Author/Illustrator Karen Patkau
Tundra Books 2014
Ages 7+
Colorful coral reefs, astonishing in their beauty, bustle and teem with life. Author and illustrator Karen Patkau takes us on an amazing journey through one of the earth’s most important ecosystems. Discover the plants and animals that flourish in its tropical conditions – from coralline algae, phytoplankton and sea grasses to hermit crabs, moon jellies and porcupinefish – and how they interact with their coral reef environment. Find out about the vital roles a reef plays in reducing global warming, protecting shoreline and providing food.
LOOK INSIDE
AWARDS & HONOURS
• Green Book Festival 2017 First Runner-Up
• Silver Falchion Readers Choice Award Nominee 2015
• Green Earth Book Award Shortlist 2015
• Canadian Children’s Book Centre Best Books Spring 2015 Selection
• Resource Links 2014 Year’s Best List
REVIEWS
• “These titles recommended here look at … ecosystems … with a keen respect and awareness for the world we live in. … Much of the world’s food is grown on grassland, and the importance of protecting this ecosystem is highlighted in Karen Patkau’s Who Needs a Prairie? (Tundra, 2014; Gr 1-3). The book jacket is a call-to-action and inside, the message is relayed in flowing, lyrical text and artistically painted landscapes. Author/illustrator Patkau renders the temperate prairie seasons accurately, as well as emotionally, such as deer foraging in a blizzard, creatures fleeing a grass fire, and a meadowlark singing after a rain. … Other ecosystems in the series include: Who Needs a Desert?, Who Needs an Iceberg?, Who Needs a Jungle?, Who Needs a Reef?, and Who Needs a Swamp? — all great to read-aloud choices for content vocabulary and text-to-picture connections.” – School Library Journal’s Curriculum Connections
• “Most young people have never seen a coral reef, except on television, but when they find out what a vibrant and vital eco-system one is, they will be fascinated. Karen Patkau, as she has done with her other books in this series, does an amazing job of representing this complex environment in a way children can have a good understanding of how a coral reef grows and its importance to ocean life. Youngsters will be fascinated to learn the reef is made up of millions of tiny animal skeletons of coral polyps that look more like plants than animals. What creatures and plants live on the reef, information about the food chain, the life cycle, how the reef protects the shoreline, and other topics about the reef are beautifully illustrated throughout with nice-sized chunks of text just long enough for the elementary-school crowd. A map showing all the coral reefs around the world is included. Flora and fauna of the reef are identified with thumbnails in four pages … this is a book that kids will love.” – San Fransisco Book Review
• “This is a great introduction to a coral reef ecosystem. I loved that it revealed why coral reef ecosystems are important as well as the biodiversity of plants and animals that it contains. I read this with a mixed group of kids ranging in age from 4-8. Younger kids enjoyed finding the animals that were mentioned in the text in the brightly colored but realistic pictures. Older kids were interested in learning the facts about how a living coral reef works, the diagrams really helped with this, and the names of all the creatures.”
I liked that there were many tie-ins with curriculum, information on food chains, habitat and why we should preserve this special habitat. I also appreciated the glossary and map at the end.” – LibraryThing Early Reviewers
• “…The information she provides is precise and accurate yet presented in a way that will keep the attention of students. She connects us with the coral reef in terms of preservation. The illustrations are fabulous and I especially like the picture reference and glossary in the back of the book.” – LibraryThing Early Reviewers
• “Nonfiction picture books are not nearly as common as they once were, but author and illustrator Karen Patkau proves the genre is not dead. Her beautiful illustrations and maps present information in an easy to understand format for young readers. … Each book includes simple text for beginning nonfiction readers supported by detailed illustrations of the plant and animal life in each ecosystem. … All of the books in this series contain valuable information supported with illustrations that help young readers understand the content. The message in each is clear. We need to care about these different ecosystems.” – Highly Recommended – Canadian Materials
• “… Patkau offers a series of vibrant scenes … striking illustrations. The text both interprets the visual content … and offers paragraphs of diverse facts.” – Booklist
• “Patkau explains the importance of each ecosystem with clear and concise details … Each volume explains what makes a particular ecosystem unique … Written at a Grade 2 to 5 level, the books are 32 pages long and the text is limited to one-quarter of the page, which is an attractive feature for reluctant readers. This series should prove to be a useful resource to introduce young students to the world’s ecosystems and their importance to our survival.” – CANADIAN CHILDREN’S BOOK NEWS “The Classroom Bookshelf”
• “… Karen Patkau … has created six Ecosystem Series books exploring the value of spaces that we North Americans once considered “wasted” — the prairies and swamps — and also looks at why humans, as much as animals, need reefs, icebergs, jungles and desert. The books are recommended for young people, ages seven to 10, but the wisdom behind the text is multi-generational.” – Prairie Messenger
KAREN PATKAU 