(3) K-3 Nature All Around series. Illustrated by Carolyn Gavin. Photosynthesis, pollination, leaf types, and more feature in this fact-filled beginner's guide to Canadian and American trees. Smudgy watercolor and gouache illustrations lack the realistic detail you'd expect in a guidebook but compensate with vibrant eye-catching hues (particularly in the sections on trees in each season). Instructions on tree-watching and -planting encourage readers to experience nature for themselves. Glos., ind.

Reviewer: Erica Wetter

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Geraldo Valério. Woodland tenants move in and out of the same burrow throughout the seasons. Woodchucks, raccoons, skunks, snakes, and others each take turns, using the burrow for a cool home in the summer, a winter's hibernation, or a safe haven for spring babies. The straightforward, somewhat flat text is enhanced by bright paintings. Facts about each animal are appended.

Reviewer: Carrie Harasimowicz Sullivan

(3) K-3 Kids Can Read series. Illustrated by Pat Stephens. Kids will love the weird facts they learn in these easy-reader adaptations of Animals in Motion and Animals Eating. After a brief introduction, Hickman describes the ways different animals interact with nature. Though the books end too abruptly, the writing includes just the right level of detail and vocabulary throughout. Realistic illustrations help readers visualize the information. Review covers these title: How Animals Eat and How Animals Move.

Reviewer: Becky Levine

(3) K-3 Kids Can Read series. Illustrated by Pat Stephens. Kids will love the weird facts they learn in these easy-reader adaptations of Animals in Motion and Animals Eating. After a brief introduction, Hickman describes the ways different animals interact with nature. Though the books end too abruptly, the writing includes just the right level of detail and vocabulary throughout. Realistic illustrations help readers visualize the information. Review covers these title: How Animals Eat and How Animals Move.

Reviewer: Becky Levine

(4) K-3 Kids Can Read series. Illustrated by Pat Stephens. These colorful, appealingly simple books explain animal defense strategies and sensory talents. Readers learn how an elephant's ears keep it cool, and how a hognose snake plays dead--dripping blood and all. Realistic painted illustrations allow for close-up examinations, and use some surprising perspectives, such as a frog's-eye-view, sure to engage young readers. Both books end too abruptly, without tying the information together. Review covers these Kids Can Read titles: How Animals Use Their Senses and How Animals Defend Themselves.

Reviewer: Elizabeth Shaver

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Pat Stephens. Defining mating as "the way animals produce more of their own kind," Hickman focuses on specific behaviors that animals use to attract mates. Stephens's eye-catching illustrations realistically depict a wide variety of animals in this solid introduction. Ind.

Reviewer: Beth L. Meister

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Pat Stephens. This book successfully introduces concepts related to the birth and care of young mammals and egg-bearing creatures. How young animals eat, play, and become independent is described, and scientific terms such as mammal, monotreme, marsupial, and placental are clearly explained in context. Scientifically accurate illustrations help liven up the pages. Ind.

Reviewer: Hilary Breed Van Dusen

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Pat Stephens. This book about the eating habits of a variety of animals is somewhat randomly organized in sections that focus on such topics as animal mouths and teeth, ruminants and carnivores, and hydration. Hickman's simple, clear text is enhanced by the large, detailed color illustrations. Several related activities, such as making a food-web model and replicating how a gizzard works, are included. Ind.

Reviewer: Mary R. Holt

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Pat Stephens. Suggesting how techniques of animal locomotion would feel to a person, this stimulating book is organized by six types of motion, from "swimmers and floaters" to "climbers and swingers." Boxes with bulleted lists clearly explain the featured animal's motion in most cases. Several sections include an activity, some more valuable than others. The accurate color illustrations match the text. Ind.

Reviewer: Frieda F. Bostian

(3) 4-6 Starting with Nature series. Illustrated by Heather Collins. Designed to turn a mild interest in bird watching into an avid hobby, this book contains information on basic bird identification, life cycles, nests, songs, and migration, as well as ideas for constructing feeders and birdhouses from common household items. Carefully rendered birds in the realistic watercolors swoop, hover, swim, and feed on nearly every page. Ind.

Reviewer: Amy Timberlake

(3) 4-6 Starting with Nature series. Illustrated by Heather Collins. This thorough introduction to the life of a flowering plant includes pollination, seeds, seed transportation, surviving the winter, and plant defenses. Step-by-step instructions for activities give the young naturalist a hands-on understanding of the anatomy of plants and flowers, plant care, and garden ecology. Detailed, realistic watercolor illustrations are labeled for clarity and assist in plant identification.

Reviewer: Liza Woodruff

(4) K-3 Starting with Nature series. Illustrated by Heather Collins. Hickman discusses the difference between deciduous and coniferous trees before looking at cones, leaves, trees in different seasons and regions, and how trees provide food and shelter for many animals. Various activities encourage readers to learn more about trees on their own. Two pages on endangered trees raise issues of conservation. The straightforward prose is accompanied by clear but bland illustrations. Ind.

Reviewer: Kitty Flynn

(4) K-3 Starting with Nature series. Illustrated by Heather Collins. This look at insect life offers information about life cycles, habitats, hibernation, and migration, for example, without much depth on any particular topic. Activities designed to observe bugs in nature emphasize studying insects without harming them or removing them from their habitats. The straightforward text is accompanied by muted, textbooklike illustrations. Ind.

Reviewer: Elizabeth Howard

(4) 4-6 General information about the different adaptations of animal senses are enhanced by specific examples of common animals and creative experiments that encourage children to either explore their own senses or imagine what it would be like to have other animals' senses. The large, realistic paintings are detailed, but some of the smaller drawings do not clearly illustrate the points made in the text.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.