Red-Spotted Newt - Hardcover

Who knew that red-spotted newts produce poisonous chemicals that smell and taste bad to protect them from predators? Or that they are called efts (newts were originally ewts) during the one to five years they wander on land before returning to water (and, presumably, newt-hood) to hatch their young. Gove (One Rainy Night, p. 556, etc.), a zoologist with a specialty in snakes and lizards, delivers a riveting account of one newt's action-packed life. Her book is typically full of fascinating, arcane bits of information, as well as moments of high drama: a newt's particularly gooey encounter with a hungry toad, for example. We follow the eft on land, and then to her egg-laying water stage, ending up as we began, with our newt heroine eating some tiny clams and nudging through the mud. Gove is a graceful writer who can turn a lesson on newts into an exciting story. And, as they did in Gove's A Water Snake's Year (1991), Duncan's wonderfully detailed illustrations match the exactitude of the text brilliantly. This may be more than most people want to know about newts, but it is an inspiring book for nature buffs. (Nonfiction. 7+) -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Grade 3-6-Play by play, season by season, this is the chronicle of one newt's life. Pretty, realistic watercolor paintings embellish the text on each page. There are no chapter divisions; instead, there is one long, straight narrative. Told clearly, with an attentive, even tone, the story unfolds through the stages of egg, embryo, larva, life on land as an eft, and finally as an adult female that returns to its home pond to lay eggs and begin the cycle again. Escaping from predators, physical and color changes, and suffering through seasonal extremes all provide a sense of drama; text is accurate and free of anthropomorphism. Readers will feel an affinity for this particular newt after following every detail of its life, and they will certainly gain an understanding of what exactly an amphibian is-more than a frog, different from a reptile, and a creature capable of amazing transformations.
Valerie Lennox, Jacksonville Public Library, FL
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.