Publishers Weekly
Presented like a travelogue, the opening pages of Tim Knight's oversize book, Journey into the Rainforest, with photos by Juan Pablo Moreiras and Tim Knight, teaches travelers what to wear and what to expect. A "Map of the Journey" follows, and photographs capture a lush landscape filled with mangrove swamps, waterfalls, wild orchids and bananas; sidebars and close-up pictures and captions detail the abundant life above and below the canopy. ( Sept.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
From The Critics
The book begins with preparations for the trip—what to bring and how to dress when visiting a rainforest. To get to a rainforest one begins with a plane trip, then takes a boat into the forest, and finally travels on foot deeper and deeper into the trees. Local guides point out the wildlife along the way. People who live near the rainforest know what plants are edible, which ones provide safe water to drink, and which can be used for medicine. With its helpful glossary, this book will give children a glimpse of what it would be like to venture into one of the world's rainforests. 2001, Oxford University Press, $18.95. Ages 8 to 12. Reviewer: S. Kleven SOURCE: Parent Council, September 2001 (Vol. 9, No. 1)
VOYA
In this extraordinary book, Knight invites young readers to explore both the beauty and the importance of the rainforest. Because the book is a journey, it begins with pages on preparation—clothes, equipment, safety, and ecological considerations. Next, a beautiful, double-page picture-map illustrates the trip the reader will take through a mangrove swamp, along rice fields and logged forests, past a waterfall, and finally to a mountain summit. With an introduction such as this, readers will be primed for the adventure that awaits them. Explanations and descriptions are clear and age-appropriate: Buttress roots support shallow-rooted trees, "giving the tree extra support like training wheels on a bicycle." Knight's love and respect for the rainforest are apparent on every page. He does not need to beat the reader over the head with save-the-rainforest messages. The beauty and importance of the rainforest speak for themselves, and this book brilliantly conveys both. It is hard to imagine how the book could be any better. The highlight of the adventure surely must be the amazing and varied color photographs found on nearly every page, from close-ups of creatures to broad, beautiful expanses of rainforest canopy. The text is quite readable, yet the captions alone make for engaging reading and render the book accessible and inviting to the youngest of readers. Middle school science teachers and librarians will love this book not only for its content but also for its format. It has a useful glossary and is simply but thoroughly indexed. Glossary. Index. Photos. Biblio. Source Notes. VOYA CODES: 5Q 4P M J (Hard to imagine it being any better written; Broad general YA appeal; MiddleSchool, defined as grades 6 to 8; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9). 2001, Oxford University Press, 48p, $18.95. Ages 11 to 15. Reviewer: Chris Finer SOURCE: VOYA, February 2002 (Vol. 24, No.6)
School Library Journal
Gr 4-7-Although Knight doesn't minimize the difficulties, discomforts, and dangers of such a journey, he points out the sights and sounds that make the effort worthwhile. Traveling by speedboat, truck, and canoe, the voyagers eventually must hike and climb to reach unspoiled wilderness. Color photographs on every spread help bring the text to life and serve as an album of the trip the book re-creates. While the various rainforest layers are duly noted, the text provides a broader view than the vertical journey detailed in Carole Telford and Rod Theodorou's Up a Rainforest Tree (Heinemann Library, 1998). Jonathan Grupper's Destination: Rainforest (National Geographic, 1997) is for a younger audience. Knight's work ends abruptly, stranding readers on a mountain where they contemplate habitat destruction. Although the frequent admonitions get a bit wearing, the book is engaging enough to hold readers' attention and help them view tropical rainforests in a broader context.-Kathy Piehl, Minnesota State University, Mankato Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
Stunning photographs and descriptive text place readers right in the heart of the rainforest for a memorable journey that will leave them wanting more. Starting with what to wear and bring, this text stands out in that it even describes the process of getting to the rainforest-much more than a simple plane ride. In fact, the journey is part of the adventure. "You" are the traveler in this vibrant world-your guides the native peoples. With each stop, new plants and creatures await discovery. Readers will experience a thunderstorm, a flood, and the thrill of climbing a tree into the canopy-yet another world. This is where orchids grow, monkeys and parrots live, and frogs can spend their entire lives, depositing their eggs in the water collected in bromeliads. Each two-page spread takes the reader a little farther on the journey, while also focusing on one specific aspect of the rainforest-animal camouflage, survival, the forest floor. Knight also devotes one of these sections to the "Jigsaw Puzzle" that is the rainforest; all the pieces-the plants and animals-need to be in place to make the complete picture that is a healthy ecosystem. Knight's descriptive text paints mental pictures, and the photographs are breathtaking. Pages cluttered with bits and pieces of text accompanying insets of smaller pictures and boxes tend to be busy, but clear type helps tone it down. Although it includes a glossary and index, this is much more than just the facts-it's engrossing storytelling. (Nonfiction. 7-11)
