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WHAT GOES ON INSIDE A BEAVER POND?

Name: WHAT GOES ON INSIDE A BEAVER POND?
Author: Becky Cushing Gop
ISBN: 9781635865271

by Becky Cushing Gop ; illustrated by Carrie Shryock ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 5, 2023

Plenty to chew on for young nature lovers.

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A young beaver helps her family make spring repairs and then strikes out to find a new home.

Set in a Massachusetts wildlife preserve supervised by the author, this account of a seasonal round offers a natural odyssey imbued with sharp observations of beaver behavior. The story is an immersive one thanks to Gop’s exact but simply phrased narrative (“Her lips can close behind her teeth. That keeps her from swallowing water when she carries branches in her mouth”) and to Shryock’s verdant outdoor scenes, most of which are laid out in close-up panels inset into broader backdrops and enhanced with aerial and cross-sectional views plus side galleries of exactly detailed turtles and other local wildlife. Swimming past low river banks both unspoiled and littered with trash, the furry wanderer at last picks a spot that “feels safe.” She proceeds step by step to repair an old beaver dam and meet a male, and together they stake out the surrounding area with scent mounds while building a lodge that proves, come winter, sturdy enough to discourage a passing bear. Readers will be eager to continue feeding their curiosity about these fascinating wild creatures; the author urges them to do so, concluding with a set of leading questions. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Plenty to chew on for young nature lovers. (Informational picture book. 7-9)

Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023

ISBN: 9781635865271

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Storey Publishing

Review Posted Online: June 8, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS

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SAVING YASHA

THE INCREDIBLE TRUE STORY OF AN ADOPTED MOON BEAR

by Lia Kvatum & photographed by Liya Pokrovskaya ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 10, 2012

An affectionate picture of bears and bear scientists, capped with a page of moon bear facts and an afterword.

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Not one but three roly-poly moon bear cubs star in this true animal rescue tale.

Orphaned by poachers, Yasha, joined later by Shum and Shiksha, are nurtured by Pokrovskaya and another scientist for nearly two years on a game preserve until they were ready to be released into the Siberian wild. Taking a slightly anthropomorphized bear’s-eye point of view (“Yasha was happy with his new home”), Kvatum chronicles the cubs’ development as they learn to forage on their own while playing together and learning to climb trees. She also notes how important it is for human observers to remain aloof—minimizing physical contact and even wearing scent-concealing clothing—to prevent the animals from becoming dependent or domesticated. Looking positively fetching in the big, color photos, shaggy Yasha and his ursine cohorts grow visibly as they ramble through woodsy settings, splash in a river and survive an encounter with a prowling tiger before being deemed ready to live on their own.

An affectionate picture of bears and bear scientists, capped with a page of moon bear facts and an afterword. (map, bibliography) (Informational picture book. 7-9)

Pub Date: July 10, 2012

ISBN: 978-1-4263-1051-5

Page Count: 32

Publisher: National Geographic

Review Posted Online: May 15, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2012

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS

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RODENT RASCALS

by Roxie Munro ; illustrated by Roxie Munro ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 6, 2018

“Humans are lucky to have rodents,” Munro argues…and makes her case with equal warmth to hearts and minds.

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Twenty-one representatives of the largest mammalian order pose in this fetching portrait gallery.

Each one depicted, all or in part, at actual size, the rodentine array begins with a pocket-watch–size African pygmy jerboa and concludes with the largest member of the clan, the “sweet-looking capybara.” In between, specimens climb the scale past chipmunks and northern flying squirrels to a Norway rat, porcupine, and groundhog. Despite a few outliers such as the naked mole rat and a rather aggressive-looking beaver, Munro’s animals—particularly her impossibly cute guinea pig—strongly exude shaggy, button-eyed appeal. Her subjects may come across as eye candy, but they are drawn with naturalistic exactitude, and in her accompanying descriptive comments, she often relates certain visible features to distinctive habitats and behaviors. She also has a terrific feel for the memorable fact: naked mole rats run as quickly backward in their tunnels as forward; African giant pouched rats have been trained to sniff out mines; the house mouse “is a romantic. A male mouse will sing squeaky love songs to his girlfriend” (that are, fortunately or otherwise, too high for humans to hear). Closing summaries will serve budding naturalists in need of further specifics about sizes, diets, geographical ranges, and the like.

“Humans are lucky to have rodents,” Munro argues…and makes her case with equal warmth to hearts and minds. (websites, index) (Informational picture book. 7-9)