Review by Booklist Review
In this entry in the Nature's Neighborhoods: All about Ecosystems series, close-up photographs of fly larvae, acorns in the midst of sprouting, curious raccoons, and pine cones greet readers. Keeping the focus solidly on a deciduous, temperate forest, the splashy page layouts help young ones answer questions such as Which animals live in a forest? What do they eat? and How do they survive? In this compact but fact-filled offering, young ecologists learn about the flora, fauna, and fungi that inhabit the forest and how all of these work together to make one ecosystem. Sentences are short, with bold-faced vocabulary words defined in a glossary, and text bubbles add additional information. Full-page color photographs are accentuated by labels pointing out different parts of each plant and creature. A food web that helpfully includes most of the creatures, big and small, mentioned in the book, a glossary, and an index make up the back matter. For those who prefer their ecosystems up close and personal, this is a good pick.--Linsenmeyer, Erin Copyright 2016 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 2-4-These thoughtful overviews provide selected examples of the roles of plants and animals within an ecosystem. Basic facts about the habitat are followed by simple profiles of the creatures that live there. Each spread ends with a boxed question that is answered with the subsequent page turn, which neatly supports the theme of connections within a habitat. A spread on rock-clinging seaweed, for example, leads into one on animals that also stick to rocks, followed by a transition to barnacle eating processes. Continuity is further reinforced by introducing an animal, then returning to it later. In Pond, for example, dragonfly eggs are laid, nymphs appear seven pages later, and they emerge as dragonflies toward the end. Visual support comes from a mixture of full-page photos and smaller insets, many of which include helpful labels. Each title ends with a useful food web diagram. VERDICT Excellent introductions to how ecosystems function. © Copyright 2016. 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.
