Habitats

Nature is full of a variety of natural habitats – places where plants and animals coexist. Yet those habitats are changeable, and often contain different sections or layers that feature different types of life, according to how much light, moisture and air there is, among other factors. 

Demonstrating these layers – whether that’s the sunlit zone, twilight zone and the deep sea layer of the ocean, or the emergent layer, the canopy, understory and forest floor of the rainforest – this beautiful picture book shows readers some of the plants and creatures that can be found in the different parts of a habitat.

In ancient woodland, badgers can share their setts with foxes and rabbits, and the black-chested buzzard-eagle lives high on the rocky screed of the Andes mountains in South America. 

Isobel Lundie’s colourful, eye-catching collage-style illustrations show delightful details, such as a pelican eel’s huge jaws, or the pattern on a fly agaric mushroom.

This is a charming book with a good level of text to picture, suitable for mid-primary readers, and the paper craft used in the book – pages that are cut short in the different sections to make flap pages of graduated sizes – demonstrates the idea of layers to the reader in a clear and interactive way.