Review by Booklist Review
The new A Day in an Ecosystem series greets readers as tourists, offering up ways to spend a full 24 hours in getting to know an ecosystem. We begin, of course, with morning, where the reader is encouraged to dive in and learn about how reefs begin with single polyps. The afternoon allows for scrutinizing all manners of colorful ocean life, the evening is perfect for checking out nocturnal predators (if you dare), and the night offers a good chance to investigate a nearby island on which you discover scientists and learn about threats to the ecosystem. The gimmick is never overplayed, resulting in a smooth, info-packed journey. The layout is calm, with a light-blue color scheme, plenty of white space, and sidebars introducing various bizarre animals. Strong back matter makes this a trip well worth taking.--Kraus, Daniel Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-6-Schomp introduces ecosystems by focusing on one day in a specific locale. Whether describing the Great Barrier Reef, Florida Everglades, or Sahara Desert, the easy texts reveal how plants, animals, and people adapt to challenges. For example, Tundra examines the unique environment created by a short growing season. The conversational style incorporates specialized terms such as "ergs" and "wadi" that reappear in the glossary. Stock photos and additional topics explained in sidebars relate to the main texts. Diagrams would have helped visualize concepts such as rain-forest layers. In most of the volumes, a world map identifies locations of major examples of the ecosystem and emphasizes the one featured. A final "Fast Facts" page discusses representative plants and animals, temperature, population, and other statistics. Although each volume stands alone, concepts such as adaptation, camouflage, predators, and environmental threats that appear in each one could support small group activities to analyze one ecosystem and compare results with others. (c) Copyright 2013. 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.
