Illuminature by Rachel Williams

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Ill. by Carnovsky. Wide-Eyed, 2016. ISBN 9781847808868
"Nature never stops. With every tick of the clock, an animal wakes up and goes in search of food. The sky might be dark when the creature first stirs; night-time is ruled by the nocturnal animals. During the light of day diurnal animals like to hunt. And as the world welcomes dawn, or bids farewell to the day at dusk, crepuscular creatures appear."
And in this most amazing book the reader gets to discover what's out and about at the various times of the planet's rotation. Firstly you select a destination from amongst ten different habitats which include such diversity as the Simpson Desert, the Weddell and Ross Seas of Antarctica, the rainforest of the Congo, the Andes Mountains, even the Ganges River basin. From the observation deck what appears to be a jumble of colour slowly exposes itself as the outlines of a number of creatures, but when you then use the special multi-coloured lens which is supplied, and peer through the different colours a whole new world emerges! The red lens exposes the daytime creatures, the blue lens those who prefer a darker environment while the green lens illuminates the plant life of the region. Then to make the experience even better, there is a double-page spread that identifies each creature with some brief information about it. There are 180 different creatures to discover throughout the book, 18 for each region!
This is not a ready reference book packed full of information about the world's habitats and their inhabitants. There are countless other resources that do that. This is an introduction to the boundless wonders of nature, its diversity and difference that reveals itself with the passage of time and which will leave the reader with a feeling of awe and perhaps a greater awareness of just what might be living in or dependent on the environment as they go stomping through it. It truly does illuminate Nature.
Have a sneak peek at what's on offer.
Barbara Braxton

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