A solid, geographically specific introduction to desert communities—and how we can protect them.
Arid ecosystems harbor a variety of interdependent creatures, but these Southwestern habitats face serious pressures.
Munro, whose Dive In (2020) invited readers to explore coral reefs, returns to—very—dry land with an enticing tour of several North American deserts: the Sonoran Desert, the Mojave Desert (with additional attention to Death Valley), the Great Basin Desert, the Chihuahuan Desert, and the Painted Desert. An opening map sets the stage. An introduction makes the point that though deserts are dry and often hot, they’re not uninhabitable. Twelve scenes, pictured over a 24-hour period, offer readers opportunities to discover inhabitants of each desert with challenging seek-and-find puzzles. Explanatory text runs across the bottom quarter of each spread describing weather, typical plant life, some geological features, and some threats to each habitat. A small box lists the numbers and names of various creatures pictured. Readers will have to look carefully: Some are very small and may be partially concealed! The following pages provide answer keys to the search-and-finds and further information about each of the six habitats. In conclusion, Munro suggests ways readers can help these fragile habitats. Munro’s acrylic paintings, outlined in ink, convey the different senses of each place and time effectively through light and color, and the creatures are recognizable though not always to scale. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A solid, geographically specific introduction to desert communities—and how we can protect them. (relevant organizations, glossary) (Informational picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: June 13, 2023
ISBN: 9780823450923
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2023
A sweet and endearing feathered migration.
A relationship between a Latina grandmother and her mixed-race granddaughter serves as the frame to depict the ruby-throated hummingbird migration pattern.
In Granny’s lap, a girl is encouraged to “keep still” as the intergenerational pair awaits the ruby-throated hummingbirds with bowls of water in their hands. But like the granddaughter, the tz’unun—“the word for hummingbird in several [Latin American] languages”—must soon fly north. Over the next several double-page spreads, readers follow the ruby-throated hummingbird’s migration pattern from Central America and Mexico through the United States all the way to Canada. Davies metaphorically reunites the granddaughter and grandmother when “a visitor from Granny’s garden” crosses paths with the girl in New York City. Ray provides delicately hashed lines in the illustrations that bring the hummingbirds’ erratic flight pattern to life as they travel north. The watercolor palette is injected with vibrancy by the addition of gold ink, mirroring the hummingbirds’ flashing feathers in the slants of light. The story is supplemented by notes on different pages with facts about the birds such as their nest size, diet, and flight schedule. In addition, a note about ruby-throated hummingbirds supplies readers with detailed information on how ornithologists study and keep track of these birds.
A sweet and endearing feathered migration. (bibliography, index) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: May 7, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5362-0538-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019
More thoughtful, sometimes exhilarating encounters with nature.
In a new entry in the Over and Under series, a paddleboarder glimpses humpback whales leaping, floats over a populous kelp forest, and explores life on a beach and in a tide pool.
In this tale inspired by Messner’s experiences in Monterey Bay in California, a young tan-skinned narrator, along with their light-skinned mom and tan-skinned dad, observes in quiet, lyrical language sights and sounds above and below the sea’s serene surface. Switching perspectives and angles of view and often leaving the family’s red paddleboards just tiny dots bobbing on distant swells, Neal’s broad seascapes depict in precise detail bat stars and anchovies, kelp bass, and sea otters going about their business amid rocky formations and the swaying fronds of kelp…and, further out, graceful moon jellies and—thrillingly—massive whales in open waters beneath gliding pelicans and other shorebirds. After returning to the beach at day’s end to search for shells and to spot anemones and decorator crabs, the child ends with nighttime dreams of stars in the sky meeting stars in the sea. Appended nature notes on kelp and 21 other types of sealife fill in details about patterns and relationships in this rich ecosystem. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
More thoughtful, sometimes exhilarating encounters with nature. (author’s note, further reading) (Informational picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-79720-347-8
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022
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