Life in the Boreal Forest

Brenda Z. Guiberson (2009), 40 pages

Illustrated by Gennady Spirin

Audience: Pre-K

Format: picture book

Life in the Boreal Forest by Brenda Guiberson, illustrated by Gennady Spirin is an exceptional piece of nonfiction. The narrative is clear and accurate; the author not only identifies the environmental region “a forest so huge it covers one third of the earth’s total forest area. It grows across Alaska, Canada, Scandinavia, and Russia” but she explains the origins of names and terms in a lyrical voice… “a swath of trees this big has many names, like taiga and boreal forest. Boreal means northern, from Boreas, the Greek God of the North Wind.”

Animals, like the snowshoe hare and lynx come to life in Spirin’s expansive forest landscape paintings. The book provides additional websites of information; organizations and agencies that are dedicated to forest preservation and acknowledges several experts who helped in the manuscript (including a boreal ecologist, wildlife biologist, and two research scientists).

Reviewed by: Katharine Quinn, SJSU MLIS Student

If you liked this book, you may like: Redwoods by Jason Chin or Rain Forest by Helen Cowcher

Other books by this author: The Emperor Lays an Egg, Into the Sea, and Ice Bears