Food Chains and You. (Food Chains). Bobbie Kalman. St. Catharines, ON: Crabtree, 2005. 32 pp., pbk. & cl., $8.06 (pbk.), $20.76 (RLB.). ISBN 0-7787-1988-X (pbk.), ISBN 0-7787-1942-1 (RLB). Subject Heading: Food chains (Ecology)-Juvenile literature. Grades 2-4 / Ages 7-10. Review by Gail Hamilton. *** /4
	Forest Food Chains. (Food Chains). Bobbie Kalman. St. Catharines, ON: Crabtree, 2005. 32 pp., pbk. & cl., $8.06 (pbk.), $20.76 (RLB.). ISBN 0-7787-1989-8 (pbk.), ISBN 0-7787-1943-X (RLB). Subject Headings: Forest ecology-Juvenile literature. Food chains (Ecology)-Juvenile literature. Grades 2-4 / Ages 7-10. Review by Gail Hamilton. *** /4
	Desert Food Chains. (Food Chains). Bobbie Kalman & Kelley MacAulay. St. Catharines, ON: Crabtree, 2005. 32 pp., pbk. & cl., $8.06 (pbk.), $20.76 (RLB.). ISBN 0-7787-1990-1 (pbk.), ISBN 0-7787-1944-8 (RLB). Subject Headings: Desert ecology-Juvenile literature. Food chains (Ecology)-Juvenile literature. Grades 2-4 / Ages 7-10. Review by Gail Hamilton. *** /4
	Meadow Food Chains. (Food Chains). Bobbie Kalman & Kelley MacAulay. St. Catharines, ON: Crabtree, 2005. 32 pp., pbk. & cl., $8.06 (pbk.), $20.76 (RLB.). ISBN 0-7787-1991-X (pbk.), ISBN 0-7787-1945-6 (RLB). Subject Headings: Meadow ecology-Juvenile literature. Food chains (Ecology)-Juvenile literature. Grades 2-4 / Ages 7-10. Review by Gail Hamilton. *** /4

excerpt:

If you eat a grilled chicken sandwich with mushrooms, tomatoes and lettuce, you are eating plants, a herbivore, and a decomposer. Crab, clams, lobster, and shrimp are other decomposers you might dine on from time to time. But what is really in your sandwich? When you eat any food, you are getting some of the sun's energy. You are also getting nutrients that have come from dead plants and animals in the soil or on the ocean floor. So, your sandwich is part sunshine, part soil, part water, and part dead things. When you eat anything, you are really eating a part of everything!

In this series, readers will examine a number of food chains and webs in different habitats and will learn how food chains affect humans. Each book consists of 14 short chapters, a table of contents and a very brief glossary and index. With the exception of terms specific to food chains, such as "producers," "consumers," "opportunistic feeders" and "detritus food webs," the vocabulary is generally quite simple and easy for students to comprehend. All of the books contain an abundance of excellent colour photographs and diagrams to suit the text and to further the reader's understanding of the concepts. Borders, made up of tiny pictures pertaining to each book's theme, appear along the top of each page.

     In Food Chains and You, readers will learn how plants make energy and the relationships between producers and primary and secondary consumers (herbivores and carnivores). The text explains how scavengers, opportunistic feeders and decomposers contribute to the food web. Other topics include the benefits of eating fresh food over processed food, the various parts of plants that humans eat, and the threat to food chains by humans' use of pesticides and over-hunting and fishing.

     Forest Food Chains begins with the definition of a forest, types of trees and different kinds of forests. This title focuses on food chains in temperate forests (those in climates that are cold for part of the year and warm for part of the year). Also featured are plants' and animals' adaptations to seasonal changes, forest population control and endangered forests.

     The Sonoran Desert is the locale described in Desert Food Chains. Once again, adaptations of plants and animals -- short roots, ability to store water, hunting at night -- are highlighted. Estivation is a new term introduced in this book.

     Though meadows can be anywhere, Meadow Food Chains looks at meadows that grow on the edges of forests. Sandy loam soil determines the types of plants which thrive in these meadows, consequently, the kinds of animals as well. Readers will learn about tertiary consumers (carnivores that eat other carnivores) and animals' diets which change with the seasons. Individually, the titles in this series are very good. However, a great deal of the information is repeated in each volume, therefore, purchasers would not need to buy the entire series.

Recommended.

Gail Hamilton is a teacher-librarian at Bird's Hill School in East St. Paul, MB.

To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.

Copyright © the Manitoba Library Association. Reproduction for personal use is permitted only if this copyright notice is maintained. Any other reproduction is prohibited without permission.

Published by The Manitoba Library Association ISSN 1201-9364

Hosted by the University of Manitoba.

 

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