Welcome to the Website of Marianne Berkes

As you can imagine, each spread takes Jeanette Canyon a long time as she creates her art with an array of colors, patterns and textures, all sculpted from POLYMER CLAY. The reliefs are then photographed so the illustrations are practically tactile. If you liked "Over in the Ocean, in a Coral Reef," you're sure to enjoy this book too.

November 2006

I read the text, without the illustrations, to students at Seminole Springs Elementary. They loved doing the movements that mimic the animals. Wait until they see the finished book, when I return there in April 2007! They liked my monkey puppet, Howler, too.

March 2007

It's here: a lively rainforest book for high-energy kids!

May 2007

School Library Journal review (Yay!)

BERKES, Marianne. Over in the Jungle: A Rainforest Rhyme. illus. by Jeanette Canyon. unpaged. score. CIP. Dawn. 2007. Tr $16.95. ISBN978-1-58469-091-7; pap. $8.95. ISBN 978-1-58469-092-4. LC 2006030962.

PreS-Gr 3-Another variation on the familiar song, this one enumerates some of the unusual fauna of the rain forest. It not only spot-lights some of the animals-marmosets, parrots, honey bears, leaf cutter ants, etc. but also offers pertinent information on the habitat. Berkes describes the different layers of the rainforest and its importance to our global ecology and suggests movement activities for children to act out the rhyme. The unusual and colorful illustrations are made with polymer clay and then photographed, giving them a three-dimensional look. Each spread has the text and a number on the left against a dark-green leaf background, and shows one animal family with the correct number of babies as well as several other sets of indigenous flora or fauna to count. A long double page shows all the levels of the rain forest in cross section, and children are challenged to count the animals previously encountered and now hang-ing on the vines and hiding underneath the trees, etc. This is a handsome book on an important subject, and it can serve as recreational reading as well as an introduction to a basic unit on the rain forest.-Judith Constantinides,formerly at East Baton Rouge Parish Main Library, LA"

Awards!
In July, "Jungle" received an iParenting Media Award.
For more info about this prestigious award, go on to iParentingMedia.com.
March 2008: "Jungle" is the winner of the "Mom's Choice Award.
April 2008: "Jungle" is an IRA Teachers Choice for 2008. What an honor!

Reproducible Bookmarks
Four (morpho butterfly, boa constrictor, conure parrot and poison dart frog) of the ten rain forest animals that are portrayed in this book, are available as bookmarks. E-mail Marianne to request reproducible copies and have fun learning about these amazing creatures.

COMING SOON! Look for the board book version (24 pages, $7.95) for young ones to be released in early Sept. 2008!