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Life on Earth: Jungle: With 100 Questions and 70 Lift-flaps! by Heather Alexander and Andres Lozano


We're constantly being asked to save something. Save the hedgerows, save the elephant, save our seas. There's absolutely nothing wrong with any of those goals – some of them are larger than the others, and more demanding, but they are all worthy. But seeing as it's (a) the largest land feature we need to save, and (b) it's the most worthwhile to save, why not just go for the jugular – and try and save the Amazonian rainforest? Forget jugular, you'll be saving the jaguar; you'll be protecting the source of a lot of our food, spices and medicines – and when did a hedgerow near you have almost fifty different species of ant on a singular tree? The first step to saving anything is to understand it, to let us appreciate it, and this primer is how we get in touch with what's important about jungles so we can deem them worthwhile.

Life on Earth: Jungle: With 100 Questions and 70 Lift-flaps! by Heather Alexander and Andres Lozano

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Buy Life on Earth: Jungle: With 100 Questions and 70 Lift-flaps! by Heather Alexander and Andres Lozano at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

Category: Children's Non-Fiction
Rating: 4.5/5
Reviewer: John Lloyd
Reviewed by John Lloyd
Summary: For those very young questioning minds, a further entry in this series digs deep into the life and the facts surrounding the jungle and rainforest.
Buy? Yes Borrow? Yes
Pages: 16 Date: August 2017
Publisher: Wide Eyed Editions
External links: Author's website
ISBN: 9781847809018

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I've met this series twice before now, and this is just as good as those I found the other end of the year. Construction-wise, these are brilliant books, sturdy and with the feel of a long life. Each double page spread has an appealing, if slightly cartoonish, image, or more regularly a spread of self-contained boxes. They all have a question on, and if the answer isn't visible, then you lift a flap (which again has been well engineered – these things don't just move about on their own!) and find the answer. You may indeed find a different Q and A on the flipside too.

Yes, at times the book can seem a little off – what parent has been asked 'Daddy, what helps the red-eyed tree frog walk upside down?'. But the book knows, and this is as good a way as any I know to convey seeming trivia and to instil the full biology lesson in the very young. This is an appealing construction, it can convey all the superlatives of the deadly critters in the jungle and the important uses we've found for our exploitation (from rubber to chocolate to, er, oxygen) – and there's nothing really trivial about the jungle if we just go and bludgeon what's left of it, now, is there?

With full spreads concerning primates, camouflage and creepy crawlies, this is very sensibly appealing to the under-sevens, and can only help them have the jungle and rainforest closer to their heart. It will also help them differentiate the two environments – what more could you really want? (Answers, not on a postcard, but on the reverse of a flap in a lovely and interactive volume.)

I must thank the publishers for my review copy.

There is also an edition concerning farms and farming – although you do have to excuse it being a little twee and fictitious at times. You might appreciate New Jungle Book Adventures: Spirit of the Jungle by Bear Grylls although we had our reservations.

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Buy Life on Earth: Jungle: With 100 Questions and 70 Lift-flaps! by Heather Alexander and Andres Lozano at Amazon You can read more book reviews or buy Life on Earth: Jungle: With 100 Questions and 70 Lift-flaps! by Heather Alexander and Andres Lozano at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
Buy Life on Earth: Jungle: With 100 Questions and 70 Lift-flaps! by Heather Alexander and Andres Lozano at Amazon You can read more book reviews or buy Life on Earth: Jungle: With 100 Questions and 70 Lift-flaps! by Heather Alexander and Andres Lozano at Amazon.com.

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