LIZARDS AT LARGE

Discover the world of reptiles.

Munro follows her presentation of life-size coral reef inhabitants (Dive In, 2020) with another informative introduction showcasing 21 lizard species from around the world. Like her many other nonfiction titles for young readers, this one features careful research and thoughtful selections of examples and details that will be both engaging and useful for identification. Lizards, she tells us in an introduction, have been on Earth since before the dinosaurs. They’ve fascinated humans for millennia. Most are harmless, and their habit of eating insects is helpful. Each depicted lizard gets a life-size portrait and a paragraph of introduction. The smaller lizards appear three or four to a spread, and readers work their way up from the armadillo girdled lizard and the green anole, which range from 5 to 8 inches in length, to the 10-foot Komodo dragon, which requires two spreads (and even then much of the lizard’s long tail is left out). In these detailed and accurate ink and acrylic paintings, a bit of environmental context surrounds each example. Useful words are italicized in context and defined in a helpful glossary. The backmatter includes further information about each of the chosen species, including Latin name, length, habitat, diet, bodily and behavioral adaptations, and even nicknames. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A straightforward and appealing introduction.