In Saskatchewan writer Dianne Young’s first non-fiction book for children, A World of Difference, she challenges her young readers to distinguish between seven pairs of similar-looking animals, such as the dolphin and porpoise, and the African and Asian elephant. Faced with a photo of one of the pair, the reader is given a clue to its identity, and asked to guess which one it is, before turning the page to a photo of the similar animal and the identity of both. Unfortunately, the clues that distinguish the animals are not always visible in the otherwise lovely photographs. For instance, the colourings on the tail of the bobcat and lynx are not really obvious and the white rump of the elk isn’t shown at all.

Each pair of animals is accompanied by very brief tidbits of information, not always related to the animals in the photos. It would have been helpful to show the cheetah, which is mentioned several times in connection with the leopard and jaguar, and the jackrabbit, referred to in the rabbit/hare comparison.

Young animal lovers will enjoy looking at the photographs and after a few times through the book, will likely learn what to look for when identifying a picture of one of the animals. But they may find the text, although well written, too thin and unsatisfying. The premise of teaching kids to distinguish between similar animals is not a bad one, but it doesn’t seem enough to base a book on. This is the first book in a series called Which-Is-Which? – I hope the next books have more substance.