EXPLORE! AMERICA'S WILDLIFE

A companion book to Explore! America’s National Parks (2019) by Krista Langlois, illustrated by Bailey, offers encounters with charismatic creatures for the factoid-hungry.

Jazynka divides the United States into regions (the West and Alaska, the South, the Midwest, and the Northeast), then highlights general habitats (tallgrass prairie) or, more frequently, specific places (Katmai National Park) within each region. A final “Wild Animals in Your Backyard” section highlights animals that can be found in desert, woodland, tropical, and suburban locations. Each habitat showcases creatures—among them caribou, mountain lions, beluga whales, and alligators—within gorgeous landscapes and captioned spot illustrations or photographs: “Watch this!” “Hear this!” “Spy this!” Periodically, Jazynka references topics such as climate change; most content focuses on organisms’ adaptations. The text is well crafted but might be less accessible to younger readers, who may skip over it to instead pore over the illustrations. The range of animals covered is a bit limited; there’s more information on mammals and birds compared with insects, fish, amphibians, or reptiles. Some captions incorporate information relating to Native Americans: “Alutiiq people, native to Alaska, call black-capped chickadees ‘Uksullaq’ ”; “Ninigret National Wildlife Refuge takes its name from a Narragansett Indian chief.” People depicted in the illustrations are racially diverse.

Captivating illustrations offer an appealing armchair-travel invitation to sample wonders both micro and macro.