Review by Booklist Review
Allen-Fletcher's simple, effective explanations of cells and how they relate to life are built upon throughout this attractive work to introduce groupings of biological organisms. There are currently six kingdoms, explains the author, subtly emphasizing that science is flexible and can incorporate new ideas. "The most complex group of life-forms," animals, is then introduced, the pages spilling over with vivid full-bleed digital- and hand-painted illustrations of animals, including a young human. What animals have in common despite our vast variety is discussed, followed by a look at some unusual beasts and their surprising traits and behaviors. Each animal is numbered so that their common and scientific names can be found in a closing kingdoms list. The animals section is followed by sections on plants, fungi, protists, bacteria, and archaea and an explanation (with an accompanying cat-family tree) showing how the taxonomy of life is further subdivided. Teeming with absorbing facts, uncommon life-forms, and browsable images and detailing a bedrock principle of biology, this is a worthwhile purchase for public and school library shelves.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Brilliant illustrations teeming with living creatures light up this quick introduction to the biosphere's six kingdoms. To the enduring irritation of tidy-minded taxonomists, living things resist falling into neat categories, but the six-kingdom structure (animals, plants, fungi, protists, bacteria, and archaea) is broadly accepted as a useful working model, and Allen-Fletcher makes a game effort to briefly define and distinguish each--while properly pointing to pesky misfits as she goes. So it is that plants draw energy from sunlight but, she notes, so do green sea slugs; aspen trees, unlike most plants, reproduce by cloning. Still, she leaves younger readers with at least basic ideas of prominent characteristics that most members of each kingdom share and offers glimpses of select examples, both typical and oddball. For more technical-minded audiences, she wraps up by briefly mentioning the subdivisions within kingdoms and noting renowned taxonomists such as Carl Linnaeus and al-Dīnawarī. Allen-Fletcher closes with the scientific names of all 164 species that crowd her vivid montages with numbered, naturalistic images. If it's not always clear which specimen in the crowd she means when referring to "these" corals or edible mushrooms, life's astonishing variety of hues, forms, and habitats definitely comes through. Tiny human observers in a racially diverse array put in occasional appearances, too. A perspicuous first glance, with radiant illustrations. (Informational picture book. 7-9) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
