Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 3-6-Both books have remarkable color visuals, anecdotes from the photographers' field experiences, and factual information about the animals. The Nicklins outline the special abilities and physical features of dolphins, such as echolocation, as well as diet, reproduction, swimming habits, and threats to their existence. Rosing tells how he and his wife tried to fend off a polar bear "with a toothache" and a yen for their spaghetti dinner while they waited for a helicopter rescue. The book describes the animal's diet, physical features, and habitat, and the dangers of global warming. A small map denotes range and den locations. These attractive, smoothly written books, topped off with advice about self-directed research, will catch the attention of enthusiasts and motivate them toward personal investigation.-Nancy Call, Santa Cruz Public Libraries, Aptos, CA (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 Kirkus Book Review
In this attractive addition to a new series featuring animals in the wild, a veteran photographer describes the polar bears he studies, including information about habits, physical characteristics, child-rearing practices and their endangered environment. Opening with a suspenseful encounter with a bear with a toothache, the smoothly written text complements striking photographs, some close-up and some showing bears in their usual habitat. Sidebars describing staying warm in the Arctic and hunting like a bear help the young reader connect. Like other books in the series, the text stresses the effects of environmental changes on these vulnerable animals. Although the writer follows the usual practice of calling the polar bear a marine mammal, readers may be confused by text in a sidebar calling it a "land predator" and a caption referring to "land carnivores." As a follow-up, there are suggestions for how young readers can help bears and how they might research and photograph them along with two pages of fast facts. Pair with Dorothy Hinshaw Patent's A Polar Bear Biologist at Work (2001) for slightly older readers. (glossary, bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 7-10) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
