HORSESHOE CRABS AND SHOREBIRDS

An outstanding science nature title, in which the author and illustrator show unusual harmony as they vividly describe a single food web. Each May hundreds of thousands of horseshoe crabs crawl out of the Delaware Bay and lay as many as 7 billion eggs, continuing their ancient species and providing food for migrating shorebirds, minnows, eels, turtles, herons, and other wildlife. The author is a careful observer and includes the details that delight young listeners. The text, though long for the picture-book set, is suitable for reading aloud for science enthusiasts of all ages. Appealing watercolors capture the urgency and drama of hordes of brown domed crabs heading to shore, or the crowd of shorebirds coming to feast. The author’s note sounds a warning that the decline of the horseshoe crabs may signal the end of thousands of shorebirds that depend on the crab eggs as food for their northern migration. (Nonfiction. 8-10)