Wild World

April 23, 2018
Poems offer loving tributes to 13 endangered world habitats, including the rainforest, Arctic, deep sea, outback, and desert. In lyrical free-verse, McAllister treats each environment as a distinctive character, while placing emphasis on vocabulary words through italics. A poem for the coral reef reads: “Jewel box of the ocean,/ Where gaudy fish, glint like trinkets in the sparkling blue./ Does the rainbow plunge here,/ Splashing color to life as scale and fin?” Back matter offers readers additional facts about the habitats, along with a plea to conserve and protect the wild. The digitally rendered illustrations from Danish illustrators Hvass&Hannibal can at times lack dimension; the artwork is at its most appealing when vine tendrils and octopus arms are allowed to encroach upon the space of the poems. Ages 4–7.

April 1, 2018

Gr 4-6-In this lovely oversize volume of free verse poems, McAllister introduces 13 habitats and their animal denizens using brief, descriptive language accompanied by beautifully rendered and easily recognizable representations of flora and wildlife. The poetry often plays with scale, zooming in on small details to reveal big concepts: "Termites swarm among dead things on the dark forest floor, /Never knowing that their tiny work feeds giants." Each biome represented has its own way of life, which the author encourages readers to protect by using less energy, generating less trash, eating from sustainable source, and helping to protect the wild world around us. Illustrations range from the busy creature-filled paintings of moorland and woodland to the clipped and pieced papercraft of the stark, sparsely inhabited mountain scene. VERDICT This non-preachy title can be used by middle grade teachers as a read-aloud introduction to some of Earth's most fascinating areas, and what can be done to protect them.-Susan Scheps, formerly at Shaker Public Library, OH

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2018
An album of natural habitats currently being threatened by human activity.For each of 13 select environments, including "Arctic," "Deep sea," "Moorland," and "The Outback," the Danish illustrators create a broad landscape view with plenty of native flora and fauna either openly visible or peering from partial concealment. Matte colors and flat planes make for striking compositions; the lack of modeling and depth serve to grant flora and fauna equal weight in readers' eyes. With the names of most (not all, oddly) of the wildlife present printed in italics to create links with the art, McAllister captures the character of each setting in measured free verse: In a "Rainforest," for instance, "Lush leaves searching for a glimmer in the gloom" are the "Haunt of mighty gorilla, poisonous frog, / And slithering python," while on the "Prairie," "nature plays the drama queen-- / Swift in anger to curse with drought, / Blast a scouring wind, / Spin a fury of tornadoes." The author saves her message for a closing section, in which she notes how each habitat is shrinking due to human use, pollution, or climate change. She then closes by urging readers to conserve energy, recycle, and generally care for the planet. "Explore it, protect it, love it. / Our Earth is a wonderful wild world."A low-key but heartfelt call to appreciate the Earth's unspoiled places. (Informational picture book. 6-8)

COPYRIGHT(2018) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.