THE MOST BEAUTIFUL ROOF IN THE WORLD:
EXPLORING THE RAINFOREST
CANOPY
will receive this starred review in the
April 1 issue of ALA BOOKLIST.
"This unusually vivid introduction to the rainforest follows biologist Meg Lowman into the canopy to look at plants and animals. The director of research and conservation at a center in Florida, Lowman travels with her two young sons to a rainforest site in Belize. There, she and her assistants climb into the canopy and continue their experiments. They inspect leaves eaten by insects, look at "ant gardens" in the treetops, and observe the activities of various insects and animals and their effects on plant life.
Later, the scientist takes her sons on their first trip to the canopy and then for an evening nature walk on the forest floor. The narrative approach to nature study can be tedious, but Lasky's writing creates scenes and relates facts in ways that are vivid and memorable. Every page of this large-format book features colorful photographs that reflect the you-are-there quality of the text: long-range views of the forest, close ups that bring individual species into focus, and many pictures of Lowman and her sons, which have a natural, unstudied look. Fresh in outlook and intriguing in the details, this book will strengthen any library collection on the rainforest. (Ages 6-12)"
Horn Book Magazine, May/June 1997
As botanist Meg Lowman climbs a long ladder into the canopy, readers of this skillful account gain an intriguing personal perspective of rainforest reality seldom conveyed in books. To explain the intricacies of this nearly impenetrable ecosystem, Lasky focuses effectively on the daily work of a scientist "To gather species of plants and insects, Meg has climbed ropes to pluck leaves, sailed aloft in hot-air balloons to gather orchids, swung on trapezes through the foliage, and even hung over the side of an inflatable raft resting on the canopy." (Apparently Christopher Knight ascended even higher into the treetops, for several photographs are impressive downward views) Meg's working time is divided among taking minute measurements of plant and insect activities high in the trees of Belize, reading and report writing late at night in camp, and further research at a rainforcst center in Sarasota, Florida Her two children and two or three research assistants share the odyssey into the canopy, but most of the book's attention is given to the plants and animals of the dense ecosystem. The dual emphasis on a science career and on the structure and value of the rainforest makes the book interesting and widely useful. The lack of a map is a minor annoyance that detracts only slightly from the impressive immediacy conveyed by the fine writing and photography