Habitat Spy by Cynthia Kieber-King, Illustrated by Christina Ward (Sylvan Dell Publishing, 2011), introduces a variety of habitats with an illustrated snapshot of a scene, accompanied by a simple, personable rhyming text.
Each page features text overlayed in a binocular-shaped text bubble, with an image of a child looking through binoculars right next to it. An image of a child looking through binoculars likewise adds to the welcoming phrase “Let’s spy at the …” The subsequent text in each text bubble names the habitat (including backyard, meadow, pond, bog, plains, mountains, etc.) and a few animals doing actions in the location. For example,
Let’s spy in the desert . . .
saguaros prick,
scorpions sneak,
cactus wrens poke,
foxes peek.
Four extensive pages of end matter discuss habitats, living versus nonliving things, animal adaptations, food webs, and more, making Habitat Spy a fantastic educational addition to a lesson about animals in their natural habitats.
