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WHAT EATS THAT?

Name: WHAT EATS THAT?
Author: Ryan Jacobson
ISBN: 978-1-59193-749-4

PREDATORS, PREY, AND THE FOOD CHAIN

by Ryan Jacobson ; photographed by Stan Tekiela ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 10, 2017

Pretty pictures, but they are forcibly joined to a labored description of this fundamental eco-concept.

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An introduction to how a food chain works, from a flower’s nectar to a fish sandwich.

Using the titular question as a refrain, Jacobson kicks off with the simplistic claim that “food chains start with the sun” (not all of them do, however). He then goes on to construct a notably strained 10-link sequence of consumption in which dragonflies “sometimes” eat butterflies and wolves “sometimes” eat raccoons. Raccoons wouldn’t normally eat snakes but are shoehorned in because they will try “just about anything,” and mosquitoes “sip” wolf blood but “prefer nectar.” Links between the narrative and Tekiela’s wildlife photographs are pretty weak too, as except for the children (two white, two of color) chowing down at the beginning and end, none of the creatures on display are actually eating or even (except for the butterflies) shown with their supposed food source. Moreover, there is no mention of microbial members in the examined chain, and the trio of Argiope (garden) spiders depicted could as likely be prey for dragonflies as predators. Closing notes on alternative food-chain segments and other things the nine featured wild creatures eat don’t do much to help clarify the basic idea.

Pretty pictures, but they are forcibly joined to a labored description of this fundamental eco-concept. (Informational picture book. 6-9)

Pub Date: Oct. 10, 2017

ISBN: 978-1-59193-749-4

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Adventure Publications

Review Posted Online: Sept. 17, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2017

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

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BUTT OR FACE?

by Kari Lavelle ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 11, 2023

A gleeful game for budding naturalists.

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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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

- BOOK REVIEW
ODE TO GRAPEFRUIT
by Kari Lavelle ; illustrated by Bryan Collier

- BOOK REVIEW
WE MOVE THE WORLD
by Kari Lavelle ; illustrated by Nabi H. Ali

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WHAT IF YOU HAD AN ANIMAL HOME!?

From the What if You Had . . .? series

by Sandra Markle ; illustrated by Howard McWilliam ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 7, 2024

Another playful imagination-stretcher.

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Markle invites children to picture themselves living in the homes of 11 wild animals.

As in previous entries in the series, McWilliam’s illustrations of a diverse cast of young people fancifully imitating wild creatures are paired with close-up photos of each animal in a like natural setting. The left side of one spread includes a photo of a black bear nestling in a cozy winter den, while the right side features an image of a human one cuddled up with a bear. On another spread, opposite a photo of honeybees tending to newly hatched offspring, a human “larva” lounges at ease in a honeycomb cell, game controller in hand, as insect attendants dish up goodies. A child with an eye patch reclines on an orb weaver spider’s web, while another wearing a head scarf constructs a castle in a subterranean chamber with help from mound-building termites. Markle adds simple remarks about each type of den, nest, or burrow and basic facts about its typical residents, then closes with a reassuring reminder to readers that they don’t have to live as animals do, because they will “always live where people live.” A select gallery of traditional homes, from igloo and yurt to mudhif, follows a final view of the young cast waving from a variety of differently styled windows.

Another playful imagination-stretcher. (Informational picture book. 6-8)