The mighty pollinators

Frost and Lieder (Wait and See, 2022) team up again in this informational poetry book detailing pollinators. Following an introductory verse ("Have you seen fine powder / at the heart of a flower / as bumblebees buzz by?"), Frost describes the methods used by bees, ants, wasps, flies, butterflies, moths, bats, fireflies, and the wind to move pollen from one part of a flower to another to facilitate seed production. Using succinct, often-rhyming stanzas, she chronicles the use of wings (butterflies, fireflies), fur (bats), and bodies (bees, ants) to transport this powder. Lieder's crisp, full-color photographs will amaze young readers. The full-bleed spreads usually contain a background snapshot (often slightly blurred), one large close-up, and several smaller inset photos; particularly striking are the shots of the ailanthus webworm moth (whose colors and patterns resemble monarch butterflies) and a sweat bee, glistening with pollen. Appended with additional information on pollen and pollinating, notes on observing pollinators, and suggestions to encourage this process, this makes a mighty fine introduction to this topic.

Collaborators Frost and Lieder reunite for the seventh book in a series based on keenly observed animal life. Frost's introductory poem, "Almost Invisible," describes fine, powdery pollen waiting "for the only thing it needs-- / a ride on the wind / or on wing, / fur, / or feather." Its concluding metaphor hails the parade of pollinators to come and their significance for life on Earth: "small and mighty, / holding the world together." The occasionally rhyming verses present eight species whose activities function to move pollen from the flower's anther to its reproductive parts. Fittingly, Lieder's ever marvelous photographs cycle from morning to night, while Frost begins with bees, ants, wasps, and flies and ends with bats and fireflies. Two strong poems contrast the "dawn to dusk…realm of the butterfly" with the nighttime domain of moths, whose antennae, "like feather dusters, / sweep pollen from the flowers. / We carry it over the sleeping world-- / dusk to dawn is ours." The collection's last poem lauds the role of "pollen's good friend," the wind. In addition to Lieder's macro images--extreme close-ups with ethereally blurred backgrounds--small insets, shaped hexagonally like honeycomb cells, provide additional insect-eye views. Backmatter provides creatures' common names. A concluding section includes information on pollination, a labeled flower diagram, and suggestions for improving pollinator habitats, such as learning about native plants and avoiding the use of garden pesticides. A beautifully photographed, respectful tribute to pollinators. (Informational picture book. 3-7) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.