Creatures of the Rain Forest

Reviewed by: Sheila Dube - Springvale Public Library, Springvale, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: October 10, 2016

Review

Readers looking for graphic photos with a variety of spine-tingling facts of ten designated species in the rain forest will enjoy browsing this series entitled Real-life Monsters. The brightly colored shutterstock photographs of these dangerous animals are supplemented by illustrations by Mendez showing a blowgun, how the vampire bat drinks blood from a sleeping animal and a detailed picture of the Harpy eagle's talons. Clever designs and coding become the book's flaws as the many different features are not explained. Each two page spread provides a large number to identify each species being 1-10 in descending order. Why descending order? A large colored photo of the animal provides the focal point of each spread. At the top of the left page is a scale showing the animal's size compared to a pencil, human hand or a human body. The length, weight and location is provided in both English and metric. The opposite page provides a vertical strip rating the animal's size, power, strength, aggression and deadliness with a total of these ratings in a green box. These rating totals are then placed on each picture of the animal in the Rogue's gallery with more facts about the animal in the back matter. This rating system and the importance of the total number is not explained anywhere in the book. A short index is provided in the back. Unfortunately, a glossary of some of the difficult vocabulary and a bibliography are not included.

Overall Book Score: fair