Habitats

Split-page illustrations offer views of flora and fauna in six habitats worldwide.

Taking the same layered approach as Pang’s 2021’s Seasons, illustrated by Clover Robin, this outing transports young wildlife lovers from the Namib Desert to deep waters off the Australian coast and points between. The journey begins in the Borneo rain forest with quick descriptive lines and spot images of four or five animals and plants that reside at each level from canopy to ground, opposite four successively wider outdoor settings in which the animals pose. A look at the ocean takes readers from the area just above the water to the sunlit zone to the twilight zone and, finally, to the deep sea. The author neglects to identify many of the animals on display in the art as she goes, and her claim that a slipper flower native to the Andes was “discovered” by Charles Darwin could have been better phrased. Still, if some of Lundie’s flora and fauna seem to float over the backgrounds, everything is easily recognizable, and if her visual transitions between the layered partial pages aren’t consistently smooth, at least she tries to keep the format from being just a perfunctory gimmick. Armchair travelers will enjoy each luxuriantly detailed stop and will agree with the author that they all “connect together into one amazing home.”

Engaging content and format, despite a few rough edges. (Informational picture book. 6-8) —Kirkus Reviews

Fascinating findings and vibrantly textured, collage-like artwork propel this awe-inspiring tribute to Earth’s varied habitats—including Borneo’s rainforests, a desert in Namib, and the Andes mountains. Curated info about the landscapes’ denizens frequently impress—the atlas moth has “a wingspan as big as a dinner plate,” and antifreeze in the Patagonian dragon’s blood allows the insect to live on glaciers. Within each section, page turns reveal habitat layers: “mysterious ocean” spreads begin above eastern Australian coastal waters, for example, and page flips take readers through the sunlit zone, twilight zone, and deep sea. For the beginning naturalist, Pang and Lundie’s biodiversity bonanza offers fact-fueled fun. Ages 3–7. (Feb.) --Publishers Weekly