Synopses & Reviews
Along the Bay of Bengal between India and Bangladesh stretches a strange and beautiful flooded forest. This enchanted forest is called the Sundarbans Tiger Reserve and is home to more tigers than anywhere else on earth. There are said to be some five hundred tigers here. Nowhere else do tigers live in a mangrove swamp. And nowhere else do healthy tigers routinely hunt people. Yet about three hundred people are killed each year by the tigers of Sundarbans. No one knows why. The Man-Eating Tigers of Sundarbans is a mystery story, but it is also a story about science and myth, about people and tigers, and about different ways of seeing the natural world. Sy Montgomery traveled to Sundarbans searching for answers to the mysteries surrounding these tigers. She listened to what scientists had to say about the unusual tiger behavior and to the stories of the villagers who revere the very animals who hunt them.
Review
"A stimulating text and vibrant, full-color photographs entice readers on this trip down the Amazon... A non-fiction title that inspires as it informs." School Library Journal, Starred
"[Montgomery] will not only leave readers feeling as if they'd been to the Amazon and met one of its odder-looking residents, but well equipped to pursue a newly kindled interest in rainforest conservation." Kirkus Reviews, Starred
"A captivating travelogue...children with a taste for adventure will enjoy this enthusiastic field trip to the rainforest." Booklist, ALA, Starred Review
Review
"The lively text communicates both the meticulous measurements required in this kind of work and the thrill of new discoveries." SLJ, starred School Library Journal, Starred
"A stellar example of how good such books can be." --Booklist, starred Booklist, ALA, Starred Review
Each spring, 18,000 red-sided garter snakes emerge en masse from three underground dens in Manitoba, Canada, where they have spent the winter stacked on top of one another like cordwood. As the snakes spill out of the dens, Earthwatch volunteers and students gather them up and stuff them in pillowcases bought in bulk at the Salvation Army. The captured snakes then participate in a day's behavioral experiments directed by Bob Mason, a zoologist at Oregon State University. (In 1989 Mason identified the pheromone, or scent, that draws the male to the female garter snake.) The snakes might interact in colorful "arenas" that look like upended box kites or attempt to follow a path marked with scent through a maze. Mason is trying to figure out why female snakes prefer bigger males and how the snakes find their way to the marsh twenty miles away from the dens....A solid introduction to the ethos of experimental science as seen by a genial scientist with a research topic whose kid appeal is hard to beat.
Horn Book
Review
Immediately captures attention with a fresh, engaging style that turns scientific study into a page-turning mystery. . . . A fascinating topic meets a talented storyteller.” Booklist, ALA, Starred Review
Montgomery's personal enthusiasm and knowledge extend nicely into the book's informative concluding elements that include fast facts, a glossary of Bengali phrases, a list of related organizations, and comments on the photographs." School Library Journal
Review
This attractive and informative offering is an intelligent reportage of science as it happens.
School Library Journal, Starred
Laced with captivating color photos and capped with an array of facts and resources about bears of all sorts, this pared-down version of the adult title should be irresistible to bear lovers and budding naturalists alike.
Kirkus Reviews
This is a natural...for young environmentalists and animal lovers, as well as readers who just like a good science mystery.
The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
Review
Zickefoose finds [a connection with nature] often and documents it in words and paintings in her beautiful new book.
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Synopsis
Welcome to a forest filled with water. In the wet season, the swollen Amazon becomes a looking glass into another world, where pink dolphins swim like something from a dream. In Peru they are called bufeo coloradoand#151;the ruddy dolphin. Their color ranges from white to gray to a vivid pink. These astonishing mammals, actually river-dwelling whales, easily navigate their way through the complex, hazardous world of the Amazon rain forest. Encantado invites readers on the adventure of a lifetime as we travel into one of the worldand#8217;s most lush and beautiful jungles in search of these magical creatures. Our guides include scientists and researchers as well as the local people, who have lived with the encantadosand#151;the enchanted onesand#151;literally at their doorsteps for centuries. Our main guides are the dolphins themselves. They lead us into myth. They take us back in time to a prehistoric era. They alone can show us the depth of the Amazonand#8217;s beauty, diversity, and magicand#151;and help us to keep our planet rich and whole.
Synopsis
Dr. Greg Skomal, biologist and head of the Massachusetts Shark Research Program, is investigating a controversial possibility: Might Cape Cod's waters serve as a breeding ground for the great white shark, the largest and most feared predatory fish on Earth? Sy Montgomery and Keith Ellenbogen report on this thrilling turning point in marine research and travel to Guadeloupe, Mexico, to get up close and personal with the sharks. This daring expedition into the realm of great whites shows readers that in order to save the planet and its creatures, we must embrace our humanity and face our greatest fears.
Synopsis
Dr. Robert Mason has been studying a mysterious phenomenon for over fifteen years: the reemergence of tens of thousands of red-sided garter snakes — the worlds largest concentration of snakes — after a winter spent in a state of suspended animation in subterranean caverns.
This gathering each spring in the forests of Manitoba, Canada, is one of the most extraordinary events of the natural world and is the subject of study for Dr. Mason, a.k.a. the Snake Scientist.
Synopsis
Join Sy Montgomery as she travels far and wide in search of the golden moon bear. Along with her research companions, she delves deep into the jungles of the Elephant Mountains, visits the bustling streets of Cambodian cities, explores remote villages, and attends a Club Med for bears in Thailandand#151;all while carrying marshmallows and tweezers for her encounters with the bears along the way.
The quest for the golden moon bear takes us on an exhilarating journey and chronicles the detective work and science behind tracking a new species in a different part of the world, where bears are kept as pets and where sometimes things arenand#8217;t quite what they seem . . .
Synopsis
A frequent commentator on NPR's All Things Considered, Julie Zickefoose has painted nature virtually all her life. At the age of seven she knew that she wanted to paint birds for a living, and her lifelong dedication shows in her paintings, which are meticulously accurate as well as beautiful. The paintings used here, of scenes from her beloved home in southern Ohio, illuminate well-crafted essays based on her daily walks and observations. Wild turkeys, coyotes, box turtles, and a bird-eating bullfrog flap, lope, and leap through her prose. She excels at describing and exploring interactions between people and animals, bringing her subjects to life in just a few lines. Her husband and young children make appearances, presenting their own challenges and pleasures. The essays are arranged by season, starting with winter, providing a sense of movement through the year.
Synopsis
In this new installment in the award-winning, non-fiction series Scientists in the Field, author Sy Montgomery and expert underwater photographer Keith Ellenbogen daringly investigate one of the oceanandrsquo;s greatest enigmas and one of the worldandrsquo;s deadliest predators: The Great White Shark.
About the Author
Sy Montgomery is an author,andnbsp;naturalist, newspaper columnist,andnbsp;scriptwriter, and radio commentator who writes award-winning books for children as well as adults. She lives in Hancock, New Hampshire.andnbsp;Visit her website at symontgomery.com. andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp;andnbsp; Syandnbsp;Montgomery and photographer Nic Bishop won theandnbsp;Sibert Medal in 2011andnbsp;for their collaborative work on Kakapo Rescue:andnbsp;Saving the World's Strangest Parrot,andnbsp;another Scientist in the Field title.andnbsp;andnbsp;Keith Ellenbogen is an award-winning underwater photographer with an emphasis on environmental conservation. His images have been published worldwide in newspapers, magazines, and books as well as on TV. He is a Senior Fellow with The International League of Conservation Photographers (iLCP), a Fellow with the Explorers Club, and an Assistant Professor of Photography at the Fashion Institute of Technology / SUNY.
Table of Contents
Foreword x Preface xiv
Winter January Thaw 3 Adaptation 8 Grosbeaks: A Remembrance 14 A Winterand#8217;s Tale 21 Calling Kali 26 The Cursed Tangle 32 The Generous Robin 37
Spring Off-seasons 45 Phoebe Magic 51 Mowing the Meadow 57 Six Gifts of April 63 The Planting Bird 68 A Bad Day for Starlings 76 Atoning to Box Turtles 85 Baffling Phoebes 97 Dancing with Tree Swallows 102 Big Nature 108
Summer Paradise Lost 119 Once Bitten 131 Stopping to Help 136 Summer Pleasures 144 Going on Vacation 150 Wren Wranch 156
Fall Chicken Fever 165 The Turning of the Year 171 The Vultures Knew 178 Letting It Go 185 Avian Intelligence 192 Birding with Bambinos 200 The Healing Walk 206 Catching Paul 212