Destination Rain Forest
Author: Jonathan Grupper
Publisher: National Geographic Society
Copyright: 1997
Pages: 31
Reading Level: 3
Genre: Children’s Non-Fiction
Rating: ****

Summary:
Exactly as the title alludes to, destination rainforest takes to the rainforest and drops us off. Each page is filled with pictures to the brim and what you are seeing, and hearing on your day through the rainforest is explained. When you look up you see the howler monkey the treetops. To your right is a tree frog. At night you turn on your flashlight and see the activity is still going on and there are seven million leafcutter ants wrapping up their work all around you. In the morning you learn all about the food chain, thanks to the grumbling appetites of the forest animals. It is hot out, but you don’t dare get into the river. Not with the piranhas, caiman alligators, otters and anaconda! In the afternoon you see a jaguar and a macaw, and spider monkeys and sloths. The rain comes in suddenly and then just as quickly is gone, but is replaced by the sound of a tree being cut down! More quickly than ever the rainforest is being destroyed, there won’t be much left in a few years at this rate. Then there are birds, everywhere…a third of all birds live here. And then night comes, and with it all the nocturnal animals of the rainforest.

Who would benefit from reading this?
Young kids would be captivated by the pictures and any kids that love animals and are interested in the rain forest would really enjoy this book. A quick read with great pictures!

Potential problems/conflicts:
If you are in the lumber company you may be offended by the negative spin this book gives to those that are cutting down the trees. Some of the animals are also on the creepy side, but if you don’t like it you can quickly turn the page.

My reaction:
The pictures in the book are….AMAZING! I also really liked how they made it seem like you were traveling through the rainforest and seeing different things as they went. They not only explained the animals, but what time of day you would see them and where in the rainforest. The facts were also interesting. I couldn’t believe that each year the cut down an area of forest the size of Washington State! That is huge! There really won’t be a rainforest in a century or two at that rate and with it will go most of the world’s animals.