A welcome addition to nature lovers’ shelves, for reference and browsing.
This immersive nonfiction picture book offers a walk through all kinds of forests.
Each spread in this delicately illustrated volume offers either a forest scene or a guide to types of trees by shape, with animals and insects labeled and described. The first spread, “Forests of the world,” offers a global map with the different types of forests indicated in a way that shows the connection between proximity to the equator and forest type. After a brief overview of a tree’s life cycle and structure and the route from tree to forest, the book details each type of forest—coniferous, deciduous, and tropical—including the animals that live in each, what kinds of seeds the trees distribute, and what the different kinds of trees within look like. The thoughtfully detailed design offers multiple ways to use this book: for browsing alone, for nature study, or for an extended read-aloud. While most of the facts presented are basic, the poetic text (“The forest is still and crisp, as snow softly and slowly tumbles down”) and the lovely artwork make this offering as pleasant as a stroll through a forest. The small font makes this most accessible as a read-aloud or for fluent readers. Activities (how to plant a tree, animals to find in the illustrations), a glossary, and online resources round out this book. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11.8-by-18.6-inch double-page spreads viewed at 61.2% of actual size.)
A welcome addition to nature lovers’ shelves, for reference and browsing. (Nonfiction. 6-10)Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5476-0457-9
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Sept. 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
A gleeful game for budding naturalists.
Artfully cropped animal portraits challenge viewers to guess which end they’re seeing.
In what will be a crowd-pleasing and inevitably raucous guessing game, a series of close-up stock photos invite children to call out one of the titular alternatives. A page turn reveals answers and basic facts about each creature backed up by more of the latter in a closing map and table. Some of the posers, like the tail of an okapi or the nose on a proboscis monkey, are easy enough to guess—but the moist nose on a star-nosed mole really does look like an anus, and the false “eyes” on the hind ends of a Cuyaba dwarf frog and a Promethea moth caterpillar will fool many. Better yet, Lavelle saves a kicker for the finale with a glimpse of a small parasitical pearlfish peeking out of a sea cucumber’s rear so that the answer is actually face and butt. “Animal identification can be tricky!” she concludes, noting that many of the features here function as defenses against attack: “In the animal world, sometimes your butt will save your face and your face just might save your butt!” (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A gleeful game for budding naturalists. (author’s note) (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: July 11, 2023
ISBN: 9781728271170
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks eXplore
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Friends of these pollinators will be best served elsewhere.
This book is buzzing with trivia.
Follow a swarm of bees as they leave a beekeeper’s apiary in search of a new home. As the scout bees traverse the fields, readers are provided with a potpourri of facts and statements about bees. The information is scattered—much like the scout bees—and as a result, both the nominal plot and informational content are tissue-thin. There are some interesting facts throughout the book, but many pieces of trivia are too, well trivial, to prove useful. For example, as the bees travel, readers learn that “onion flowers are round and fluffy” and “fennel is a plant that is used in cooking.” Other facts are oversimplified and as a result are not accurate. For example, monofloral honey is defined as “made by bees who visit just one kind of flower” with no acknowledgment of the fact that bees may range widely, and swarm activity is described as a springtime event, when it can also occur in summer and early fall. The information in the book, such as species identification and measurement units, is directed toward British readers. The flat, thin-lined artwork does little to enhance the story, but an “I spy” game challenging readers to find a specific bee throughout is amusing.
Friends of these pollinators will be best served elsewhere. (Informational picture book. 8-10)Pub Date: May 18, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-500-65265-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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