About Reptiles: A Guide for Children ANNOTATION
Depicts how physical characteristics, habitat, movement, feeding and hunting behavior, and life cycle can vary in different kinds of reptiles, including the corn snake, eastern box turtle, and American alligator.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
With the help of the beautifully detailed illustrations from noted wildlife illustrator John Sill, "About Reptiles" explains the basic characteristics that all reptiles share, while offering a look at the animals that fall into this diverse category. An afterword provides further detail on the animals portrayed to inspire young readers to learn more.
In this easy-to-read introduction to reptiles for children, elementary school teacher and author Cathryn Sill explains what reptiles are, how they live, and what they do. Author Cathryn Sill and illustrator John Sill have also collaborated on the critically acclaimed titles About Birds and About Mammals.
FROM THE CRITICS
Children's Literature - Carol Collins
This picture book provides a basic introduction to reptiles that would appeal to a preschooler but includes an afterward suitable for an early grade-school student. Full-page, beautifully detailed, colored illustrations of reptiles in their habitats are presented as 15 numbered plates, which accompany the simple running text. Facts about reptiles' skin or bony plate coverings, their short legs or leglessness, their mobility through crawling or swimming, their need for warmth, their food requirements, or their method of reproduction are simply presented. The pictures of snakes, turtles, lizards, and alligators are specifically identified and then discussed further in the afterward. There we find interesting facts, such as the slender glass lizard is so-called because its tail, when grabbed, will shatter into pieces, or the loggerhead turtle can grow up to seven feet and weigh up to 1,000 pounds. Other important points are that many reptiles eat rodents and insects harmful to man but that man's encroachment upon the turtle is endangering some of their species. Since this is a guide that might be read to a child or by a child, there should be a fuller description of the dangers of some of these reptiles, especially the snakes.
School Library Journal
PreS-Gr 2-Fifteen full-page watercolor paintings depict a variety of North American reptiles, identified by their common names. Each plate is accompanied by a single line of text that describes a general characteristic shared by all reptiles or a special trait of the pictured animal. For instance, the illustration of a rough green snake states, "Reptiles have dry, scaly skin"; while the text opposite the painting of an Eastern box turtle reads, "Some reptiles have a hard, bony plate." Other topics include methods of locomotion, diet, birth of young, etc. An appendix offers additional facts about the featured reptiles in short blocks of text, each of which is accompanied by a small black-and-white reproduction of the original painting. Like the author/illustrator team's About Birds (1991) and About Mammals (1997, both Peachtree), this book's main strength is its attractive, realistic portraits of the animals in their natural surroundings. The minimal text is adequate and generally clearly written, except for the nebulous last sentence that reads, "Reptiles are important to us," and nothing more. Another minor flaw-the few scientific terms employed are not defined. Still, with its excellent illustrations, About Reptiles will be a useful concept book for preschoolers and beginning readers.-Karey Wehner, San Francisco Public Library Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
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