Do Ducks Live in the Desert?: A Book about Where Animals Live Book

Presents a variety of animals and the different places in which they live.

Beverley Fahey - Children's Literature

Each book in this series attempts to explain to very young children basic facts about animal habitats, protection, coats and coverings and other information that children question. This one begins by posing the title question that is answered on the next page and the question answer format continues naming a host of animals and their habitats. Children learn that musk ox live on the tundra and have sharp hooves for digging in the ice, sloths hang from trees and can move fast to escape an enemy, and that marhors are an endangered wild goat prized for their curling horns. Digitally rendered illustrations in bright primary colors are garish and unattractive. Without line and shading to add depth and contour they are flat and unappealing. The information is basic and presented in a lively fashion sufficient for the very youngest to grasp and find interesting. Visually this is marginal at best and one knows that in the hands of a James Arnosky or a Margery Facklam it could have been so much better. Bibliography, index, glossary are included. 2004, Picture Window Books, Ages 4 to 7.