Whether or not you live near the field and wood habitats described in this charming 160-page volume, your child is sure to be enchanted by the creatures it highlights--from mammals and birds to reptiles to amphibians, slugs and spiders. Each page describes one creature or plant in 250 to 400 words of large, inviting sans-serif type, accompanied by wonderful black and white pen and ink drawings.

Our son spends hours reading this book, which is growing bat-eared from his use. Speaking of which, the book opens with a warm treatment of the only flying mammals--whose front legs are modified to wings that differ greatly from those of birds. "Most bats eat insects, which they hunt by sonar detection," the author explains. "The bat makes high-pitched sounds above the range of human hearing. The sounds echo and return to the bat's sensitive ears, revealing the size, shape and location of nearby objects, including moving prey."

Kochanoff devotes two pages to beavers--one explaining why these delightful animals are commonly described as "busy" and another detailing the beaver's dam, complete with a cross-section of a home with entrance, air-opening, grooming and eating area, underwater food supply and exit. Kids will delight in the large drawing of the beaver's webbed foot. Eleven more pages detail the lives and habits of chipmunks, eastern cottontails, coyotes, white-tailed deer, red fox, mice and voles, moles, porcupines, raccoon, shrews, striped skunks and grey squirrels.

The three pages illustrating the tracks of various animals provide lots more fun. Children also love two pages on other kinds of signs that animals leave behind them--by nibbling on trees, acorns and plants, dropping seeds and conifers parts, or digging teeth marks and chiseling holes. There's something cozy as well about the ways in which diverse species--from bears and woodchucks to turtles, fish and bees--are shown curled or otherwise ensconced in their winter habitats.

The section on birds is also fabulous. It provides information on 10 species of birds--from the black-capped chickadee and common crow to the herring gull, hummingbird and killdeer. But kids also love the pages on owl pellets--which shows both the birds' droppings and illustrations of the kinds of bones that can be found by carefully picking them apart. An equally fascinating two-page spread shows ground, hanging, chimney, mud, tree and cupped nests.

And what would a nature book be without frogs, earthworms and bugs? In this book, children will get their fill, with 40 pages of fun. I'm not sure which is better, the drawings of the frogs and insects or the handsome illustrations of the wasps nests, empty bumblebee cocoons, honeycombs, butterfly chrysalis and the webs and nets woven by caddis flies and spiders to gather their food.

For plant-lovers there are another 30 pages on 39 different varieties of --as they say in the word game--vegetable matter. That includes 10 types of berries on a three-page spread under that sub-heading. Bet you didn't know wintergreen was a berry. I didn't. And did you ever hear of serviceberries? Me neither.

I also never heard of galls until I read this book--no not the kind that irks you--the "poorly understood growths on plants caused by flies, midges, aphids, mites, bacteria and fungi." Two pages on 12 species of those little guys. Plus lichens, how leaves get their color, maple syrup, milkweed, wild roses, skunk cabbage and moss.

For kids who didn't want to know more, there's a two-page bibliography and five on where in the world they can find the habitats housing the featured species.

Your budding biologist will love this book of science light. Alyssa A. Lappen

The author obviously has spent MANY hours researching and checking the information supplied in Fish Michigan 100 Great Lakes Hot Spots. I have fished many of the mentioned areas on the east side of the state and he is right on the money. This book ought to be issued with a Michigan fishing license!

Flower Gardening In The Hot Midwest: USDA Zone 5 and Lower Zone 4 is the ideal manual for beginning and intermediate Midwest-based flower gardeners. Linda Hillegass draws upon her more than twenty years of Midwest flower gardening experience to write a practical, encouraging, "user friendly" guide covering all the basics for flower gardening in the difficult climate of the American Midwest. This is a region that extends from South Dakota and Nebraska east to Indiana and is hallmarked by searing winds, intense sun, unrelenting summer heat, as well as bitter cold in the winter and sudden shifts in temperature. Flower Gardening In The Hot Midwest offers the aspiring flower gardener effective strategies for choosing plans, preparing the soil, watering, pruning, and combating pests. There is also a gardener's chronology of how long and how frequently specific plants can be expected to bloom. Flower Gardening In The Hot Midwest is an essential reference for all gardeners and horticulturalists seeking to raise flowers in this difficult agricultural zone.

Volume three in the oustanding Greycliff "River Books" series, Fly Fishing The Madison offers the aspiring angler a distillation of decades of experience, knowledge, and insight in this "user friendly" guide to fishing Montana's Madison river. Here is a wealth of information on the hatches, seasons, and reaches of the river, along with "tips, tricks & techniques" for unlocking the secrets of an surprisingly diverse river. The authors show how to fish the Madison with dry flies, nymphs, and streamers, as well as pointing out the right moments for each type of fly. Of special interest is Craig Mathews' contributions about fishing the Madison's two "stillwater" areas -- Hebgen Lake and Quake Lake. If you are planning an excursion to the Madison, begin by a thorough reading of Craig Mathews and Gary LaFontaine's Fly Fishing The Madison! Also very highly recommended for the angler's reference shelf are the other volumes in this outstanding series: Fly Fishing The Beaverkill; Fly Fishing The Henry's Fork; and Fly Fishing The Yellowstone In The Park.

You know how you remember the food of your childhood and think, it couldn't possibly taste that good today? This book is proof that it can. I have to admit, after 20 years on the East Coast, I'd forgotten there even was such a thing as Midwestern cuisine. Then I started flipped the pages, and was hit with a wave of nostaglia. I got images of pancake suppers at the Kiwanas, picking wild grapes for jam, real coffee cakes with brown sugar bubbling hot from the oven, mac and cheese recipes that unabashedly call for one pound of cheese for every pound of noodles.

Midwestern cooking isn't boring, I realized, but simple. Most recipes have only five or six ingredients -- it's the skill of the cooking and the freshness of the ingredients that counts.

If you get the book, try the recipe for Dutch letters from Yaarsma's Bakery in Pella Iowa. I thought I just remembered it as good because of happy childhood memories of walking with my cousins through that leafy, lovely old town, our shorts pockets full of change to spend at the two rival bakeries. But no, it really is that good. Nothing I had in in the Netherlands recently (and I sampled religiously) even comes close.

Reading Fourth Coast was like taking the trip, with anticipation for every new day and experience Ms. Blocksma related. I learned a lot and eagerly anticipated each daily adventure. When the trip was over, I put down my book and cried, so sorry I was to have it end. Read it.

Frank Lloyd Wright And The Prairie School In Wisconsin: An Architectural Touring Guide includes descriptions of forty-seven Wright-designed buildings, as well as thirty-six buildings of other Prairie School architects. Kristin Visser's guidebook will enable visitors to tour more than two dozen buildings, stay in Prairie School bed and breakfast inns, and even rent a Wright-designed cottage. Frank Lloyd Wright And The Prairie School In Wisconsin offers a history of each building, noting special features to observe. There is a brief biography of Frank Lloyd Wright and the other architects whose work is represented, as well as a brief history of the Prairie school. Frank Lloyd Wright And The Prairie School In Wisconsin is enhanced with more than one hundred photographs and practical travel information. James Dennis (professor of art history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the owner of a Wright-designed home) provides an informative introduction. Frank Lloyd Wright And The Prairie School In Wisconsin is "must" reading for architectural students and Frank Lloyd Wright enthusiasts.

This wise and loving book begins with the funeral of Frederick Manfred, the novelist. Written in lean, spare prose by his daughter, the poet Freya Manfred, it moves by a series of flashbacks through almost five decades of her keen observations of her father.

It is interesting to see that her writing style is quite different than her father's more ornamented style, although he was her mentor and writer friend.

You'll enjoy reading one of Frederick Manfred's books at the same time that you read Frederich Manfred: A Daughter Remembers. I chose to read Lord Grizzly, which some people say is the best of his many books.

I've concluded that the epic of Mr. Lovejoy, a contemporary of Abraham Lincoln, is about a man who didn't know when to quit. Former U.S. Senator from Illinois, Paul Simon, has formulated a fast reading, riveting rendition of the way too brief life of this "glutton for punishment." Simon's account coincides well with the embarrassing story presented in Alton,IL these days. Still, I was left with questions, like "Why didn't Reverend Lovejoy move on?" "Was Lovejoy the catalyst for the American Civil War rather than John Brown?" and "Why was Abraham Lincoln's duel in Alton cancelled?" I found the answers by visiting the city where the final months of this anti-slavery newspaper editor's life transpired. The tale of Elijah P. Lovejoy, although 165 years old, gave me plenty of food for thought. If you want to know more there are other books. If you want the gist, this volume will serve you well.

What fabulous information for grandparents to have: sharing tator tots with the grandkids at the Silver Cloud Bar & Grill to digging in the dirt with them at Garfield Park Conservatory. Chicago can be "kid friendly"! Thanks for all the groundwork which made this Chicago travel book invaluable for parents AND grandparents.