The Backyard Detective: Critters up Close

School Library Journal

Gr 3-6-For the child who is drawn to creepy-crawly critters, Bishop's oversized volume offers hours of visual pleasure. Each of the seven double-page photo collages was computer generated from more than 60 of the photographer's individual images taken with the use of a laser trigger to trip a fast shutter and high-speed strobes to freeze the insects in motion. Creatures in the photo collages are life-size. In some pictures, a magnifying glass shows several insects two times larger than life-size; a hand lens shows them four times larger. Text-filled pages in this section, written in one long paragraph, contain tidbits of information about each creature in the preceding photo; animal/insect names are highlighted in colored type, with a small photo of each one somewhere on the page. Topics include critters that inhabit the ground; those that visit flowers or vegetables; toolshed inhabitants; creatures that dwell in weeds, bushes, and trees; and facts on insect flight. A four-page section offers general hints on how to attract wild creatures to your yard and observe them without destroying their habitats. A few notes on safety are included. An eight-page picture index leads readers to each creature in photo illustration and text. Similarly formatted, Michael Gaffney's Secret Forests (Golden, 1994; o.p.) is about insects and small creatures that dwell in tropical, pine, and leafy forests. Neither book offers sufficient information for reports, but Bishop gives even youngsters who don't have backyards a close-up and personal view of the natural world.-Susan Scheps, Shaker Heights Public Library, OH Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

The talented photo-illustrator (Digging for Bird Dinosaurs, 2000, etc.) examines 125 backyard creatures, mostly insects, photographed life-sized and described in a detailed text. Creatures are presented in seven double-page layouts, each a composite of over 60 separate photographs. Following each habitat page are two pages of information and identification. He provides both the specific (how ladybugs take off for flight) and the more global (how critters fit together in the habitat and he invites the reader to become a backyard detective with hints and projects for exploration). Many creatures will be familiar to both urban and suburban dwellers; a photo index aids in identifying them. According to an endnote, the photographer used a computer and "cut-and-paste" technique to edit the photos of individual creatures and place them in the habitat collages in naturalistic poses. For example, a backyard meadow shows dragonflies, butterflies, ladybugs, bees, spittlebugs, caterpillars, and more crawling, climbing, and flying in and around milkweed, Queen Anne's Lace, dandelions, and clover. Occasionally a magnifying glass is used to enlarge a part of the collage. Another composite shows flying insects as a backyard viewer would see them looking up-insects from the bottom look very different. With four kinds of spiders, five kinds of ants, and seven different butterflies, there is plenty here to keep young and adult viewers engaged and challenged. (Nonfiction. 5-11)