Solid information for wildlife enthusiasts, enhanced by thoughtful artwork.
Elaborate watercolor paintings and scientific diagrams accompany detailed information about African elephants.
The bold, sparse, poetic text that appears intermittently throughout the book clarifies the fact that elephants, like humans, need many years of socialization to become fully realized. The rest of the text is dense and set in two textbooklike columns of reasonably leaded small print. This text goes beyond elephant upbringing, delving into the hows and whys of elephant anatomy. A sophisticated vocabulary and some understanding of basic science are prerequisites for engaging with most of the text. For example: “A bouquet of aromas made of tiny odor molecules travels a few feet up her extra-long nasal cavities to land on supersized nasal folds that are covered with highly sensitive receptor cells.” (Overall, readers might find themselves wishing the sentences were rather shorter.) Some of the final pages give a good summary of elephants and ecology—both local and global. The frequent illustrations are arresting and informative, ranging from broad brush strokes that show elephants in action to the humorous, carefully detailed depiction of a parodied Swiss army knife that demonstrates all the uses of an elephant’s trunk. The newborn baby elephant, surrounded by surprisingly beautiful ribbons of afterbirth material, is a stunning blend of natural science and art.
Solid information for wildlife enthusiasts, enhanced by thoughtful artwork. (author’s note, sources, acknowledgements) (Informational picture book. 9-12)Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-62672-178-4
Page Count: 48
Publisher: David Macaulay Studio/Roaring Brook
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2017
The author of The Snake Scientist (not reviewed) takes the reader along on another adventure, this time to the Bay of Bengal, between India and Bangladesh to the Sundarbans Tiger Preserve in search of man-eating tigers. Beware, he cautions, “Your study subject might be trying to eat you!” The first-person narrative is full of helpful warnings: watch out for the estuarine crocodiles, “the most deadly crocodiles in the world” and the nine different kinds of dangerous sharks, and the poisonous sea snakes, more deadly than the cobra. Interspersed are stories of the people who live in and around the tiger preserve, information on the ecology of the mangrove swamp, myths and legends, and true life accounts of man-eating tigers. (Fortunately, these tigers don’t eat women or children.) The author is clearly on the side of the tigers as she states: “Even if you added up all the people that sick tigers were forced to eat, you wouldn’t get close to the number of tigers killed by people.” She introduces ideas as to why Sundarbans tigers eat so many people, including the theory, “When they attack people, perhaps they are trying to protect the land that they own. And maybe, as the ancient legend says, the tiger really is watching over the forest—for everyone’s benefit.” There are color photographs on every page, showing the landscape, people, and a variety of animals encountered, though glimpses of the tigers are fleeting. The author concludes with some statistics on tigers, information on organizations working to protect them, and a brief bibliography and index. The dramatic cover photo of the tiger will attract readers, and the lively prose will keep them engaged. An appealing science adventure. (Nonfiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-618-07704-9
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Thousands of years ago, the Komodo dragon may have inspired dragon legends in China and beyond. In more recent times, researchers from all over the world have traveled to the Lesser Sunda Islands of Indonesia to study the Komodo dragon. This lively if somewhat haphazardly organized account focuses on the efforts of contemporary researchers, presents some of their cooler findings (female dragons can reproduce through parthenogenesis; their saliva is laced with deadly bacteria) and profiles a few captive specimens. Mostly color photographs from a variety of sources adorn almost every page, and captions add to the information. Learning about the Komodo dragon is not for the faint of heart, and the photos show the wild beasts in all their gory glory. The extensive backmatter includes brief facts about Indonesia, more information on the Komodo dragon life cycle and its use of smell and conservation information. A portion of the sales will be donated to the Komodo Survival Program. (bibliography, further reading, glossary, websites, index, author’s note) (Nonfiction. 9-11)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-59078-757-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: Sept. 15, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
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