That global warming is occurring faster than ever is certainly bad news.
The facts are laid out in clear, easy-to-understand prose as climatic changes affecting various forms of wildlife, including polar bears, butterflies, walruses and penguins, are described on pages that look as if they were torn out of writing tablets. Readers learn that in many cases, living creatures, including some plants, have adapted to the phenomenon. In some instances, however, environmental changes have occurred so rapidly—and will continue to do so—that many plants and animals won’t have time to adjust to their new environments, and the results could be devastating. Hogan’s art, rendered in charcoal pencil and pastels with collage elements, is colorful but only serviceable. The volume would have benefited from photographs that depict actual changed environments in addition to images of the animals and plants struggling to survive in a warmer world. Furthermore, the various life forms discussed are labeled with toe tags—invoking a death knell for sure—that are distracting as well as occasionally confusing.
An adequate introduction for younger readers that sounds an alarm about global warming but offers little information on how to halt its pace. (glossary, bibliography) (Nonfiction. 8-11)
