ANIMALS IN WINTER

Winter is coming, and the animals are preparing: Some birds, bats, and butterflies migrate; other animals hibernate. The squirrel and pika gather food and store it; mice, deer, rabbits, and the handsome red fox on the dust jacket forage and hunt all winter long. The concluding pages show ways to help animals during the season: leaving seeds, suet, and fruit for the birds; dried corn for the squirrels; and shrubs with berries for foragers. A surprising amount of information appears in the short sentences and brief text of this Let's-Read-and-Find-Out title. Most of the animals, appearing without their scientific names, are familiar, with the exception of the pika. The illustrations are unusually attractive, swept clean of extraneous detail, and using a limited palette to heighten the drama: One effective spread shows brown deer and white snow against a stormy green-black sky. An informative volume. (Picture book/nonfiction. 3-6)