Jaguars

by Tammy Gagne

Overview

A jaguar watches silently from a rain forest tree as prey draws near below. When the jaguar leaps, it’s too late for the prey to escape. The jaguar has its lunch. Learn more about these stealthy cats, including where they live, what they hunt, and how they live from day to day.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781429676427
Publisher:	Capstone
Publication date:	01/01/2012
Series:	Big Cats
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	7.25(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.38(d)
Lexile:	770L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Tammy Gagne has written more than 100 books for both adults and children. She lives in northern New England with her husband, son, and a menagerie of animals.

Table of Contents

One big cat — Powerful hunters — Daily life — Mother knows best — At risk.

Editorial Reviews

Each book describes the physical characteristics, habitat, diet, predators, and prey of the featured cat, and the effect it has on the environment. The books also discuss the animals’ approximate populations or nearness to extinction. The pages are well balanced with excellent photos, text, factual asides, maps, and the definitions of boldface words. The photographs were taken in the wild in the cats’ natural habitat and include kills and skins. Similarities and differences among the types of cats are evident if children read more than one book in the series. Laws, poaching, illegal trafficking, and endangerment are discussed. In Mongolia there is a program for the protection of the snow leopards; it provides money to families who promise not to kill them. The money is generated from the sale of goods such as mittens, scarves, and yarn made by the families and sold for them in the United States. Perfect choices for reports.

School Library Journal

This is another in the Big Cats series published by Edge Books. Author Tammy Gagne provides an educational, yet easy to follow overview of the jaguar's life history. Topics covered include physical features of the cat and how this is adaptive for their environment and survival, range and habitat, growing up, conservation concerns. The book's content is well suited for elementary aged readers, with a focus on grades one through four. The photography is excellent and should give readers a strong appreciation for this animal, particularly its physical traits and athletic abilities. Also included is a glossary that defines words as they are introduced in the text, which is a nice touch to allow students both learn the meaning of life science terminology, and also see the vocabulary used contextually. Overall, this is a very good reference to entice young readers to learn more about conservation and wildlife, with a focus on big cats. It will serve as an excellent reference for a classroom library collection, or for students to read independently from class. Online resources and other books are also provided to make it easy for interested readers to continue learning.

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