Simmons, Walter. The Dominican Republic.

Simmons, Walter.  The Dominican Republic. Scholastic/Grolier      32p $16.10  978-0531-120-693-5      elem  Exploring Countries (Scholastic)VG           

The Dominican Republic introduces children to the geography and culture of this country located in the Caribbean.  The Dominican Republic is part of an island shared with Haiti.  Once a very long time ago the island was known as Hispaniola.  Puerto Rico lies to the east of the Dominican Republic.  The capitol of the island is Santo Domingo, and this city dates back to Christopher Columbus.  This island has caves that hold over 6,000 primitive paintings.  Inland you will find the Cibao Valley, whose name dates back to the Taino indians.  You will find whales, flamingos and rhinoceros iguanas.  This book has a fun section of Spanish words. The Dominican Republic serves up plantains, mangu (plantains boiled and then mixed with olive oil, garlic and onions) and habichuelas dulces (sweet beans). The monetary unit is the peso.

The book has plenty of pictures, and could be a great resource for teachers. It includes "Fun Facts", "Did You Know", a few graphs, a map, a glossary, an index, and a list of resources for further information, including web sites.  The series is Exploring Countries: Blast Off! Readers.  Level 5 includes over 50 books on countries.  My only concern is that if a teacher tries to go to the web site www.scholastic.com/librarypublishing, she will have trouble, as the web site is not recognized by the internet.  This needs to be corrected. But the books are great.                                      --Magna Diaz