Earth: Feeling the Heat

by Brenda Z. Guiberson, Chad Wallace (Illustrator)

Overview

The earth's climate is getting hotter, and this warming affects habitats, food chains, and life cycles around the world. It also affects the habitat of every single animal on the planet. But the animals themselves can't stop the warming . . . who can?

The answer is: PEOPLE CAN!

Brenda Guiberson takes a unique look at global warming by focusing on how it affects animal environments and what kids can do to help.

Earth is a 2011 NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781466827998
Publisher:	Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
Publication date:	03/16/2010
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	32
File size:	19 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Brenda Z. Guiberson has written many books for children, including Cactus Hotel, Spoonbill Swamp, Moon Bear and Disasters. As a child, Brenda never thought she wanted to be a writer—her dreams tended more toward jungle explorer. She graduated from the University of Washington with degrees in English and Fine Art. She started thinking about writing for children when her son went to elementary school, and she volunteered in his class and in the school library. After taking exciting trips that involved a fifty-foot cactus, hungry alligators and sunset-colored spoonbills, she wanted to create books for children that would be like a field trip. Her books are full of well-researched detail, and Brenda sees this research as an adventure—one that allows her to be a jungle explorer at last. She lives in Seattle, Washington.

Chad Wallace has been a freelance illustrator of children's books for more than ten years. Chad spends a great deal of time outdoors, and draws inspiration from the natural world. He has won multiple awards for his art.

Editorial Reviews

A polar bear tumbles on cracking ice, allowing the seal that was to be her prey to escape. A North Sea puffin returns to her nest with her beak empty of the departed sand eels that would have fed her chick. Taking younger readers around the globe, Guiberson presents a series of vignettes featuring animals in distress due to changes in climate and in each asks: "Who can help?" Wallace provides additional emotional resonance with soft-focus scenes of depressed-looking creatures in natural settings enhanced by dark lighting and subtly modulated colors. He closes with a view of children planting a tree, which the author reinforces with a direct answer to her own question-"PEOPLE CAN!"-and a page of energy-saving tips. Analytical readers might note that the author doesn't show much feeling for that seal, the sand eels and other wildlife that might benefit from or at least adapt to global warming-but as a heartfelt and eye-catching appeal to sympathy, this is likely to be more effective in raising consciousness about climate issues than a more balanced approach would. (Informational picture book. 7-9)

Kirkus Reviews

From a polar bear in the Arctic to a butterfly on a Californian prairie, this handsome picture book shows the threat of global warming, one creature at a time.” —Booklist

“A heartfelt and eye-catching appeal to sympathy.” —Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher