America's Forests

Children's Literature - Judy Katsh

With this sumptuous photo essay, Frank Staub adds beauty and enlightenment to a series of "Earth Watch Books" that includes titles about the prairie, the wetlands, and earthquakes. The text is both easy to read and informative, photographs grace every page, and chapter headings are precise as well as inviting. Different kinds, ages, and stages of forest development are discussed as are the forest dwellers, both plant and animal. Outdoors kids will find almost as much to enjoy here as in a trip to the woods; and report writers will find themselves in an easy-to-access information paradise. There's also a plea for reaching a sensible balance between our consumer needs for wood products and our planet's need for real forests in all stages of development.

School Library Journal

Gr 4-6-Solid, accessible information presented in an attractive format. Using short sentences and simple vocabulary, Staub describes the process of photosynthesis; the various levels of vegetation; the types of forests found in North America; and the roles of the animals, bacteria, and fungi of each. The final chapter comments on the environmental effects of clear-cutting and the importance of old-growth forests. While the nine types of regional forests are described in detail, information on wildlife is fairly brief, so students will need to supplement reports with other material. Even students with little interest in nature will be drawn to the numerous full-color photographs that depict the beauty and variety of our country's woodlands. Throughout the book, text and pictures combine to show that a forest is not simply a collection of trees but rather a complex, thriving ecosystem. Theresa Greenaway's Woodland Trees and Fir Trees, and Jennifer Cochran's Trees of the Tropics (all RSVP, 1990; o.p.) cover trees of the world in greater detail, but without the attractive photos.-Dawn Amsberry, formerly at Oakland Public Library, CA Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.