Synopsis
From the aurochs--the wild cattle of cave paintings--to Burchell's zebra, an alphabet of twenty-six animals that have disappeared from the earth includes a stunning, full-color portrait of each animal.
Reviews
Kindergarten-Grade 4AA mixed bag. Vibrant, full-page acrylic illustrations bring to life an interesting assortment of extinct insects, reptiles, birds, fish, and mammals, most of which are not described in standard titles. These creatures span continents and time periods; the blackfin cisco was last seen about 30 years ago, while others, such as the elephant bird, have been gone for thousands of years. Humans, primarily hunters, shoulder the blame for many, but not all of the disappearances; some of the causes for decline remain unknown today. The alphabetic arrangement is erratic: the great auk represents G, but the Palestinian painted frog is the entry for F and the Cuban yellow bat stands in for Y. Latin names are not given, and there is no index. The information, generally confined to one succinct paragraph, provides an adequate glance at some unusual creatures and successfully highlights notable characteristics. Pair this book with Dorothy Patent's Back to the Wild (Harcourt, 1997) or Cristina Kessler's All the King's Animals (Boyds Mills, 1995) for positive looks at how some species have been saved from near death. Or use it to supplement some of the other solid titles on this topic such as Alexandra Wright's Will We Miss Them? (Charlesbridge, 1992) and Marjory Facklam's And Then There Was One (Little, Brown, 1990).AMarilyn Payne Phillips, University City Public Library, MO
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From the last auroch to the last Burchell's zebra, this handsome alphabet book presents an extinct animal for every letter of the alphabet. Through a careful selection of animals that includes insects, fish, amphibians, birds, and mammals, the Markles give an international and historical perspective to extinct species, and introduce the complex and varied reasons behind extinction. A brief paragraph accompanies each full-page (sometimes full- spread) portrait of the featured animal; Dvalos often includes visual information about its habitat in the meticulously rendered paintings. Some stories will be familiar, e.g., the passenger pigeon killed for sport, but others will be new: the Gull Island vole of Long Island, New York, which became extinct when the soldiers from the Spanish-American War dug up its habitat, or Captain Maclear's rat of the Christmas Islands, which was destroyed by vicious ship rats and the diseases they brought. A good starting point for any inquiry into extinct and endangered species. (Picture book. 7-11) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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