About Rodents: A Guide for Children

Oh, rats! If you've ever said that you probably know what a rat looks like and do know a bit about one rodent. There are many different kinds of rodents, but they all have one thing in common . . . they all are "mammals with special front teeth that never stop growing." Can you imagine having teeth that never stopped growing? In this book we make the acquaintance of the North American Porcupine, the White-footed Deermouse, Harris's Antelope Squirrel, the Northern Collared Lemming, the Black Agouti, the Common Muskrat, the Hispid Cotton Rat, the Black-tailed Prairie Dog, the White-throated Woodrat, the Eurasian Red Squirrel, the North American Beaver, the House Mouse, the Woodchuck, the Southern Flying Squirrel, the Eastern Chipmunk, the Eastern Gray Squirrel, the Hazel Dormouse, the Eurasian Harvest Mouse, the Capybara, the Golden Hamster, the Brown Rat and the Long-tailed Chinchilla. Whew! Did you know there were so many rodents? They can live in many different places, including your own home. They can even live underground . . . perhaps you know what rodent lives there. If you don't know now you will after you read this book! The book has a very simple set up. There is a short sentence or two (sometimes a portion of one) and an illustration of the rodent in its natural habitat on the opposite page. There are eighteen beautifully executed full color, full page plates in this book. In the afterword, each plate is reproduced in miniature and there is a one paragraph vignette describing the rodent. This is a lovely book, but if the buyer is expecting an expanded naturalist text he or she will be disappointed. If purchased for as a picture book for discussion, the reader will be delighted!