African Critters

Robert B. Haas has traveled extensively throughout Africa, photographing animals from the ground and from the air. His work has appeared in National Geographic Magazine and has been featured in his books Through the Eyes of the Gods: An Aerial Vision of Africa and Through the Eyes of the Condor: An Aerial Vision of Latin America, both published by National Geographic.

Grade 3–6—Haas has culled from his experiences as a wildlife photographer for National Geographic and selected various vignettes about encounters with leopards, elephants, wild dogs, lions, hyenas, hippos, rhinos, and cheetahs. There are moments of drama and tension, awe and sadness in the first-person narratives. The author makes it clear that predators need to eat animals to survive, and he is obviously aware of his young audience. Although a buffalo herd kills a lion cub, the chapter ends with the information that its two siblings have survived and are safely rejoined with their mother. The writing is strong enough to stand on its own, but the photos steal the show. Close-ups allow youngsters to see the shadows in the eyes of a lion, a string of saliva in the mouth of a hyena, and a single purple dragonfly resting over the eye of a crocodile. Whether they are blurred to emphasize an animal's speed or sharp enough to count the whiskers on a mother cheetah, each photo or montage is a narrative on its own. On nearly every spread, a sidebar gives information about the species, and an insert at the beginning of the book describes the photographer's typical workday, hour by hour. Haas refers to the animals as "critters," generally considered a regional or slang term for "creatures," which may be jarring to some readers at first but will quickly be forgotten as the stories unfold. Each of the seven chapters would work as a read-aloud for an individual or group. Together they paint a fascinating picture of the work of a wildlife photographer.—Ellen Heath, Easton Area Public Library, Easton, PA
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