Wilderness: Earth’s Amazing Habitats, by Mia Cassany/Illustrated by Marcos Navarro, (Apr. 2019, Prestel Publishing), $19.95, ISBN: 9783791373720
Ages 6-12
There are incredible wildernesses all over the world. Wilderness: Earth’s Amazing Habitats is an introduction to 16 rare plant and animal habitats across the world, from the Amazon Rainforest in South America to the Tropical Rainforest of New Guinea. It’s also a call to action, reminding readers that these wildernesses require protection to keep them safe; Mia Cassany cites deforestation and human intervention as having a disastrous impact on the habitats and the species that live within. So let’s take a look at, as author Mia Cassany says, “the most stunning nature show on earth”!
Beautifully illustrated endpapers bring you into the book with large, colorful tropical leaves – and eyes peeking out of the darkness – drawing you into the wildnerness from the beginning. An opening spread contains an author note on the importance of conservation and preservation, and a world map includes illustrated points where habitat is located. Two-page spreads feature stunning, full-bleed illustrations of every habitats; a brief description gives readers an idea of location and species inhabiting each spot, but it’s the art that’s front-and-center here. Bright, colorful, and lush, we see lowland gorillas peering out of the brush in Kahuzi-Biéga National Park in the Congo; a colorful, day-glo spread starring a panda, wild golden monkeys, and golden pheasants in China’s Qinling Mountains, and a stunning gecko camouflaged against leaves in the tropical rainforest in Madagascar. Back matter provides animal names, locates them on the page (they can be hard to spot!), and a brief, informative paragraph on each.
This is a beautiful coffee table book, and a nice addition to your natural history collections. It’s not a standalone book, but a gorgeous companion book to any unit on habitats and nature studies.
