Where in the Wild?: Camouflaged Creatures Concealed... and Revealed

by Dwight Kuhn (Photographer), Yael Schy, David M. Schwartz

Overview

Ten creatures await, camouflaged in artful, full-page photographs, while playful poems offer clues about each animal's identity and whereabouts. Think you've spotted one? Lift one of ten gatefolds to find out. A full page of fascinating information accompanies each animal so readers can learn how nature's camouflage serves hunter and hunted alike. Why do fawns have spots during their first year of life? How did killdeer birds get their name? What makes a crab spider so good at ambushing its prey?

Recipient of the 2008 American Association for the Advancement of Science/Subaru Science Book and Films Prize for Excellence in Science Books.

Named a 2008 Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12 by the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and the Children's Book Council (CBC)

Editor's Choice, 2007— Booklist magazine

Listed in "Lasting Connections of 2007," an annual roundup of the year's best books to tie into curriculum.
-Book Links magazine

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781582462073
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	09/28/2007
Pages:	44
Product dimensions:	10.92(w) x 9.01(h) x 0.42(d)
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

DAVID SCHWARTZ has written more than 50 children's books, including What in the Wild?, Where Else in the Wild?, How Much Is a Million?, G Is for Googol, and Q Is for Quark. He gives author presentations at schools and conferences all over the world, channeling the energy and humor found in his books to make math and science come alive for kids and educators.

YAEL SCHY has written poems and songs since childhood. She is a dancer and improvisational theater actor.

DWIGHT KUHN's beautifully composed nature photographs have been featured in 125 children's books. His work has been recognized by the Children's Book Council, Scientific American, and the John Burroughs Association. He lives with his wife and two dogs in Dexter, Maine.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

2007 Editor's Choice, Booklist
2008 John Burroughs List of Nature Books for Young Readers
2008 Animal Behavior Society Outstanding Children's Book Award
2008 Outstanding Science Trade Book for Children, Selector's Choice, National Science Teachers of America / Children's Book Council
2008 SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books, sponsored by Subaru and the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Review, New York Times Book Review:
"That's cool!"

Review, New York Times:
"Schwartz and Schy's vibrant book, with its passion for discovery, seems...likely to inspire young readers."

Review, School Library Journal:
"The combination of poetry, beautiful photography, and clear factual explanation is executed in all of its parts with economy and skill."

Review, Booklist:
"This book will intrigue and challenge children, whether they find it individually or in a classroom setting."

Editorial Reviews

Poems on the left give clues about the animals camouflaged on the right, in spectacular photographs by Dwight Kuhn. Most of the poems are fun, bouncy rhymes…Where in the Wild? urges the reader to observe the world more closely.
—The New York Times

Becca Zerkin

This is a clever book. It opens by asking readers to imagine that they are an animal trying to avoid a predator or that they are a predator trying to sneak up on a meal. Animals use color or camouflage to protect themselves or to conceal themselves. The poems describe the animal in question and the picture shows it in its natural habitat. The challenge is to find the animal before lifting the flap to reveal the answer. Once detected, lift the flaps to see if you are right and then read more about the animals, including habitats, what it eats, and many other interesting facts. There are a variety of large and small animals—a coyote, tree frog, fawn, weasel (which changes color with the seasons), moth, killdeer, crab spider, green snake (which this reviewer did not spot), flounder, and a red spotted newt. It is fun, educational, and would lend itself to a variety of uses in a classroom—poems for anytime and especially poetry month, animals studies, habitats and more. Furthermore, it is a picture book that can be used with a wide age range of students.

Children's Literature - Marilyn Courtot

Not only do science and poetry blend nicely in this introduction to camouflage, but even sharp-eyed viewers will have trouble picking out the single small animals perched on similarly patterned backgrounds in Kuhn's nature photographs. The ten short poems that face each full-page illustration offer hints-" . . . nesting / outspread / wings of white / blend with birch bark / by day's light"-but for the impatient or less acute each spread includes a gatefold that, when opened, reveals a washed-out version of the same picture with the hiding animal highlighted, plus a leaf of illustrated commentary. Aimed at slightly more advanced readers than Noelle Oliver's Twilight Hunt (August 2007), this also features a wider range of creatures, from fawns and a coyote to a flounder and a crab spider. (Picture book/nonfiction. 7-9)

Kirkus Reviews

2007 Editor's Choice, Booklist
2008 John Burroughs List of Nature Books for Young Readers
2008 Animal Behavior Society Outstanding Children's Book Award
2008 Outstanding Science Trade Book for Children, Selector's Choice, National Science Teachers of America / Children's Book Council
2008 SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books, sponsored by Subaru and the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Review, New York Times Book Review:
"That's cool!"

Review, New York Times:
"Schwartz and Schy's vibrant book, with its passion for discovery, seems...likely to inspire young readers."

Review, School Library Journal:
"The combination of poetry, beautiful photography, and clear factual explanation is executed in all of its parts with economy and skill."

Review, Booklist:
"This book will intrigue and challenge children, whether they find it individually or in a classroom setting."

From the Publisher