Glaciers - Earth’s Water is a 23-page hardback book that gives you an access code to Lightbox online. Lightbox is a digital solution for the teaching and learning of curriculum topics in an original way. Lightbox is a major component of the learning process with the book.

The book is simple with large words and is easily read by kids in about third grade and up. The slick pages are very colorful and cover a variety of concepts like a glacier’s body, size, location, and movement. Glaciers around the world, icebergs, and land formations are also covered.

The book is a very quick read because the majority of each page is pictures. Like I said, Lightbox is the main player here. Once you enter your access code, you’re directed to a digital form of the book. Each page, as it is in the book, is on the screen.

On the different pages are varying clickable features. They include narration of the pages, printable PDFs that can be emailed and graded, pictorial overviews of key concepts, embedded videos, links to external (child-safe) resources, interactive maps and aerial satellite imagery, keywords with definition and matching, and quizzes.

Upon reading the book and taking a look around on the Lightbox website, it is obvious this was created with the public school in mind. The PDFs are pulled from the pages in the book and are fill in the blank. The standards to which the book and website aligns are both online and in the book. I don’t believe they were created to be Common Core aligned, but they do fall in line with some of the standards.

The video clips are my favorite part. They’re very clear and fascinating to watch. I watched the one about caving several times, it’s mesmerizing. If your child is interested in Glaciers, or anything else these books cover, Lightbox is definitely a fun way to learn about it. The interactive aspect creates a multi-sensory experience.

For those parents, like me, who believe in a young earth, there are a couple mentions of “millions of years ago” within the pages. This can be a deterrent for some parents, but really, a child at this age in a Christian household already knows that God created the Earth a few thousand years ago, not millions, so to me, it’s not a big deal. The books are good for independent learners who can read the material and then visit Lightbox to watch videos, see maps, and other interactive fun.

Glaciers is just one book in the Earth’s Water series. The other books are Oceans, Lakes, and Rivers, Precipitation, The Water Cycle, Water Pollution, and Water Power. There are many, many different series that can be found in their catalog, which is on their website. Lightbox can be used on a Smart Board, desktop, laptop, or tablet.

-Product review by Jeniffer Do Nascimento, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, July, 2018