A Cool Summer Tail

February 15, 2014
The curious animals of A Warm Winter Tail (2011) return (in the same order), this time to ask their companions or respective parents how humans cool off. Using the same clunky language and metric structure as its predecessor, fox kits ask their mama "Do they hang out their tongues, / like a spring that's been sprung...?" She replies: "No panting! No puffing! / No huh, huh, huh huffing! / They sweat through their skin when it's hot." The similar queries from a turtle, bear cubs, honeybees, a butterfly and other creatures receive like answers. At the end, a lad at the edge of a pool asks the complementary question about animals, and his mother's general answer serves as a summary of what's come before: "Their bodies know how to stay cool." Wald tucks line-drawn vignettes of human figures sporting wings, a shell and other fanciful features into her otherwise realistic, staid painted illustrations. Budding naturalists will come away with a sense of the variety of ways wild animals living in temperate climates stay cool (human strategies, aside from sweating and swimming, aren't covered). They will find further detail and activities related to seasonal adaptations both at the end and on the publisher's website. With its companion volume, a first introduction to the topic. (Informational picture book. 3-7)

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May 1, 2014

K-Gr 4-These three books each take a different look at the animal world. Animal Helpers looks at the many individuals that are needed to keep an aquarium running: aquarists, biologists, curators, and veterinarians. Clear, crisp photographs show the peace of the underwater world. Busy Year gives a description of beaver activities through the seasons. It has more text than the first book and includes multiple facts, making it ideal for reports for the upper end of the grade range. It has a lot of full-color photographic close-ups of beaver life, perfect for browsing. In a rhyming text, Summer Tail takes a more lighthearted look at what animals do to keep cool in the summer. Each animal baby asks its mother if humans do whatever that animal does to stay cool. For instance, squirrels lick themselves to make heat disappear from their skin. Large paintings depict the animals enacting their summer routines, while a smaller pen-and-ink sketch shows a human trying to do the same. The best thing about these books are the "For Creative Minds" sections in the back. They have a range of activities that include additional facts, matching games, and links to even more activities on the Internet.-Susan E. Murray, formerly at Glendale Public Library, AZ

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