A clear, visually attractive introduction by the author of several fine nature titles. Carefully describing the special features that help the cacti survive dry environments (e.g., accordion-pleated skin that expands without splitting), Lerner makes a strong plea for conservation and notes that there is at least one species native to every state except Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. Her illustrations are detailed and carefully drawn, though scale is not given; scientific names appear in the back. Useful and unusually well written. Glossary; limited index (omitting some species, e.g., night-blooming cereus, described at length in the text). (Nonfiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Aug. 14, 1992
ISBN: 0-688-09636-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1992
This ``Complete Guide for Young Forecasters'' consists of a meandering description of weather and climate, together with experiments and activities to illustrate weather principles. McVey suggests that anyone can be ``weatherwise'': able to predict weather by paying attention to natural patterns and figuring out how they work. As examples, she briefly describes an Inca boy who bases his prediction of a rainy growing season on the size of Tacarari spider eggs; a boy in the Sahara who is alerted to a coming sirocco by the strange yellow of the sky; and an elderly Puerto Rican whose aching joints presage a hurricane. Unfortunately, there's little effort to explain how these ``natural observations'' are based in science. In addition, readers hear about ``Molly Molecule'' drifting to earth, then learn how to read a weather map and how to make a hydrometer, terrarium, and weather vane. A hodgepodge of facts, stories and activities, presented in a colloquial tone and adding up to a less-than-satisfying introduction to the topic. Glossary; index. (Nonfiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: May 1, 1991
ISBN: 0-316-56341-2
Page Count: 96
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1991
The effects of the simplest weather fronts and the clouds associated with them throughout the year. Warm and cold fronts are shown using the symbols made familiar by TV meteorologists; a handy cloud-classification chart shows the shape and height of common clouds. Each page includes a carefully selected photo of the sky and cloud cover, a vertical cross-section drawing of the clouds with their height in both feet and miles, and a line drawing showing the fronts. The photos were taken in an area of Maine called ``thunderstorm alley.'' An attractive, useful guide. Glossary; brief index. (Nonfiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: May 15, 1991
ISBN: 0-374-38261-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1991
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