These picture books illustrate the life cycles of fascinating animals and take readers through each stage that occurs from birth to adulthood. Lush, accurate illustrations of habitat feature plant life and other animals on die-cut pages that get longer as the subject grows!The interesting page sizes and full-page illustrations will appeal to young naturalist. ——-SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNALA beautifully illustrated and detailed book about the life cycle of a monarch butterfly. ——-OUTSTANDING SCIENCE TRADE BOOKS FOR STUDENTS K-12 (NATIONAL SCIENCE TEACHERS ASSOCIATION/CHILDREN'S BOOK COUNCIL) Reviewed with Claire Llewellyn's Tree . K-Gr. 3. With straightforward, succinct texts, these additions to the Starting Life series introduce children to the life cycle of familiar species in a picture-book format. Duck follows mallards from eggs to hatchlings to adults during a 12-month period. tree describes the growth of an apple tree from seed to seedling to sapling to mature tree with fruit over the course of several years. The pages, made from extra-heavy stock, gradually increase in size, allowing for a tabbed effect on the right side of the book. As children flip each page, they'll discover that the picture on the left blends neatly with the illustration on the front end papers, giving the feel of full-page spreads. The brightly colored, photographic-style artwork is appropriately realistic and flexible enough to allow for inside and cut-away views. The pictures are generously captioned, but although obvious effort has been made to place captions on light areas of the art, the printed matter occasionally disappears within the picture. A glossary and a life-cycle summary conclude each of these volumes, which will be welcomed by browsers and report writers alike. Great books to set out alongside titles in the Watch Me Grow series, published by DK. Kay Weisman Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Claire Llewellyn was an editor of children's non-fiction for more than ten years before becoming a writer. She specializes in books for younger readers. Her My First Book of Time won The Times Educational Supplement Junior Information Book Award in the U.K. She has written more than 50 children's books on a wide range of subjects. Simon Mendez lives and works as a freelance artist in Yorkshire, England. His degree is in scientific illustration, and he uses a variety of techniques to achieve a high level of detail in his artwork. Simon is also an avid photographer, which helps him in his research. Simon is the winner of a Gold Star award from the Association of Illustrators in the U.K.