West Coast Wild

Starred review from September 7, 2015
This alphabet book from Hodge (Rescuing the Children) and Reczuch (Loon) essentially does double duty as an advertisement for the natural glories of the Pacific Northwest—it’s the rare reader who won’t want to travel there after they reach Z (which stands for the intertidal zone, “where land and sea meet”). Hodge’s forthright narration offers details about familiar creatures like bears, cougars, and orca, but she sneaks in some surprises, too—how many readers will be familiar with Velella velella, which float atop the waves “like little blue sailboats”? But in many ways, it’s Reczuch’s watercolor-and-pencil images that make the book—from lowly tangles of kelp sprawled across the beach to soaring rainforest trees, her precisely drafted illustrations find majesty and beauty in the creatures, vegetation, and landscapes that make the Pacific Northwest so distinctive. Ages 4–7.

July 15, 2015
"There is a wild and beautiful place where an ancient rainforest meets the ocean....Come and explore the Pacific west coast" via the ABCs. The promise of the above introduction is more than fulfilled. Two or three sentences narrate each letter: "B is for bears that den in the rainforest. At low tide, a hungry black bear ambles down to the beach and flips over rocks to find tasty crabs to eat." Each statement is descriptive, informative, and handsomely illustrated with watercolors and colored pencils in expansive double-page spreads. Only a few letter choices will be familiar to most kids, such as E for eagles, F for fish, P for Pacific Ocean, and R for rain. For the most part, Hodge handles the more challenging letters well: I is for invertebrates, K is for kelp, Q is for quillback rockfish, and Z is for the intertidal zone. Only two entries are so obscure as to be real stretches: X is for Xiphister (a prickleback fish), and V is for "Velella velella, or by-the-wind sailors." An author's note provides further general information, and there is a short list of websites and books for further exploration. To say the book is simply a nature alphabet is an understatement. Altogether, the 26 selections create a panoramic experience in print-East Coast dwellers will want one of their own. (Informational picture book. 5-8)

COPYRIGHT(2015) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

November 1, 2015

K-Gr 3-Reczuch's gorgeous watercolors are the centerpiece of this informative ABC picture book about the habitats along the west coast of North America. The clean design allows readers to focus on the visuals and the meaning of the text. Each page has two or three well-crafted sentences describing a plant or animal that lives in the Pacific Northwest. Hodge manages to find noteworthy specimens for every letter, even X (Xiphister, an eel-like fish). Useful back matter rounds out this charming and original abecedarium. VERDICT This award-winning author and illustrator team present an elegant introduction to the organisms of the Pacific Rim, as well as a useful and accessible model for descriptive writing.-Maggi Idzikowski, Ann Arbor Public Schools, MI

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.