River Food Webs

April 1, 2021

Gr 1-2-Jumping between animals, this series on food webs takes an amusing look at each creature's perspective from the herbivores to the apex predators. Readers dive downward and climb back up the many layers of each environment's food web exploring competitors, predator-prey relationships, and food preferences of opportunistic and omnivorous animals. Some animals have wry perspectives like the bullfrog tadpole who is interrupted while eating algae and the sneaky cheetah who hopes you will forget they are there. River Food Webs shows a vibrant North American biodiversity hot spot that includes interesting animals in its web, such as crawfish, mud turtles, and alligators, all of whom pop off the page in an exciting photorealistic style. There are some inaccuracies, however: for example, Grassland Food Webs features an American bald eagle on its table of contents page, but the book's setting is African Savanna. VERDICT Each title has a narrative and concludes with its respective food web mapped out as a diagram for easy use with class projects.

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April 1, 2021
Grades 1-3 This fast-paced introduction to river food webs, part of the Food Webs series (6 titles), begins with a wide, colorful photograph of a river and a flowchart connecting the links in the food chain between sunlight and an apex predator. From here, readers meet each of the animals featured in the web, beginning with the American alligator. Each animal is presented with personality, introducing themselves in first person and pondering what they should eat. After the alligator, there are the great blue heron, the snail, and the crayfish. Each double-page spread is dedicated to one animal, with large photographs showing them in their natural habitats, plus an information table and an illustrated food chain at the bottom that grows with each addition to the web. Back matter includes a glossary and index.

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