cover image Keeping Safe

Keeping Safe

Sarah A. Waters, Bob Bampton. Reader's Digest Association, $9.95 (1pp) ISBN 978-0-89577-475-0

If it had an introduction, a less chaotic layout and a more precise text, this installment in the Secrets of Nature series might have been sensational. But given its reasonable price, clever concept and abundance of data, the volume offers good value as it presents various ways in which ``animals'' protect themselves. The left side of the spread pairs color illustrations with anthropomorphic captions (e.g., we see a spotted skunk raising its tail while doing what Waters calls a handstand, and are told that the skunk squirts a ``terrible-smelling liquid.'' Such information is all but eclipsed by what's found on the right side of the spread--pull-tab illustrations that demonstrate various creatures' transformations. We're shown the puss moth caterpillar as it perches on a branch; pull the tab and it ``pretends to be a monster, warning away a bird with its red face and pink tails.'' Elsewhere, the Australian frilled lizard ``snaps open a bright frill of skin around its neck,'' the porcupinefish swells up into ``a huge, spiky balloon,'' the fire-bellied toad shows off its ``bright red spotted belly'' and the three-banded armadillo ``rolls itself up into an armor-plated ball.'' Ages 4-7. (June)