A well-researched and balanced presentation on a pertinent, high-interest topic.
Around the world, specially trained dogs are working with handlers to improve the environment.
In some places dogs sniff out illegal animal products such as ivory, pelts, and horns, both at poaching sites and in distant places where the contraband is shipped. Dogs are being used to discover invasive species like zebra mussels, preventing expensive, hard-to-manage infestations. Rare and endangered animals can be tracked through the discovery of their scat. Dogs are perfect for these jobs, with a success rate that far exceeds that of human conservationists. Guard dogs protect domesticated animals from reintroduced predators like bears and wolves, reducing farmers’ urge to destroy these vulnerable populations. They’re also employed to find poisoned bait that farmers have deployed. Perhaps the most unusual use is that of dogs on boats that seek out the floating scat of nonmigratory orcas off the coast of Washington. The scat provides detailed information on the status of environmental threats to the endangered whales. Numerous color photographs accompany the detailed text. Text boxes offer additional information. Unfortunately, both those and photograph captions are presented in very small print. Readers might also wish for more photographs of the rarely seen animals such as pangolin and quoll. The final chapter includes ways readers can help in the field, although some may be unrealistic for the young audience. Anjelica Houston contributes a foreword.
A well-researched and balanced presentation on a pertinent, high-interest topic. (glossary, resources, index) (Nonfiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Sept. 14, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4598-2160-6
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Orca
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Hot on the heels of the well-received Leonardo da Vinci (2005) comes another agreeably chatty entry in the Giants of Science series. Here the pioneering physicist is revealed as undeniably brilliant, but also cantankerous, mean-spirited, paranoid and possibly depressive. Newton’s youth and annus mirabilis receive respectful treatment, the solitude enforced by family estrangement and then the plague seen as critical to the development of his thoughtful, methodical approach. His subsequent squabbles with the rest of the scientific community—he refrained from publishing one treatise until his rival was dead—further support the image of Newton as a scientific lone wolf. Krull’s colloquial treatment sketches Newton’s advances in clearly understandable terms without bogging the text down with detailed explanations. A final chapter on “His Impact” places him squarely in the pantheon of great thinkers, arguing that both his insistence on the scientific method and his theories of physics have informed all subsequent scientific thought. A bibliography, web site and index round out the volume; the lack of detail on the use of sources is regrettable in an otherwise solid offering for middle-grade students. (Biography. 10-14)
Pub Date: April 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-670-05921-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2006
This glossy, colorful title in the “I Want To Be” series has visual appeal but poor organization and a fuzzy focus, which limits its usefulness. Each double-paged layout introduces a new topic with six to eight full-color photographs and a single column of text. Topics include types of environmentalists, eco-issues, waste renewal, education, High School of Environmental Studies, environmental vocabulary, history of environmentalism, famous environmentalists, and the return of the eagle. Often the photographs have little to do with the text or are marginal to the topic. For example, a typical layout called “Some Alternative Solutions” has five snapshots superimposed on a double-page photograph of a California wind farm. The text discusses ways to develop alternative forms of energy and “encourage environmentally friendly lifestyles.” Photos include “a healer who treats a patient with alternative therapy using sound and massage,” and “the Castle,” a house built of “used tires and aluminum cans.” Elsewhere, “Did You Know . . . ” shows a dramatic photo of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, but the text provides odd facts such as “ . . . that in Saudi Arabia there are solar-powered pay phones in the desert?” Some sections seem stuck in, a two-page piece on the effects of “El Niño” or 50 postage-stamp–sized photos of endangered species. The author concludes with places to write for more information and a list of photo credits. Pretty, but little here to warrant purchase. (Nonfiction. 9-11)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-15-201862-X
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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