ABOUT MARSUPIALS

Sill introduces 17 marsupials with a brief line of text and a full-page color painting by the illustrator of nine other outstanding titles in this series. The author, a former elementary-school teacher, demonstrates once again her ability to capture the essential features a group of animals share with an economy of text—a difficult feat as marsupials vary in size, diet, habitat and appearance. She includes the three-inch marsupial mole and the six-foot Red Kangaroo; the diurnal Numbat, and the nocturnal Spotted Cuscus; the vegetarian Koala and the meat-eating Tasmanian Devil. The afterword provides size, range and other information on each of the species included, a brief glossary, bibliography and web sites. Full color paintings of wombats, wallabies, opossums, tree kangaroos and more are superb, extending the text and providing a wealth of detail. A handsome introduction to an unusual group of mammals. (Nonfiction. 7-10)