Predator and Prey: A Conversation in Verse

In paired poems, Buhrman-Deever explores the perspectives and relationships between specific sets of predator and prey as well as defense mechanisms, including protective coloration and mimicry. The poems, sometimes for two voices (reminiscent of Paul Fleischman’s Joyful Noise), are uneven: “I am hungry/ for love. Flashing,/ I seek you”; “Flower nectar, a scent so sweet/ detected from the air.” Text boxes explain the relationship between the depicted creatures and bolster the poetry with compelling facts, such as the tactics chickadees use to fend off voracious sharp-shinned hawks or the way one firefly tricks another by mimicking its distinctive flash pattern. Kitchen’s realistic watercolor and gouache illustrations, occasionally presented on gatefold spreads, match the verses’ directness, adroitly showing these creatures and their environments by rendering fine details such as tangled ribbons of grass, geometrically patterned scales, and the brushy texture of a squirrel’s tail. Ages 6–9. [em](Apr.) [/em]