David Antenborough narrates this picture-book send-up of a nature documentary, sounding just like the real-life David but with more gesticulations, since he has six limbs at his disposal. Director Stephen Spielbug tries to keep the cast of characters on task, but it’s worse than herding cats: The orb-weaving spider would like to eat one or two other actors; the grasshopper is a diva; the worm is too busy munching dirt to emerge from the ground on cue; the robin has joined a union and declines to show up for the predation scene; and the slug is too embarrassed by his slime to perform. As David and Stephen near the wrap-up, filming is interrupted by a whuffling noise and then a foul-smelling hurricane, and Fido the dog sniffs his way through the grass and onto their set. The panicked actors flee at top speed (which is not very fast in the slug’s case), but the intrepid Antenborough continues narrating, Spielbug keeps directing, and they bring the film to a dramatic conclusion. Despite the chaos—or maybe because of it—we learn some things about these animals, and backmatter nature facts give us more.
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Fran Hodgkins is the author of numerous children's books, including Andre the Famous Harbor Seal and How People Learned to Fly. She lives in Rockport, Maine.
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