A parrot costumed as detective leads readers through this collection of examples of animals “spying and prying” to find a mate, food or home or to avoid being eaten, of course, and animals tricking other eavesdroppers. While the conceit may be far-fetched, this is an appealing presentation of intriguing animal facts. Chapter by chapter, the text describes animals paying attention to each other and to other species. The examples are wide-ranging. Baboons, European robins and cichlids all look for a chance to horn in on a reproductive pair and get a chance to reproduce themselves. Predator fireflies watch for other firefly signal lights to pounce. Go-away-birds let dik-diks know when a predator is near. Siamese fighting fish watch others fight to challenge the loser; for female canaries, the loser is the best mate. And so on. A lively design includes photographs of the species, with notes attached. Each chapter has a slightly different colored background and is followed by an example of a further unusual behavior. Suggested additional reading, an exemplary bibliography and index complete the package. (Nonfiction. 8-12)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-55451-217-1
Page Count: 72
Publisher: Annick Press
Review Posted Online: July 29, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
Beautiful but flawed.
This oversized album describes 34 unusual and appealing animals from six world regions and explains why many are endangered.
An introduction emphasizes the importance of maintaining balance in nature and introduces the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of endangered species. Each species is presented in a pair of double-page spreads that includes two large photographs, watercolor art, relatively extensive text describing the animal and the threats it faces, a small, general map and a notebook entry describing human connections. Although this purports to be about endangered species, the first animal described, the Atlantic puffin, is of “least concern” according to the most recent IUCN list. The next, the Southwestern water vole, is “vulnerable” in its European habitat and the third, the Western spadefoot toad, is closer to endangered status as “near-threatened.” There are also mistakes of fact—Valentine's Day is not “the beginning of the mating season for amphibians.” Throughout, the authors use the word “skate” when they mean stingray. No translator is listed for the text, first published in France in 2010 as Les Animaux d'exception: Racontés aux enfants. There are no credits for the photographs except for those repeated on the jacket, and no sources given for the information. Finally, the index has errors.
Beautiful but flawed. (glossary, "How you can help") (Reference. 9-12)Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4197-0034-7
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2011
Striking as they are, as mug shots these bug shots don’t work.
Intriguing photographs taken through a scanning electron microscope accompany this detective-themed introduction to insects.
Siy (Sneeze, 2007, etc.) begins with her thesis, pointing out that in the insect world there are both good and bad guys. How can we tell the difference? The rest of this lighthearted survey is organized in chapters devoted to true bugs, beetles, butterflies and moths, bees, ants and wasps and, finally, true flies. In lively, informal prose, she describes some typical insect behavior, describing not just the harm they do but also the good. “Could insects be getting a bad rap?” A last chapter suggests that young people interested in insects can collect them without harming them using a digital camera. Kunkel colors his signature photomicrographs to highlight structures shown, and they are stunning. Each image has an informative label that includes its magnification. The design also includes tiny grayscale images that careful observers may be able to identify as housefly, bedbug, ladybird beetle, nasonia wasp and some kind of moth or butterfly. Readers unfamiliar with giant water bugs and water striders, lace bugs, pepper weevils, carrion beetles and other creatures will be bugged by the lack of unmagnified pictures of most of the species shown.
Striking as they are, as mug shots these bug shots don’t work. (Nonfiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-8234-2286-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
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