What Is an Elephant?

Alison Mews is coordinator of the Centre for Instructional Services at
Memorial University of Newfoundland.

The Science of Living Things series is a highly visual set of books that
explain life science in a manner that middle- and upper-elementary
school children will find easy to understand.

What Is an Elephant? describes the unique anatomy and social behavior
of elephants, using superb photographs and illustrations to provide a
visual reference. It delineates the differences in the habitats and
physical characteristics of African and Asian elephants. And it
concludes with the danger humans pose to the animals’ survival:
humans’ hunting of elephants for their ivory has put them on the
endangered species list in many countries.

What Is Migration? and What Is Hibernation? describe a variety of
species that are unable to tolerate extremes of temperature and that
cope with their harsh environments by either migrating long distances or
enabling their bodies to go into a protective sleeplike stasis. Aside
from the animals that children will readily recognize as hibernators
(bears) and migrators (Canada geese), lesser-known examples are given.
There is a little repetition between the two books, which is
understandable, since some species both migrate and hibernate. What Is
Hibernation? provides a conceptual approach in which the same animals
appear repeatedly as examples, and facts (such as that hibernators live
off their stored body fat) may be mentioned many times in different
connotations. In describing the difference between true hibernators and
those who wake periodically to eat, the authors use the terms squirrels,
ground squirrels, and tree squirrels as examples; this variation is
somewhat confusing. What Is Migration?, however, offers a more distinct
species approach to its arrangement of concepts so there is no
repetition. This book ends by describing how scientists are able to
track migrating animals.

The books’ outstanding photography alone will capture children’s
attention, and the explanatory captions will pique their curiosity and,
it is hoped, hook them into reading the text. For everyone from gifted
to reluctant readers, these books make excellent introductions to the
topics presented, and would be useful in a school or a home setting.
Highly recommended.