A Sea of Grass

School Library Journal

Gr 1-4-This attractive photo essay shows the flora, fauna, and seasonal changes at the Konza Prairie Research Natural Area near Manhattan, Kansas. Postcard-quality, full-color double-page spreads in luminous, lush shades delight the eye. There are also interesting smaller insets of fascinating animals and plants taller than a young person. The photos of the frost-covered bergamot flower and the frozen leaves of the prairie dock plant are reminiscent of Ansel Adams's work. The text reads like a poem or a drama, but the writing is not always consistent: on one page, the term nectar is explained, but ``plant pollinators'' is not. The lack of transition in the last three pages also mars the ending. Frank Staub's America's Prairies (Carolrhoda, 1993) is much more comprehensive and suitable for young researchers; this one doesn't rise above coffee-table book status.-Susannah Price, Boise Public Library, ID

Hazel Rochman

In pictures of glowing color and a spare, sometimes poetic, text, naturalist Dvorak uses the photo-essay to celebrate the tallgrass prairie and to warn that it is in danger of extinction. As the seasons change, he captures both the open landscape stretching to the horizon ("like a sea, waves of grass in the wind") and the immense variety of particular plants and animals: the grasses and wildflowers, insects, birds, and buffalo. Above all, he shows the essential connections between them, the delicate balance that is threatened. Young children will find it a focused conservation story, and for middle-grade readers caught by the pictures, there's an afterword on the endangered ecosystem and a list of prairie preserves and reservations.