Illuminature by Rachel Williams
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