The Inside-Outside Book of Texas

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

As in her previous books in the series, Roxie Munro takes a close look at the Lone Star State in The Inside-Outside Book of Texas. Featuring electric hues, Munro's realistic watercolor-and-ink artwork depicts images ranging from the dramatic (she pairs a panorama of the Dallas skyline with a picture of the sprawling Palo Duro Canyon) to the mundane (a full-page spread reveals ranch hands eating in a cookshack). Among the sites and topics covered are Texas Stadium (home of the Dallas Cowboys), Houston's Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center and native wildlife species. Two books in the series by Munro are also being re-released: The Inside-Outside Book of Washington, D.C. and The Inside-Outside Book of New York City. ( Mar.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Children's Literature

Open this book to the vast glittering expanse of the Dallas skyline and the towering weather-beaten rock formations at Palo Duro Canyon. Then let Munro take you inside to Cowboy Stadium and Pioneer Amphitheater. Children see that each area has an outside and an inside and that both have interesting and distinct features. That is particularly true when you visit the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory and Mission Control at Houston's Johnson Space Center, the cowboy hat factory at San Angelo, and a cookshack and corral at a typical ranch. This large-format book with over forty pages of bright illustrations might fool you into thinking it is only for very young readers. But the meaty text is located in its last four pages. In addition to such everyday information as the state insect (Monarch butterfly) and state gem (Texas blue topaz), Munro supplies fascinating facts about coyotes, bats, roadrunners, trap-door spiders, Texas longhorns, the Devil's Rope Museum, Big Thicket National Preserve and much more. A Texas map is also included. An accomplished artist, Munro also wrote and illustrated inside-outside books about New York City, Washington D.C. and libraries. 2001, SeaStar Books, $16.95 and $16.88. Ages 6 to 9. Reviewer:Chris Gill

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 4-In another installment in the series, Munro presents a sequence of interesting pictures with captions of three or four words. For example, "Wildlife, outside-" features vignettes of a coyote, javelina, jackrabbit, roadrunner, and other typical creatures pictured in the open. On the next page, "And inside" shows a cactus wren's tail poking out of its nest, bats flying out from under the Congress Street bridge in Austin, and others. The watercolors are most effective in the large double-page spreads. Bright, cheerful colors invite the eye, and many well-known highlights and attractions of the state are featured. The author/illustrator includes a brief section explaining the pictures. Some of the entries are misleading. Allowing a javelina to approach for a "curious sniff" would be an act of possibly dangerous foolhardiness. Likewise, though "no human fatality" has been attributed to alligators in Texas, the author implies that they only "look scary." The coyote is described as "a pest" rather than a predator necessary to the balance of nature. Enjoy this book for its engaging artwork and look elsewhere for authoritative information.-Ruth Semrau, Upshur County Public Library, Gilmer, TX Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.