Editorial Review

As the series title suggests, Let’s Explore Ecosystems introduces elementary readers to a range of ecosystems around the world. Divided into three sections, each volume opens with a few paragraphs that explain the unique features that make up the ecosystem. The second and longest section profiles seven ecosystem inhabitants, including plants, mammals, birds, insects, and reptiles. The shorter third section is a statement on ways humans can protect the ecosystem. Let’s Explore Coral Reefs focuses on the symbiotic relationships between corals and surrounding plants and animals, as they provide one another with safety, food, and other benefits. Let’s Explore Deserts not only looks at the earth’s hottest deserts, like the Sahara, but also at some of its coldest, found in the Arctic and Antarctic regions. Let’s Explore Forests deviates from a geographic approach to highlight layers of a forest, from its floor to its tree-top canopy. Let’s Explore Mountains emphasizes plant and animal adaptations to this extreme ecosystem such as the bighorn sheep’s hooves, which help it cling to rocky ledges. Adding to the descriptions are full-page, eye-catching photographs of the ecosystem’s land formations, plants, and animals as well as a related infographic and numerous sidebars with more fun facts. Finally, a concluding craft lets students synthesize the ecosystem concepts with hands-on engagement.