Young readers get a mole's-eye view of marsh life, following one star-nosed mole on an expedition through a dark tunnel deep underground and out into a sparkling pond.
From School Library Journal
PreS-Gr 2-The engaging subject of this poetic picture book is a star-nosed mole, an unusual wetland creature that feels as much at home underwater as it does beneath the ground. Framed double-page paintings, done in oil and gouache, bring its marsh home to life and capture the lush flora and fauna that thrive there. "Pebbly paws, left, right./Underground is dark as night./ Nestled deep, bulbs sleep./Bugs creep, creep deep." From the dark and murky depths, the velvety mammal tunnels and scrabbles its way until it reaches water, where it becomes a "furry boat without a sail" and dives and feels for snails and fish. The minimal rhyming text, which could almost serve as an easy reader, is both informative and evocative. Yet, despite all of the active verbs, very little happens. Instead, this lovely book provides an appealing but quiet glimpse at a rather obscure marvel of nature-Luann Toth, School Library Journal
Excerpt
Scoop and scrabble, burrow through,
tunnel into deepest blue.
Pulling fee, sculling tail,
Furry boat without a sail.
Professional Reviews
Publishers Weekly
Dense, tactile rhyming couplets and serene paintings transport readers through the twin worlds of the star-nosed mole, which flourishes in water as well as in ground. While Mole may travel nearly blind, readers' eyes will feast on Regan's (Sun Song; Welcome to the Green House) softly textured, pristinely composed oil and gouache illustrations. Mole visits, variously, a lumpy, purplish-brown tunnel, where spooky bulb roots drape the ceilings ("Starry nose feels and goes./ Hidden ears hear wood frog toes"); murky-blue water, where snails sway on leafy pondweed ("Pulling feet, sculling tail,/ Furry boat without a sail"); daylit marsh with "twiggy domes" and cattails, muskrats and blackbirds; and indigo night, where white water lilies shine and a "ghostly swan" drifts. This lyrical, read-aloud romance will endear Mole and his underworld to children; it may even mellow the exurbanite's perfectly rational mole-malice. Ages 4-8. (Sept.)
The Horn Book, Inc.
Brief rhyming text paints a portrait of the star-nosed mole and its habitat. The mole journeys beneath the forest floor, digs through the earth, swims up through a pond, and finally ends up on the water's edge as the moon rises. The lush, realistic oil and gouache illustrations are a perfect match for the warm and engaging text.
A reader from Lakewood, Colorado USA
Beautiful Book.
Beautiful, realistic illustrations depicting the habitat of the mole is accompanied by simple, poetic verses. My 21-month old daughter loves it and I think it's a wonderful book with which to teach children about the natural world.
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