Illuminating case studies in coexistence with wild nature.
Provides views of bypasses around the world that allow wildlife to cross dangerous highways and other human-made obstacles.
“Fishing gear is cutting across oceans, and fences run to the horizon to separate land,” Barr writes. Citing seven examples (plus seven more profiled in shorter entries at the end), she points to ways we are learning to live with animals that must migrate or travel to survive. She explores uncultivated corridors through farmlands for elephants in India, a fish ladder that boosts Atlantic salmon over a dam on the Moselle River in Germany, “hedgehog highways” in the U.K., and protected wetland stopovers on the Yellow Sea mudflats in Asia for the rare spoon-billed sandpiper (“spoonie”) and other migratory birds. In the United States, the soon-to-open Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing in California gets a nod, and the author notes that 42 other states have similar access ways. In broad overviews and closer looks at specific areas, Engel depicts these protective efforts in painted landscapes teeming with wildlife. Her artwork will reward careful readers; children are asked to spot various animals within the scenes. Human figures are generally tiny but when large enough to make out are racially diverse.
Illuminating case studies in coexistence with wild nature. (Informational picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2024
ISBN: 9781536236255
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2024
A gleeful game for budding naturalists.
Artfully cropped animal portraits challenge viewers to guess which end they’re seeing.
In what will be a crowd-pleasing and inevitably raucous guessing game, a series of close-up stock photos invite children to call out one of the titular alternatives. A page turn reveals answers and basic facts about each creature backed up by more of the latter in a closing map and table. Some of the posers, like the tail of an okapi or the nose on a proboscis monkey, are easy enough to guess—but the moist nose on a star-nosed mole really does look like an anus, and the false “eyes” on the hind ends of a Cuyaba dwarf frog and a Promethea moth caterpillar will fool many. Better yet, Lavelle saves a kicker for the finale with a glimpse of a small parasitical pearlfish peeking out of a sea cucumber’s rear so that the answer is actually face and butt. “Animal identification can be tricky!” she concludes, noting that many of the features here function as defenses against attack: “In the animal world, sometimes your butt will save your face and your face just might save your butt!” (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A gleeful game for budding naturalists. (author’s note) (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: July 11, 2023
ISBN: 9781728271170
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks eXplore
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Another playful imagination-stretcher.
Markle invites children to picture themselves living in the homes of 11 wild animals.
As in previous entries in the series, McWilliam’s illustrations of a diverse cast of young people fancifully imitating wild creatures are paired with close-up photos of each animal in a like natural setting. The left side of one spread includes a photo of a black bear nestling in a cozy winter den, while the right side features an image of a human one cuddled up with a bear. On another spread, opposite a photo of honeybees tending to newly hatched offspring, a human “larva” lounges at ease in a honeycomb cell, game controller in hand, as insect attendants dish up goodies. A child with an eye patch reclines on an orb weaver spider’s web, while another wearing a head scarf constructs a castle in a subterranean chamber with help from mound-building termites. Markle adds simple remarks about each type of den, nest, or burrow and basic facts about its typical residents, then closes with a reassuring reminder to readers that they don’t have to live as animals do, because they will “always live where people live.” A select gallery of traditional homes, from igloo and yurt to mudhif, follows a final view of the young cast waving from a variety of differently styled windows.
Another playful imagination-stretcher. (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: May 7, 2024
ISBN: 9781339049052
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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