City Critters

Gr 6–9—Animal adaptation is the theme of this interesting and fact-filled book about the many creatures sharing our urban landscapes. Firmly establishing that the loss of rural space is the primary reason that many more wild animals are finding their way into cities, the author goes on to discuss the multiple threats facing many species. Beginning with the more familiar mammals and rodents, including skunks, raccoons, coyotes, and rats, and then introducing a variety of other types of wildlife that live in, under, and surrounding our large urban areas, Read casts a broad net to include all of North America. Marine animals, aquatic creatures, birds, reptiles, insects, and spiders are discussed. One might not think of whales and sharks as urban, but they are included since they often wander close to heavily populated shores. Numerous full-color photographs and sidebars are scattered throughout. In discussing the plight of the many animals displaced from their more natural surroundings, the author makes a plea for the considerate and concerned treatment of them as well as for a general awareness of our changing world and the threats to wildlife everywhere. Attractive enough for general reading and useful for a variety of classroom studies of ecology, the environment, and biology, this is a welcome addition to most collections.—Eva Elisabeth VonAncken, formerly at Trinity-Pawling School, Pawling, NY