Both these new additions to Crabtree’s Crabapple series will appeal to young animal lovers – and their teachers and parents. These books feature an attractive design, large readable typeface, and many colour photographs. How Animals Communicate describes how animals use smells, sounds, movement, and displays to give each other messages. Kids will love the picture of the tiger urinating to mark its territory, as well as all the other colourful photographs of familiar and unusual animals.

How A Plant Grows is a good introduction to the life cycle of plants, including plant reproduction. Clear drawings help illustrate major aspects of plant growth and effectively supplement the photographs.These books present a good general overview of their topics, although it is surprising that a Canadian book on animal communication could miss mentioning the warning slap of the beaver’s tail. As one might expect, each book features an index and glossary. How Animals Communicate adds an appendix, which provides useful additional information related to each of the photographs in the book. Teachers and librarians should take a close look at this eye-catching series.