Synopsis
Discusses the grasses, plants, animals, climate, food, water, humans, and ecology of the prairie.
Library Journal
Gr 3-6-Each volume offers an introductory overview of one North American habitat. While the writing is simple, sentence variety saves the texts from the plodding style frequently found in such series. Cole explains the unique features of each habitat and offers basic information about some plants and animals found there. She also provides a diagram and an explanation of a food chain and food web. Another section considers the impact of humans on the area. Unfortunately, there are no maps to bolster the written descriptions. There is some overlap in the sections on human impact in Forest and Rain Forest, including the use of the same picture. In all three volumes, the well-chosen, full-color photographs reinforce but do not overwhelm the written information. In fact, they may even capture the attention of browsers and extend the books' usefulness beyond report writers. Virginia Wright-Frierson offers a more personal perspective in A North American Rain Forest Scrapbook (Walker, 1999), and Dorothy Hinshaw Patent's Prairies (Holiday, 1996) is similar in scope to Cole's Prairies.-Kathy Piehl, Minnesota State University, Mankato Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.