Nonfiction Monday: In the Forest

In the Forest (Look Once, Look Again series)
Written by David M. Schwartz, photographs by Dwight Kuhn
Ages 4-8, 16 pages, Gareth Stevens Publishing

Reviewed by Heidi Bee Roemer

Book Source: Orland Park Public Library

The artful close-up nature photos of plants and animals in In the Forest may fool you. At first you’ll see only a small section of the subject—a tip of a tail or a small portion of its body. Can you guess what it is? If not, turn the page to see the entire animal.
It looks like a textured, tan-colored rock, but it’s not! It’s a zoomed-in snapshot of a moose antler. It looks like a close-up view of a feather. Look again! It’s the antenna of a moth. Could this be the scaly leg of a monster reptile? Not quite. The odd-looking leg belongs to the box turtle. How many plants and animals will you be able to correctly identify? In addition to colorful, eye-catching photographs, accompanying text offers interesting fun facts about the featured plants and animals. For example, readers will learn that the bull moose’s hard, bony antlers fall off in the fall. In spring, he’ll grow new, larger antlers. The moth’s two feathery antennae function like its "nose." With his highly sensitive antennae, the male moth can smell a female three miles away!
In the Forest is just one of 24 titles in the Look Once, Look Again series. Informative, visual, and engaging, young animal-lovers will be eager to read every title in the collection!
As a child, David Schwartz was amazed by the size and distance of the stars and universe. One night as he looked into the sky, he was inspired to write his first book, How Much Is A Million. After 17 rejections, it was published with Steven Kellogg as the illustrator. David loves doing school visits and continues to write books that make science and math interesting for children. He has almost 50 books published and contributes to the Smithsonian magazine. Check out his website at http://www.davidschwartz.com/.

Bio written by Laura Crawford.

This post is part of the Nonfiction Monday Round-Up posted this week at Jean Little Library.