This animal anthology is divided into nine chapters, each dealing with a different habitat: the country, the city, fresh water, the prairies, the forest, the mountains, the ocean, the desert, and the “world’s coldest places.” While the quantity of information for each animal is limited, the quality is not. Author Stephanie Ledu provides the reader with an abundance of unusual facts that will fascinate and inform even a knowledgeable adult. For example, I didn’t know that male mosquitoes eat nectar or that mussels produce sticky threads that they use to cling to rocks. To help young readers understand the relative size of animals, Ledu often makes comparisons with common objects; for example, a humpback whale is as long as two buses.

The outstanding feature of this book is the detailed photography that illustrates the text. Varying in size, most of the photos of animals are so sharply focused that they show the textures of fur and feathers as well as the minute markings of insects and sea creatures. Accompanying each photo are one or two sentences that describe the animal’s behaviour in the photo as well as a sidebar containing a short paragraph that reflects the theme of the chapter. The background colours of the sidebars are repeated in the warm colours of the subtitles, giving the book a pleasant, uplifting quality.

Animal enthusiasts will love the endearing photos, taken by many different photographers, and young readers will enjoy reading the small bits of information. An index provides a quick reference for both students and teachers.