Most Popular Books by Madeleine Dunphy

Lyrical words and lush, naturalistic paintings introduce children to the tropical rain forest and the animals that live within its wet, green world. From swinging monkeys and upside-down-hanging sloths to graceful caimans and stalking jaguars, Here Is the Tropical Rain Forest envelops young readers in a stunning jungle while teaching them an important lesson about the ecosystem. Madeleine Dunphy’s rhythmical, cumulative text shows how each plant and animal of the rain forest is inextricably linked with the others in a chain of life. Michael Rothman’s deeply hued and shadowed paintings brilliantly evoke this singular environment.

Despite its stark landscape and harsh climate, the Sonoran Desert teems with life. Hare, hawks, lizards, bobcats, badgers, coyote — all live among the desert’s fragrant mesquite and spiny cactus, and none can exist without the others. Madeleine Dunphy’s poetic text explores all the warm and native elements that make the American Southwest such a mystical place, while Anne Coe''s stunning paintings portray the desert’s plants and animals as well as the dazzling colors reflected in the rocks and skies of the Sonoran Desert.

Penguins, whales, seals, fish, and many other animals are all part of Antarctica’s food web. In this striking picture book, Madeleine Dunphy uses a cumulative approach, combining lyrical verse with repetition to reveal the region''s interdependency of life. Tom Leonard''s gorgeous illustrations, from the flash of orange on a penguin''s beak to iridescent icebergs jutting from the sea, capture a wondrous miracle — the circle of life. Here Is Antarctica educates as it entertains, inspiring children to explore this fascinating ecosystem page by page.

The Arctic winter is cold, snowy, and dark. The barren landscape is covered by a layer of snow that stretches to the horizon, with nothing to disrupt it but jagged rocks. There are only a few plants and no sunlight. And yet, there are animals hardy enough to survive this bleak environment: the arctic wolf, hare, cod, and fox; the snowy owl, polar bear, ringed seal, and Peary caribou, all inextricably linked together in the chain of life. With lyrical text and glowing paintings that capture this mystically beautiful environment with stunning realism, this unusual book fascinates and inspires children of all ages.

The Peregrine’s Journey vividly describes one of the most remarkable feats in the animal kingdom. Beginning in Alaska and ending two months later in Argentina, the peregrine falcon’s annual migration is an 8,000-mile flight across the Americas. This beautifully illustrated book allows young readers to follow one bird on its journey. Based on the actual migration of a real bird that was tracked by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the book is filled with amazing facts about the bird’s diet, habits, and navigational abilities, as well as stunning views of the many habitats the peregrine visits along the way.

At Home with the Gopher Tortoise: The Story of a Keystone Species teaches young readers about the gopher tortoise and the more than 360 different kinds of animals that depend on it for survival. From owls to rabbits, from skunks to scorpions, the gopher tortoise provides creatures with shelter, food, or a place to raise their young. In this fascinating tale of ecological interdependency, glorious illustrations reveal the gopher tortoise''s world both below and above ground, showing children how the fate of one species is important to so many others.

…Here is the water both shallow and still that soaks the soil of this murky, moist world: Here is the wetland. It is known as the wetland. Atop its glittering surface and below in its shadowy depths, birds, bass, minks, and muskrats struggle to survive and flourish. Madeleine Dunphy’s lyrical prose provides a clear understanding of how each living creature links to the other in a vital chain of life. Artist Wayne McLoughlin adds a stunning visual perspective with luminously detailed paintings that convey the fragile beauty and complexity of this fascinating and critically important ecological community.

Set in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, this lyrical rhyming tale introduces young readers to some of the coral reef’s most striking residents. From the sleek shark to the colorful parrotfish to the deceptively beautiful sea anemone, each creature in this abundant undersea world relies on another for its existence. Beginning with coral, the very element that defines this ecosystem, Madeleine Dunphy uses a cumulative approach, combining simple yet forceful verse with repetition to reveal the fragile chain that links each of the plants and animals in this unique environment. Tom Leonard''s vibrant paintings capture this miraculous circle of life.

Exotic environments like the African savanna have long held a fascination for young readers. This colorful picture book beautifully evokes that realm with images of giraffes, lions, hippos, elephants, and many more animals of the plains. Through cumulative, singsong verse, young readers learn how all living things in this important ecological community rely on one another for their existence. The book brings home the important lesson that when one of these animals or plants is killed off or goes extinct, the web of life is broken. Luminous paintings by Tom Leonard capture the untamed beauty of this timeless, endangered realm.

A little girl falls asleep just as her cat wakes up. Children will experience the world through the cat''s eyes, ears, nose, whiskers, and feet as he travels the neighborhood, meeting up with other denizens of the night.

Part hero''s journey, part guided tour, this account of the turtle dove''s annual migration carries readers'' imaginations into unexplored territories. Starting in the prim hedges of Suffolk, England, instinct drives the dove high into the night skies for a 4,000 mile trip to the savannahs of Mali, in West Africa. Along the way there are lonely, moonlit flights above the sea, a cozy hideout in the bushes of Bordeaux, France, a meeting of the birds at Gibraltar, the fountains of Casablanca, winds flowing "like a river" down canyons of the Atlas Mountains, and a Sahara sandstorm churning below. With carefully researched prose and luminous paintings, this book is perfect for anyone who has ever wondered about the mysterious journeys of Earth''s feathered creatures.

Présentation poétique rythmée de la nuit arctique où nage le narval qui a mangé le poisson, poisson que poursuit le phoque, le phoque qui craint l''ours, l''ours dont... Superbes illustrations.