Taiga

School Library Journal

Gr 5-7Two sound additions to the study of biomes. The taiga is the extensive forest in the Northern Hemisphere spanning Alaska, Canada, Scandinavia, and Russia. Chaparral is located between desert and grassland or forest and grassland; the five main areas are the coasts along the Mediterranean, areas of western North America from Oregon to Baja California, southwestern Australia, central Chile, and the southern tip of Africa. Each title discusses the climate and its effect on soil, vegetation, and wildlife; general landscape; plant and animal life; and cycles of life through each season. In addition to natural changes, the ecological effects of humans from early civilizations to the present are included. Destruction of forest, soil erosion, endangerment or extinction of wildlife, fire, and acid rain are among the topics addressed. April Pulley Sayre's Taiga (21st Century, 1994) presents much of the same material about this biome but has a less attractive format, fewer illustrations, and photographs of uneven quality. These two new titles are well written, share an attractive format with generous use of sharp, full-color photographs and charts, and should be very useful for reports.Cynthia M. Sturgis, Ledding Library, Milwaukee, OR