A lively presentation of an unusual subject, a hidden and little-known part of our natural world.
The ocean teems with microscopic organisms that develop and transform through metamorphosis into more-familiar creatures such as crabs, giant clams, slipper lobsters, and jellies.
After introducing her six monsters—trochophores, veligers, planulae, phyllosomae, zoeae, and gnathiid pranizae—science writer Montgomery goes on chapter by chapter to define the general concept of metamorphosis, show how larvae and adults have different foods and lead different lives, explain how and why larvae move around, describe the different kinds of help mothers provide, offer examples of what controls these developmental changes, and share some of the many mysteries that remain about the process. A breezy, chatty text addresses readers directly using informal terms such as “tippy top” and “cowabunga!”—as well as numerous exclamation points. It’s broken up with headings, boxes, and colorful photographs, making this unfamiliar topic more accessible. Since the likely audience is old enough to know how to use an index or a glossary, it is unfortunate that the ones provided are so limited. There is “one sweet little chart” that will help enormously, showing the names of all creatures mentioned as larvae, in additional stages, and as adults. Readers who already know about tadpoles and frogs, caterpillars and butterflies on land will be intrigued to discover a similar process in the ocean.
A lively presentation of an unusual subject, a hidden and little-known part of our natural world. (author’s note, life stages, bibliography) (Nonfiction. 10-15)Pub Date: April 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5415-2898-7
Page Count: 60
Publisher: Millbrook/Lerner
Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2019
Entomophobes will find all of this horrifyingly informative.
This junior edition of Stewart’s lurid 2011 portrait gallery of the same name (though much less gleeful subtitle) loses none of its capacity for leaving readers squicked-out.
The author drops a few entries, notably the one on insect sexual practices, and rearranges toned-down versions of the rest into roughly topical sections. Beginning with the same cogent observation—“We are seriously outnumbered”—she follows general practice in thrillers of this ilk by defining “bug” broadly enough to include all-too-detailed descriptions of the life cycles and revolting or deadly effects of scorpions and spiders, ticks, lice, and, in a chapter evocatively titled “The Enemy Within,” such internal guests as guinea worms and tapeworms. Mosquitoes, bedbugs, the ubiquitous “Filth Fly,” and like usual suspects mingle with more-exotic threats, from the tongue-eating louse and a “yak-killer hornet” (just imagine) to the aggressive screw-worm fly that, in one cited case, flew up a man’s nose and laid hundreds of eggs…that…hatched. Morrow-Cribbs’ close-up full-color drawings don’t offer the visceral thrills of the photos in, for instance, Rebecca L. Johnson’s Zombie Makers (2012) but are accurate and finely detailed enough to please even the fussiest young entomologists.
Entomophobes will find all of this horrifyingly informative. (index, glossary, resource lists) (Nonfiction. 11-14)Pub Date: Aug. 8, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-61620-755-7
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Algonquin
Review Posted Online: June 26, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
“In 1875 there were perhaps fifty million of them. Just twenty-five years later nearly every one of them was gone.” The author of many nonfiction books for young people (Bridges; Truck; Giants of the Highways, etc.) tells the story of the American bison, from prehistory, when Bison latifrons walked North America along with the dinosaurs, to the recent past when the Sioux and other plains Indians hunted the familiar bison. Robbins uses historic photographs, etchings, and paintings to show their sad history. To the Native Americans of the plains, the buffalo was central to their way of life. Arriving Europeans, however, hunted for sport, slaughtering thousands for their hides, or to clear the land for the railroad, or farmers. One telling photo shows a man atop a mountain of buffalo skulls. At the very last moment, enough individuals “came to their senses,” and worked to protect the remaining few. Thanks to their efforts, this animal is no longer endangered, but the author sounds a somber note as he concludes: “the millions are gone, and they will never come back.” A familiar story, well-told, and enhanced by the many well-chosen period photographs. (photo credits) (Nonfiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-83025-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2000
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