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Review_CHILDREN’S

A Leap for Legadema: but I always know she’ll be right beside me.” Coleman shows
The True Story of a Little Leopard in a Big World the animal families interacting in sunny, collage-like digital
Beverly and Dereck Joubert. National Geographic Kids, $16.99 illustrations, emphasizing different habitats through variations
(32p) ISBN 978-1-4263-2973-9 in color and texture. Salas also makes some allusions to nontra-
The Jouberts—husband-and-wife photographers, conserva- ditional human families: “Two dads are what I’ve got!” says a
tionists, and National Geographic explorers-in-residence— penguin chick; “I’ve never met my dad,” states a raccoon kit.
document their time spent filming a young leopard and her In a fitting conclusion, a final spread shows groupings of four
mother, Tortilis, in the Okavango Delta in Botswana. Sharp human families, including single parents, a Muslim family,
photographs depict quiet moments and two mothers with their children. Ages 5–9. (Mar.)
between Legadema and Tortilis, as the
mother leopard protects and cares for ★ Rodent Rascals: From Tiny to Tremendous—
her cub: “Each day that Legadema’s 21 Clever Creatures at Their Actual Size
mother was playing with her, she was Roxie Munro. Holiday House, $17.95 (40p) ISBN 978-0-8234-3860-0
teaching her how to be a big leopard.” Writing with warmth and enthusiasm, Munro celebrates
The Jouberts capture the threats the biodiversity of rodents. She introduces 21 rodents in all,
inherent in the “noisy, chirping, squeaking, trumpeting, bel- ranging from the house mouse to the naked mole rat, and
lowing, roaring Eden” of the leopards’ sub-Saharan home, describes each creature with casual wonder: “Bushy-tailed
most dramatically when Legadema and her mother are nearly wood rats or pack rats love to collect bright shiny things,
attacked by a lion. It’s a straightforward but gripping portrait such as keys, bottle caps, and jewelry,” and the African giant
of leopards in the wild and a young animal developing into a pouched rat can be trained to sniff out land mines and detect
capable, independent adult. Ages 4–8. (Feb.) tuberculosis in labs. Because the animals are drawn to scale,
readers get a clear sense of their relative sizes. The world’s
The Seal Garden largest rodent, a capybara, fills a page with its head and nose
Nicholas Read, photos by Ian McAllister. Orca, $19.95 (32p) alone; the smallest, the pygmy jerboa, occupies just a page
ISBN 978-1-4598-1267-3 corner. Munro blends naturalism with a hint of personality for
This third title in the My Great Bear Rainforest series fea- each rodent, accentuating the positive attributes of an under-
tures striking underwater photographs of seals, sea lions, and appreciated group of animals. Ages 6–10. (Feb.)
otters. A powerful storm has come to the Great Bear Sea, and
the marine animals have retreated to their underwater sanc- ★ The Sockeye Mother
tuary, where rocks protect them Brett David Huson, illus. by Natasha Donovan. Highwater, $23 (32p)
from larger predators. Filled with ISBN 978-1-55379-739-5
pink, red, yellow, and green seaweed, Writing in lyrical prose, Huson, who belongs to the
the seal garden is aptly named, and Gitxsan Nation, honors the sockeye salmon as a resource and
McAllister’s photos of seals peering potent symbol within Gitxsan culture: “Little does this small
above the waterline and sea lions sockeye fry know that its life cycle not only nourishes the
lounging on rocks are equally com- people and other beings along the watersheds, it is the whole
pelling. Read builds a sense of the lurking dangers awaiting reason the forests and landscapes exist.” He describes the
seals outside the garden—orcas “patrol the garden like journey of a young sockeye from the river
police”—and concludes by evoking a sense of the broader to the Pacific and back again to spawn,
ecosystem that the series explores: “It’s the way of life in the incorporating (and defining) vocabulary
Great Bear Sea, where every animal, no matter how big or words related to salmon ecology, including
small, has a place to live and a role to play.” Ages 5–8. (Mar.) semelparous (“breeding only once in a life-
time”) and keystone species. Donovan, a
Meet My Family! Animal Babies and Their Families member of the Métis Nation of British
Laura Purdie Salas, illus. by Stephanie Fizer Coleman. Millbrook, Columbia, incorporates masklike images
$19.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-5124-2532-1 into her dynamic spreads, as well as motifs
In a tender celebration of family, more than 20 baby animals of flowing currents, plumes of campfire smoke, grasses, and
describe the ways the adults in their lives care for them. A baby tree bark. Huson eloquently conveys the fragile interconnect-
beaver has lived in one home for all of its life, but an orangutan edness of the natural world and the moral imperative to pro-
infant gets a new nest each night: “I never know where I’ll be, tect it. Ages 10–14. (Mar.)

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