Horn Book Guide Reviews : Horn Book Guide Reviews 1994 A simple look at the tropical rain forests of the world includes a basic description of the rain-forest ecosystem, an explanation of the layers of plant and animal life, and a plea for protecting the endangered areas. Gibbons depicts the plants and animals in her characteristic watercolor and ink illustrations and frames each page with vines and flowers. Copyright 1998 Horn Book Guide Reviews
School Library Journal Reviews : SLJ Reviews 1994 July Gr 1-4-A colorful, informative look at tropical rain forests. Gibbons has drawn and labeled about 50 animals and numerous plants and trees on double-spread illustrations. Complementary text appears in the margins. Each spread is bordered by vines and flowers reminiscent of medieval manuscripts. The striking watercolors evoke the mood of the forests, while the text contains simple definitions for italicized scientific terms. Readers are drawn into the ecology of rain forests before mention is made of the danger of global warming and the extinction of flora and fauna due to humanity's destructive invasion. Methods for protecting the areas, such as creating selective cutting or extractive reserves, are noted. Lyn Stone's Rain Forests (Rourke, 1989) and Jenny Wood's Rain Forests (Gareth Stevens, 1991), written for slightly older children, have striking full-color photos and more text, but Gibbons's book is more inviting.-Kathleen McCabe, East Meadow Public Library, NY Copyright 1994 Cahners Business Information.