I Found a Dead Bird: The Kids' Guide to the Cycle of Life and Death
Grade 3-6–This straightforward, no holds barred approach to the subject will captivate children. Chock-full of color photographs, the well-designed book contains boxes with tidbits of information on a wide variety of topics, such as death of a species, human destruction, plant decomposition, trapped in time, and learning from death. The spread on animal decomposition has the following caveat: WARNING: Icky, Oozy, Stinky Stuff–just the type of thing that kids will love. Subjects such as funeral customs and the afterlife are also briefly addressed. Mummies, skeletons, microscopic bacteria, and the six stages of decomposition of a pig illustrate this eye-catching book. One discrepancy was noted: in the section entitled When People Die, the author states there's something that makes us different than other living things…we react to death….We cry over our dead…. Then, in the next section, entitled Grieving, under the heading Do Elephants Weep? the author writes, there is much evidence to think that some animals react to death and wail over their dead. So, maybe humans aren't so different from the other animals. An extensive index makes the variety of topics easy to locate.–Maryann H. Owen, Racine Public Library, WICopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.