The author/illustrator of the picture book Manatee Morning (2000), Arnosky now offers this more informative introductory guide to manatees within his All About series. Artwork, captions, and paragraphs of information work together seamlessly to present the physical characteristics, behaviors, and habitats of manatees living in Florida waters, as well as the threats to their survival. Fluid paintings illustrate points in the text and depict the animals' lumbering grace. Writing in a friendly yet authoritative manner and occasionally slipping into first person, Arnosky sounds like an unusually well-informed uncle sharing his broad knowledge and experience of manatees with children.

Part of the launch of Scholastic's republishing of Arnosky's All About...books in paperback, this displays all the trademark characteristics that have made the author such a staple in the nature and animal sections of libraries. The title of both book and series is entirely appropriate, as readers will, in fact, learn all about manatees. From their dimensions and habitat range, to their distant relations and eating habits, this has it all. For instance, a manatee's limbs are more like arms than flippers, and they do not actually sleep. They communicate with high-pitched squeaks and give birth only every two to five years. While they are larger than many aquatic predators, they are not a threat to either humans or other wildlife—but humans, and especially their boat propellers, do threaten the manatees. Wonderfully detailed illustrations include diagrams and comparisons in introducing readers to this gentle giant. A well-researched addition to both libraries and junior naturalists' shelves. (Picture book/nonfiction. 4-10)

K-Gr 4 This engaging picture-book overview is designed to be shared with prereaders and enjoyed by independent readers alike. The author poses basic questions and invites youngsters into the manatee's underwater world to find out the answers. These large gray marine mammals (1011 feet long and weighing more than 1000 pounds full grown) are shown in the wild with the fish, plants, and birds common to their habitats. Arnosky's signature watercolors add enormously to the book's appeal and extend the information. He places the creatures in the context of the Sirenia order of animals and then gets down to such specifics as how they use their beaverlike tails to swim, how they poke their nostrils above the surface of the water to breathe, how they eat using their flexible snouts to grab aquatic vegetation, and more. This must-have title is a delight to look at and is packed with interesting and pertinent details. Frances E. Millhouser, formerly at Chantilly Regional Library, Fairfax County, VA