Safe, Warm, and Snug - Softcover

STEPHEN SWINBURNE is the author of numerous children's books about nature. A lifelong naturalist, he lives in South Londonderry, Vermont.  

Jose Aruego and Ariane Dewey have illustrated more than seventy popular children's books together. <br>Their widely acclaimed Antarctic Antics: A Book of Penguin Poems, written by Judy Sierra, was featured <br>on National Public Radio, won a gold medal from the National Parenting Publications Awards, and was a <br>Publishers Weekly, Ingram, Borders, and Amazon.com bestseller. They are the illustrators of the Robert Kraus <br>classics Leo the Late Bloomer and Herman the Helper, which received a Boston Globe-Horn Book- Honor.<br>Mr. Aruego and Ms. Dewey both live in New York City.<br>

Jose Aruego and Ariane Dewey have illustrated more than seventy popular children's books together. <br>Their widely acclaimed Antarctic Antics: A Book of Penguin Poems, written by Judy Sierra, was featured <br>on National Public Radio, won a gold medal from the National Parenting Publications Awards, and was a <br>Publishers Weekly, Ingram, Borders, and Amazon.com bestseller. They are the illustrators of the Robert Kraus <br>classics Leo the Late Bloomer and Herman the Helper, which received a Boston Globe-Horn Book- Honor.<br>Mr. Aruego and Ms. Dewey both live in New York City.

PreSchool-Grade 3Eleven different animal species are shown here, all keeping their babies or eggs safe in a variety of ingenious and wonderful ways. Insect, mammal, reptile, bird, and marsupial all exhibit protective behaviors. The cichlid hides her young in her mouth when danger threatens, the Surinam toad hatches eggs in holes on its back, tumblebugs hide their eggs in balls of dung, etc. Not all of the animal parents are motherstwo fathers, Emperor penguin and sea horse, demonstrate that careful parenting is not gender specific. The text consists of simple rhymes about each animal; more straightforward information is given in the back of the book, where descriptive paragraphs explain the nesting, egg-laying, or other behaviors of the creatures mentioned. The brightly colored, humorous, and distinctive illustrations turn what might otherwise be simply an interesting beginning science book into a celebration of the animal world. While younger children may be puzzled by the killdeer whose pretense of being wounded in order to distract a predator is better explained in the endnotes than in the text, and by the cichlid, who appears to be eating her babies, the book provides the simple reassurance that parents are protectors.Marian Drabkin, Richmond Public Library, CA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.