Review by Booklist Review
Artist and naturalist Arnosky looks at the animals of the bayou and communicates what he sees in a way that is accessible to young children. A mother alligators guards her babies: black and yellow tails and smiling mouths with rows of sharp white teeth. Watching them warily, a mother raccoon shows her babies how to dig for turtle eggs. As the raccoons eat a clutch of eggs, nearby several turtles hatch from their own buried eggs and walk to the water. There they see ducklings swimming in the mother duck's wake. She leads them away from the alligator family, visible through the reeds. Finally, the point of view switches back to the alligators, watching the duck family through the reeds. The simple text circles back to the beginning in a satisfying way. Meanwhile, the paintings, full of light, shadows, and watery shimmers, offer plenty for children to observe on their own: the reflection of water birds in flight, the coil of a snake in a plant, the silhouettes of birds on a branch. The dangers faced by the animals are evident, and the book could be used for classroom units on food webs. But best of all, it transports children to a distinctive habitat that most will never see. --Carolyn Phelan Copyright 2006 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Arnosky (Beachcombing: Exploring the Seashore) looks at the littlest inhabitants of the Southern marshland, while still exposing the tooth-and-claw nature of life in the wild. "There are babies in the bayou with black and yellow tails," he writes, introducing, in turn, alligators, raccoons ("with rings around their tails"), turtles and ducklings. Arnosky portrays all the babies under the watchful eyes of their mothers ("Mother alligator guards her babies well. She lets no one come near"). But he also makes it clear this is an ecosystem, where just about every creature is some other creature's dinner. When the raccoon mother teaches her adorable babies "how to dig for tasty turtle eggs," their meal occupies one side of a spread, while more fortunate turtle babies emerge from eggs in another area of the swamp. Young alligators regard the fuzzy ducklings as potential dinner, and may be in hot pursuit as the book closes. And yet, this book never feels grim. Quite the contrary: the incantatory prose and luxurious, color-saturated artwork-reminiscent of vintage Golden Books-invites readers to immerse themselves in a mysterious watery landscape, and watch life unfold. Ages 3-up. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-K-This is a wonderful resource to use with children to illuminate the ways of nature; it's economical and rhythmic in text, and beautifully and clearly illustrated. Arnosky uses simple language and a repeated refrain to describe the animals that live in a lush Southern environment: "There are babies in the bayou with black and yellow tails" (alligators), "-with rings around their tails" (raccoons), "-with shells upon their backs" (turtles), and "-with webs between their toes" (ducks). As the gentle text guides readers through the swamp, each spread limns its scene in transparent green, yellow, and blue acrylics, framed with dark branches, grasses, and silhouetted birds and other small creatures. Use this vibrant book as a read-aloud to introduce an intriguing habitat, or pair it with Kathi Appelt's Bayou Lullaby (HarperCollins, 1995) for a satisfying storytime sojourn.-Judith Constantinides, formerly at East Baton Rouge Parish Main Library, LA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
A simple, melodic text combines with rich acrylic double-page spreads to bring the reader into the bayou to meet baby animals. Given that the babies form a predatory chain, a sense of danger lurks at every turn of the page, but the gentle rhythm and soft palette create a soothing and satisfying journey into this lush habitat. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A poetic text and soft acrylics present the various baby animals found in a bayou. Baby alligators "with black and yellow tails / and smiling mouths of sharp white teeth," baby raccoons "with rings around their tails," baby turtles "with shells upon their backs / and strong little legs to carry them" and baby ducks "with webs between their toes" form the progression in this deceptively simple, lovely offering. The text doesn't name the animals at first, allowing children to take their cues from the illustrations and the textual clues, a technique that both encourages readers to interact with the narrative and highlights the lyricism of the language. Visually, the illustrations excel, a filtered green light unifying each scene, perspectives varying in a celebration of the richness of an environment in which the line between air and water seems almost nonexistent. The babies themselves are presented sequentially, each subsequent animal appearing appropriately in context (often as predator and prey) with its preceding one, until cycling back around to the first. No one does this better than Arnosky, and here, he is at his best. (Picture book. 3-7) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
