From A for the Amazon River to Z for zoologists who study its animals, this introduction to Amazonian fauna uses the English alphabet to organize fast facts about a variety of rainforest and river residents. The design is straightforward. Each page includes an upper-case letter, a statement—“Q is for quetzal,” for instance—and two or three facts about the species (with only three exceptions, all letters correspond to different animals). Simple cloth-and-paper collage illustrations incorporate pieces of paper with the appropriate letters printed in both upper and lower case. Roughly shaped, these animal pictures may be difficult for young readers to recognize. The colors are not always correct: The piranha is blue-black instead of silvery, and the jaguar shown is the relatively rare black form rather than the usual tawny, spotted creature. The facts are generally, but not completely, accurate: Katydids are crickets, not grasshoppers. The book ends with “fun facts” and some suggested conservation activities but no sources. Young readers might learn more making their own Amazon alphabets and using other books as resources. (Informational picture book. 5-8)
