How Many Baby Pandas?
Clear, accessible text by noted children’s science writer Markle and sharp color photos provide an engaging, informative introduction to baby pandas, highlighting those born at China’s Wolong Giant Panda Breeding Center in 2005. Starting with images of several newborns, the book covers how young pandas feed, their physical characteristics, and their favorite activities. Scientific concepts are well explained, and the pages are filled with panda facts, such as when the animals begin to eat bamboo (an activity that occupies adults for 14 hours a day), along with conservation issues. The accompanying photos show pandas with their human caregivers and in natural settings and provide opportunities to count the animals (“How many baby pandas are eating?”) and observe their physical development. Children will enjoy the varied pictures, which range from cute (baby and mother panda cuddling) to amusing (a panda being weighed in a basket), although images of the tiny hairless newborns may startle some kids. The appended material includes additional panda information, a brief glossary, a habitat map, Web and book resources, and an author’s note about the impact of the 2008 earthquake in China on the panda population. Grades K-3. --Shelle Rosenfeld--This text refers to theHardcoveredition.