From School Library Journal
Grade 1-4-A colorful, informative look at tropical rain forests. Gibbons has drawn and labeled about 50 animals and numerous plants and trees on double-spread illustrations. Complementary text appears in the margins. Each spread is bordered by vines and flowers reminiscent of medieval manuscripts. The striking watercolors evoke the mood of the forests, while the text contains simple definitions for italicized scientific terms. Readers are drawn into the ecology of rain forests before mention is made of the danger of global warming and the extinction of flora and fauna due to humanity's destructive invasion. Methods for protecting the areas, such as creating selective cutting or extractive reserves, are noted. Lyn Stone's Rain Forests (Rourke, 1989) and Jenny Wood's Rain Forests (Gareth Stevens, 1991), written for slightly older children, have striking full-color photos and more text, but Gibbons's book is more inviting.Kathleen McCabe, East Meadow Public Library, NYCopyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Booklist, 6/1/94
GR. 3-5. We're off to the rain forest in Gibbons's newest addition to her nonfiction library. With the simple style and bold format that characterize her books, Gibbons not only explains the complex ecosystem of tropical rain forests and their importance to the global ecology but also explores related issues concerning the preservation and protection of the forests as natural resources. Bright, colorful watercolor panels with labeled elements are laid out with the text, and each layout is framed by the leafy green vine of a rain forest flower. Gibbons does not designate the specific rain forests in the illustrations (a problem because some of the exotic animals pictured are native only to tropical rain forests on certain continents), but her focus seems generally to be on rain forests of Latin America, such as the Amazon and the Caribbean rain forests where she did her research for this book. Packed with visual information that complements the easy and informative text, this is a good, basic introduction to a complex and popular subject for the youngest researchers. This review is for the trade edition.


From Booklist
Gr. 3-5. We're off to the rain forest in Gibbons' newest addition to her nonfiction library. With the simple style and bold format that characterize her books, Gibbons not only explains the complex ecosystem of tropical rain forests and their importance to the global ecology, but also explores related issues concerning the preservation and protection of the forests as natural resources. Bright, colorful watercolor panels with labeled elements are laid out with the text, and each layout is framed by the leafy green vine of a rain forest flower. Gibbons does not designate the specific rain forests in the illustrations (a problem because some of the exotic animals pictured are native only to tropical rain forests on certain continents), but her focus seems generally to be on Latin American regions, such as the Amazon and the Caribbean rain forests where she did her research for this book. Packed with visual information that complements the easy and informative text, this is a good, basic introduction to a complex and popular subject for the youngest researchers. Annie Ayres


-- School Library Journal
"Informative...inviting."


Book Description
"A scientifically accurate book which depicts the complex world of rain forests in easily understood text and sumptuous illustrations. The geography, climate and ecology of the rain forest are explained and the illustrations teem with the flora and fauna."--Children's Literature. ???


Card catalog description
Describes the climatic conditions of the rain forest as well as the different layers of plants and animals that comprise the ecosystem.


About the Author
Gail Gibbons, "a master of children's non-fiction" (ALA Booklist), has created over one hundred entertaining, eye-catching books that explain how things work.She lives in Corinth, Vermont. In Her Own Words..."I was born in Oak Park, Illinois, in 1944. Even as a little child, I was always busy putting books together. Sometimes I would bind them with yarn to hold the pages together I've always loved drawing and painting. I was also a very curious child. My parents tell me that I was always asking lots and lots of questions."Later, I went to the University of Illinois, where I studied graphic design. Then I moved to New York City, where I got a job doing artwork for television shows. Eventually I was asked to do the artwork for a children's show. While doing that show, some of the children asked me if I had ever thought of doing children's books. My mind immediately recalled how much I enjoyed doing that type of thing when I was a child d. So I put an idea for a book together and right away a publisher bought it. That book was called Willy and His Wheel Wagon."Since then, over seventy books that I have written and illustrated have been published. The type of books I write are nonfiction books. This is because I love researching so much. I get to ask lots of questions, just like when I was a kid. I also get to travel and meet lots of interesting people. While doing research for my book Nature's Green Umbrella: Tropical Rain Forests, I traveled to two islands where there are tropical rain forests, Saba and Dominica. I also had a great time writing and illustrating the book. I get a lot of pleasure from doing the type of work I do."Most of the time I live in Corinth, Vermont, in the middle of three hundred acres. I live with my husband, Kent Ancliffe, and our dog, Wilton. We also have three cats. My life in Vermont is very secluded. There are lots of wild animals that live on our property. We also spend a lot of time on an island off the coast of Maine where we have a little farmhouse. In fact, my book Christmas on an Island is about Christmas on this island."I have many hobbies, like swimming and boating, but my favorites are reading and creating books."

ANNOTATION

Describes the climatic conditions of the rain forest as well as the different layers of plants and animals that comprise the ecosystem.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Green leaves, wet leaves.The air is hot and steamy.Everything is moist.

This is a tropical rain forest. As much as 240inches of rain may fall here in a single year! Beneath the treetop canopy, the rain forest bursts with plant and animal life. Periwinkles and lianes, tree frogs and spider monkeys abound.

In Nature's Green Umbrella, lushly illustrated introduction to one of the world's most complicated ecosystems. For only if we know how important rain forests are to the whole world will we truly understand the need to protect them.

Author Biography:

Gail Gibbons, "a master of children's non-fiction" (ALA Booklist), has created over one hundred entertaining, eye-catching books that explain how things work. She lives in Corinth, Vermont. In Her Own Words...

"I was born in Oak Park, Illinois, in 1944. Even as a little child, I was always busy putting books together. Sometimes I would bind them with yarn to hold the pages together I've always loved drawing and painting. I was also a very curious child. My parents tell me that I was always asking lots and lots of questions.

"Later, I went to the University of Illinois, where I studied graphic design. Then I moved to New York City, where I got a job doing artwork for television shows. Eventually I was asked to do the artwork for a children's show. While doing that show, some of the children asked me if I had ever thought of doing children's books. My mind immediately recalled how much I enjoyed doing that type of thing when I was a child d. So I put an idea for a book together and right away a publisher bought it. That book was called Willy and His Wheel Wagon.

"Since then, overseventy books that I have written and illustrated have been published. The type of books I write are nonfiction books. This is because I love researching so much. I get to ask lots of questions, just like when I was a kid. I also get to travel and meet lots of interesting people. While doing research for my book Nature's Green Umbrella: Tropical Rain Forests, I traveled to two islands where there are tropical rain forests, Saba and Dominica. I also had a great time writing and illustrating the book. I get a lot of pleasure from doing the type of work I do.

"Most of the time I live in Corinth, Vermont, in the middle of three hundred acres. I live with my husband, Kent Ancliffe, and our dog, Wilton. We also have three cats. My life in Vermont is very secluded. There are lots of wild animals that live on our property. We also spend a lot of time on an island off the coast of Maine where we have a little farmhouse. In fact, my book Christmas on an Island is about Christmas on this island.

"I have many hobbies, like swimming and boating, but my favorites are reading and creating books."

FROM THE CRITICS

Children's Literature - Dr. Judy Rowen

A scientifically accurate book that depicts the complex world of rain forests in easily understood text and sumptuous illustrations. The geography, climate and ecology of the rain forest are carefully explained, and the illustrations teem with the flora and fauna. The book concludes with a discussion of the impact of man's activities on this fragile ecosystem.

Children's Literature - Susie Wilde

Gibbons, an award-winning author-illustrator, is an important name to remember in nonfiction for the young. She has an ability to make the most difficult subject approachable and understandable. Nature's Green Umbrella is about rain forests and describes everything from the tropical ecosystem to the threats to its survival.

School Library Journal