The Kingfisher illustrated Animal Encyclopedia

A sumptuous volume, dense with close-up photographs and detailed artwork of animals in their habitats, this new encyclopedia from Kingfisher will undoubtedly please young animal-lovers. Burnie, well-known and respected author in this field, writes clearly and succinctly for the 10+ age group, but younger less fluent readers will also learn much from the illustrations and captions. As a dictionary of the animal kingdom, the book works extremely well. Animals are arranged according to their scientific classification - invertebrate or vertebrate, and then subdivided into class such as amphibian, reptile, bird or mammal etc. Thus to find an entry quickly, you would need to use either the contents or index. Each entry follows a common pattern - brief description, scientific name, distribution and size. It is more difficult however to learn about more general topics such as animal behaviour, reproduction or adaptation. Apart from a handful of short box features, such information is restricted to the briefest of introductions to each animal group. A reference section with comparative data on size or geographical location, or signposts to the many wonderful websites accessible to children would have helped to redress the balance. Perhaps author and editor were restricted by a marketing decision on price or page extent or a desire to reach the magic number of 2,000 animals. Nevertheless as an introduction to the rich diversity of the animal world this is an excellent place to begin.