Display: Wild About Books

Toco Toucans: bright enough to disappear
By Anastasia Suen

Toco toucans have a surprising way of protecting themselves from predators. These birds have multicolored feathers and big, reddish-orange beaks that should make them easy to spotor so you would think. The brilliant colors actually provide the perfect camouflage among the bright foliage of the tropical rain forest. The toucans can stay safe by hiding in plain sight! Packed with fascinating facts and photos that will test childrens detective skills, this book will engage emergent readers as they learn how toco toucans are adapted for survival. A section of the book highlights other rain-forest birds that are camouflaged to look like the plants in their environment.

Chimpanzees
By Helen Friesen

A book all about chimpanzees, chimpanzee history, where chimpanzees live, chimpanzee features, what chimpanzees eat, chimpanzee life cycle, conservation of chimpanzees, and myths and legends.

Chasing Cheetahs
By Sy Montgomery

Describes the cheetah's essential role in the ecosystem and the ways in which Namibia's Cheetah Conservation Fund is promoting cohabitation between cheetahs and farmers.

Wild Cats: past & present
By John Becker

Discusses the genetic ancestors of wild cats and presents information on the physical characteristics, behavior, habitat, and threats to different kinds of wild cats, including servals, jaguars, and lynxes.
A Little Book of Sloth

Orangutan Orphanage
By Suzi Eszterhas

Invites readers inside the Orangutan Care Center and Quarantine, operated by Orangutan Foundation International, in the South Pacific jungles of Borneo. It explores why baby orangutans become orphaned and the process of healing and rehabilitating them for return to the wild. It also highlights the people who work at the rescue center and how they aid the animals.

Tree Kangaroos
By Willow Clark

Learn how tree kangaroos are specially adapted to tree living and why they might have adopted this ecological niche over time.

Giant Pandas
By Gail Gibbons

An introduction to the physical characteristics, behavior, life cycle, and habitat of these endangered animals.

Comments

Funny Farm by Mark Teague 2009

There are things I liked about Mark Teague's newest book, Funny Farm , and things I didn't like. Where should I start? I'll do the "didn'ts" first. The illustrations show animals personified. Well, some of the animals are. The main characters, Edward, and his farm family relatives, all dogs, are humanized. They stand upright, do farm chores, eat at a table, wear clothes, knit (yes, with paws) and sleep in beds. Most everybody else on and around the farm, who are also animals, act like animals. They are outside, roll in mud, live in the barn, and require care from their owners. It struck me the most on the page spread where there are pigs playing in puddle in the rain and Edward, a black and white boxer, watches from inside the house. I thought "You're a dog! Go play with them!" But, alas, he can't, seeing as how he goes through his entire visit to the farm wearing a suit and red bow tie. Another picture that bothered me was the maple syrup pa...

The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forester 2008

J Fiction 328 pages I almost didn't finish this book. I got to Chapter 4, and was just about ready to quit (a kind of slow story about a girl, name of Piper McCloud, who discovers she can fly, parents freak out, she becomes a social outcast, yadda, yadda) but suddenly, right there in Chapter 4, the story takes a sharp turn and becomes really interesting . Piper finds herself in the company of others like her, but not "fliers", and under the care and authority of Dr. Hellion. I won't even tell you any more. Read this book. Forester does a great job of keeping you wondering who's the good guy and who's the bad? Piper is a likeable, strong, endearing character that girl readers will enjoy. But don't NOT give it to boys! The main male character is an extremely intelligent young man who is one of the ones you wonder about . . . good or bad? This is a good one, well worth your time.

Review: The Factory

The Factory By Catherine Egan New York, NY : Scholastic Inc., 2025. Fiction. 306 pages. Thirteen-year-old Asher Doyle has been invited to join the Factory, a secretive research facility in the desert which ostensibly extracts renewable energy from the electromagnetic fields of its young recruits. But Asher soon realizes something sinister is going on. Kids are getting sick. The adults who run the Factory seem to be keeping secrets. And the extraction process is not only painful and exhausting, but existentially troubling. Asher makes a handful of new friends who help him with an investigation that turns into a resistance, which turns into...a cliffhanger! The Factory is a page-turning sci-fi with multidimensional characters, an intriguing plot, and refreshingly straight-forward writing. Egan weaves in detail about climate crises and social unrest, making the story's dystopian setting feel rich and plausible. With its sophisticated themes and accessible storytelling, I would recomm...

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