Rain Forests By Author’s Name

We’ve seen a lot of the “How it Works” style books, which use large pages filled with lots of color photography to illustrate various topics. This book, and indeed the whole Insiders series, is probably the best in that category.

The designers use a combination of quality photography with even better photo-realistic illustrations to show scenes that photos alone could never penetrate. Some examples:

A photo captures a red bromeliad plant perched on a branch high in a rain forest canopy. Illustrations show what is happening inside the plant, where two gallons of water play host to tadpoles and insects and their larvae, which are eaten by mouse opossoms, which are eaten by eyelash vipers. Try capturing that in one photo!

Another spread called “Damp Floor” illustrates the dark beauty of the forest floor ecosystem. Fungi (many kinds!), centipedes, termites, snakes, other living things and the litter from dead plants and animals make up a complex system that produces nutrients for the living plants and many other benefits. I highlight this page because it is this entire system that is plowed away when rain forests are converted to grassland for cattle grazing.

An understated favorite spread is “Running River,” which shows a slice of the Sepic River in Papua New Guinea. Birds, crocodiles, fish and plants are shown in situ. What I like is a sidebar about an introduced weed that nearly choked the river, and an introduced weevil that was used to clear it. I just wish there was a bit more about the perils of introducing foreign species in the first place!

The risks to the fragile rain forest ecosystem are illustrated clearly and unemotionally. Spreads like “Felling the Forests” and “Past, Present, Future” tell that sad story with facts, photos and illustrations. The book as a whole does a great job of showing the beauty of the rain forest, although it could be a bit more explicit about why losing them is bad for everyone. Because the book succeeds at its primary goal, illustrating the complex rain rain forest ecosystem gloriously, I’m not deducting any stars for my minor criticisms.

We’ve only read this book and “Inventions” from the “Insiders” series, but both are spectacular. Highly recommended for kids, even more so for libraries (very solid hardback binding.)

Enjoy!

This is a very interesting and well done book that explores the rain forest in a number of different and interesting ways, with several double-page spreads for each of the major themes: the physical layout; the plants; the animals (mammals, birds, insects, reptiles); and issues facing the rain forests.

It’s an easy book to pick up and read a little or a lot. It’s easy to imagine a child picking up the book and quickly getting engaged. And even a short time with the book will leave the child with some new ideas and information.

It should also be an easy book for children of a relatively wide range of ages to enjoy and learn from, as the format is well designed to allow them to take something away visually or from the text, depending on what they are ready for.

The approach of the book should help children come to grips with the richness and complexity of the topic by presenting it in manageable pieces of illustrations and text. Presumably the book’s publishers have spent some time working on how to present the material, as this book is part of a series (“Insiders”) that explores a range of topics in science, geography, history and so on.

The illustrations are engaging, dynamic and well presented. Each double page spread usually has one large, vivid and complex illustration, and often has several smaller illustrations.

Each page also has text organized into very manageable-length facts and discussion. Normally there’s a long paragraph on that page’s topic, as well as several short paragraphs on interesting, related points.

The book is a nice large size (about 9-3/4 wide by 10-3/4″ high), with about 56 pages of actual content, including a two-page glossary. There are about 26 double-page spreads, each covering a topic under one of the major themes mentioned above.

I have two minor issues with the book:

– Someone in their Marketing Department must have decided to refer to the drawings as “state-of-the-art 3-D illustrations that practically leap off every page … in a whole new way” – but that’s just going to confuse people. The illustrations are very well done – interesting, realistic and attractive views, drawn in ways that convey some fascinating points – but they are not especially three dimensional, or done in a new way.

– They should have saved some of that enthusiasm for the text of the book, in my opinion it’s a little too dry and matter-of-fact about things that are actually quite remarkable. They should give the children reading the book a better idea of how remarkable the rain forest is, and help the children become enthusiastic.

But neither of those minor issues should discourage you from getting the book – it’s a good value, very interesting and nicely presented.

Very informative and great for school project

My son loves it!