Significant work but hampered by the lack of supporting visuals.
A broad survey of modern efforts to expedite the safe movement of wildlife past busy roads and along obstructed waterways.
The cited statistics are shocking: Over a million vertebrates become roadkill in the U.S. every day, and over 8 million birds suffer such a fate each year in Brazil alone. But this potentially stimulating study of wildlife conservation in the face of such anthropogenic devastation will be a heavy slog for young audiences. Chichester’s descriptions of current or planned overpasses, underpasses, and natural corridors designed to connect the original ranges of wild animals and to keep routes for migratory ones open make tedious reading in the absence of maps, plans, or meaningful illustrations (Green’s occasional drab, schematic images of wild creatures placed against generic backgrounds are, at best, decorative). Returning repeatedly to the story of P-22, a puma who beat the odds by getting across busy freeways to appear in Los Angeles’ Griffith Park and so inspired the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing, the author does visit many similar structures to underscore the worldwide scope of these remediation projects. Along with talking to naturalists about the importance of all such “critter crossings” both for species survival and overall biodiversity, she introduces many of the wild beneficiaries, from butterflies and other insects to white-lipped peccaries and elephants. Still, despite the breadth of coverage and the urgency of the topic, the presentation leaves readers at arm’s length.
Significant work but hampered by the lack of supporting visuals. (ways to help wild creatures, scientific names of select species, bibliography, source notes, index) (Nonfiction. 11-13)Pub Date: June 11, 2024
ISBN: 9780823453542
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2024
“In 1875 there were perhaps fifty million of them. Just twenty-five years later nearly every one of them was gone.” The author of many nonfiction books for young people (Bridges; Truck; Giants of the Highways, etc.) tells the story of the American bison, from prehistory, when Bison latifrons walked North America along with the dinosaurs, to the recent past when the Sioux and other plains Indians hunted the familiar bison. Robbins uses historic photographs, etchings, and paintings to show their sad history. To the Native Americans of the plains, the buffalo was central to their way of life. Arriving Europeans, however, hunted for sport, slaughtering thousands for their hides, or to clear the land for the railroad, or farmers. One telling photo shows a man atop a mountain of buffalo skulls. At the very last moment, enough individuals “came to their senses,” and worked to protect the remaining few. Thanks to their efforts, this animal is no longer endangered, but the author sounds a somber note as he concludes: “the millions are gone, and they will never come back.” A familiar story, well-told, and enhanced by the many well-chosen period photographs. (photo credits) (Nonfiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-83025-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2000
Here is an adventure in a unique setting. The lively text and lovely watercolors document three and a half months of a summer the artist and author spent at the South Pole, as part of the National Science Foundation Antarctic Artists & Writers Program. Hooper describes everyday life aboard the research ship Laurence M. Gould, a sturdy orange icebreaker that scientists use to travel between the islands to study the wide variety of animals who come each year to breed and raise their young. An assortment of penguins, elephant seals, giant petrels, huge skuas, and leopard seals hold center stage. Scientists are less important than the serious business of successfully raising young in the short summer season. The author captures the drama of the ice-cold ocean, alive with life: “Swarms of barrel-shaped blue-tinged salps, stuck together in floating chains. Minute creatures with red eyes. Sliding through the water in a curving path like a ribbon.” The artist provides striking paintings of the landscape and the animals in soft washy colors, and quick pencil sketches. The ice is lemon gold with mauve shadows, and the sea a silver gray in the 24-hour day. Animals are expressive and individual. The krill, the tiny shrimp-like creatures that form the backbone of the ocean food chain, appear in luminous glory. The author concludes with a page on global warming, a map of the islands visited, and an index. From cover to cover a personal and informative journey. (Nonfiction. 7-12)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-7922-7188-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: National Geographic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2000
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