SERIES MADE SIMPLE

Backyard Food Chains

by Katie KAWA
9781499400458. ea vol: 24p. (Exploring Food Chains and Food Webs). further reading. glossary. index. photos. websites. PowerKids. 2015. lib. ed. $23.60.
COPY ISBN
Gr 2–4—Covering the same concepts in similar, often identical, language these surveys describe the places in selected food chains and webs that producers, herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, and decomposers occupy. Specific examples change from volume to volume, at least, and though the illustrations are a bit staid, the quality of the photography is excellent. But efforts to simplify the overall picture for younger readers result in misleading statements, such as the confusingly unamplified qualification in Pond Food Chains that algae "aren't actually plants." Characterizing red algae in Tide Pool Food Chains as "plantlike organisms," again without explanation, is no real improvement. Likewise, visual simplification causes inconsistencies in the summary food web charts.
VERDICT Angela's Royston's simpler Food Chains and Webs (Heinemann, 2014) for the lower ranges of the intended audience, and PowerKids' own 2002 "Library of Food Chains and Food Webs" for the upper, are better alternatives.
Reviewed by John Peters , Apr 01, 2015

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