kids are famliiar with the logo anymore, but it’s not an integral part of the story.
ISBN: 9780062432087; Published 2017 by HarperCollins; Purchased for the library