Ask Dr K Fisher about Planet Earth by Claire Llewellyn and Kate Sheppard

September 2009, Kingfisher
32 pages, Hardback
Review copy

Children's, non-fiction

Ease of reading: 5
Level of information: 5
Pencils: 5
Smiles: 3
Yunaleska's recommended rating:♥♥♥♥♥

The format where animals ask questions to Dr K fisher remains the same as previous books. Animals all over the globe put forward the questions foremost on their mind, usually related to themselves. I like how these questions then lead to a page or two about a wider subject, showing readers how topics are linked together.

The topics approached in this book are:

• An aardvark wanting to dig through the earth - best he spare his hot paws from getting burnt and abort the expedition.
  
• An emu investigating his family tree - ostriches, unless in zoos don't live on the same continent.
  
• Continents and oceans explained - with easy to follow illustrations.
  
• A snake who think he's imagining things - why is he feeling the earth move?
  
• A chinchilla kept awake by an explosive firework party - think lots of lava...
  
• The landscape of a mountain - goats might get cold feet if they venture near the top.
  
• A salmon unsure of which direction to travel -there is only one way for him.
• A river guide - what starts off small often ends up very large.
  
• A puzzled mussel - the answer lies in the moon.
  
• Guilt-ridden emperor penguin, looking for the good in the South Pole.
  
• The lowdown on climates - do you know what a taiga is? (answer at the end of this review)
  
• A cat afraid of the dark - I'm not kidding! Light is shed on the matter of how we get day and night.
  
• A bald eagle wishes to be an astronaut - and why he can't be.
  
• A glossary of terms used within the book.
  

I really like the background of photos, with animals drawn over the top. It provides an example of what the landscape is like, hopefully encouraging a love for the beautiful planet we live on. The concerned animals make learning facts fun: the readers are more likely to remember the information in this format than in a dull, words only, encylopedia. This is a good learning tool, both for the classroom and for self-study.

Taiga is a coniferous forest *-*

Liked this? Make sure you check out another book in the series: Ask Dr K Fisher about Animals also by Claire Llewellyn and Kate Sheppard.