A sumptuously illustrated variation of the classic "Over in the Meadow" spotlights rainforest animals from marmosets and parrots to honey bears and leaf cutter ants, sharing accompanying information on their habitats and activity suggestions for children. - (Baker & Taylor)

Rhyming text introduces rain forest animals who have from one to ten babies. - (Baker & Taylor)

Horn Book Guide Reviews

Modeled on the song "Over in the Meadow," this companion to [cf2]Over in the Ocean: In a Coral Reef[cf1] introduces children to rainforests' environment and their animal life. Some of the rhymes are decidedly forced, but the illustrations, created from a variety of colors, textures, and shapes of polymer clay, are eye-catchingly unique. Musical arrangement and information about rainforests are included. Copyright 2008 Horn Book Guide Reviews.

Horn Book Guide Reviews

Modeled on the song "Over in the Meadow," this companion to [cf2]Over in the Ocean: In a Coral Reef[cf1] introduces children to rainforests' environment and their animal life. Some of the rhymes are decidedly forced, but the illustrations, created from a variety of colors, textures, and shapes of polymer clay, are eye-catchingly unique. Musical arrangement and information about rainforests are included. Copyright 2007 Horn Book Guide Reviews.

School Library Journal Reviews

PreS-Gr 3 –Another variation on the familiar song, this one enumerates some of the unusual fauna of the rain forest. It not only spotlights some of the animals–marmosets, parrots, honey bears, leaf cutter ants, etc.–but also offers pertinent information on the habitat. Berkes describes the different layers of the rainforest and its importance to our global ecology, and suggests movement activities for children to act out the rhyme. The unusual and colorful illustrations are made with polymer clay and then photographed, giving them a three-dimensional look. Each spread has the text and a number on the left against a dark-green leaf background, and shows one animal family with the correct number of babies as well as several other sets of indigenous flora or fauna to count. A long double page shows all the levels of the rain forest in cross section, and children are challenged to count the animals previously encountered and now hanging on the vines and hiding underneath the trees, etc. This is a handsome book on an important subject, and it can serve as recreational reading as well as an introduction to a basic unit on the rain forest.–Judith Constantinides, formerly at East Baton Rouge Parish Main Library, LA