An idyllic view of the conventional annual cycle.
Trees leaf out and change color, wildflowers bloom, birds nest, and fawns and fox kits grow through a four-season round.
The hand of man never appears in Taylor’s deciduous dells, and they teem with wildlife for young viewers to spot. Maskell’s bland text, set in noodle-shaped captions, helps by pointing out highlights or setting easy challenges: “A woodpecker drums on a tree trunk calling for a mate”; “The leaves turn red, orange, and gold”; “Can you count 12 birds with yellow chests?” If the natural history is sometimes a bit vague (“Minibeasts live inside this tree trunk, and others creep up underneath”) and much of the flora and fauna goes unidentified, still the sylvan residents are at least naturalistically depicted. Also, though the woodland biome doesn’t change, each scene is slightly different, as though viewers were turning in place. The artist varies the quality of light from tableau to tableau as well, and the pop-up trees create tantalizing depths and shadows. The covers can be folded back and tied with a ribbon to create a turnable panorama. Most animals will be recognizable to residents of the temperate zones of North America despite the book’s European setting.
An idyllic view of the conventional annual cycle. (Informational pop-up novelty. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 25, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-78627-306-2
Page Count: 8
Publisher: Laurence King
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2018
Budding meteorologists have no shortage of introductory books from which to choose, but the clean design may help this one...
An inviting photographic guide to the strange and surprising state of air all around us.
Bold photographs and color-coded chapters slice this info-packed primer into manageable portions. Each section of standard weather fare (hot, cold, wind, and rain) has a dedicated background tone, while brief mentions of weather folklore, scientific tools, and climate change complete the package. Questions to readers printed in text boxes lend themselves to further conversation, while brightly colored bubbles shout small facts and tidbits. De Seve neatly relates lessons to everyday life, as when she suggests readers imagine steam from a pot when talking about clouds. Intriguing extras include the Beaufort scale and the list of possible hurricane names for the years 2015 through 2020—which readers will quickly scour to see if their own names made the cut. Alas, the text doesn’t mention the practice of retiring names, so some astute kids may wonder why well-known past storms aren’t included. Games at the ends of chapters are meant to reinforce lessons learned, but most are just quick puzzles to add a bit of liveliness. The variety of skin tones of humans portrayed in the carefully chosen photographs is appreciated.
Budding meteorologists have no shortage of introductory books from which to choose, but the clean design may help this one stand out. (parent tips, glossary, index) (Nonfiction. 6-8)Pub Date: July 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4263-2719-3
Page Count: 132
Publisher: National Geographic Kids
Review Posted Online: April 30, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2017
Just the ticket to spark or nurture early interest in the wonders of the natural world.
“Extreme” gets a broad definition (ticks?), but the first-rate photographs and easy-to-read commentary in this survey of animals adapted to harsh habitats will win over budding naturalists.
Sixteen creatures ranging from hot-springs bacteria and the tiny but nearly invulnerable water bear to sperm whales parade past, sandwiched between an introductory spread and a full gallery of thumbnails that works as a content review. The animals are presented in an ordered way that expedites comparisons and contrasts of body features or environments. The sharply reproduced individual stock photos were all taken in the wild and include a mix of close-up portraits, slightly longer shots that show surroundings and more distant eyewitness views. The Roops present concrete facts in simple language—“Penguins have feathers and thick fat to keep them warm”—and vary the structures of their two- to four-sentence passages so that there is never a trace of monotony. Like its co-published and equally inviting title, Melissa Stewart’s World’s Fastest Animals, this otherwise polished series entry closes with a marginally relevant small-type profile of a herpetologist at the American Museum of Natural History.
Just the ticket to spark or nurture early interest in the wonders of the natural world. (Informational early reader. 5-7)Pub Date: April 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4549-0631-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sterling
Review Posted Online: Feb. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2014
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