"The Wildlife Detectives"
"The Wildlife Detectives" (compare prices) reads like a detective novel. The book highlights the investigation of the killing of a bull elk named Charger in Yellowstone National Park. The story of this inquiry by the scientists at the National Fish and Wildlife Forensics Laboratory in Ashland, Oregon is interspersed with pages that look like they are from a file. These pages give background information about related laws, crimes, and the experts who work in the animal crime lab. Since the story of the investigation is so gripping, your child may choose to come back and read the file pages later. Or, like me, s/he may want to read them as they come so as to not miss any background information that could shed more light on the investigation. Either way, I think they will read the entire book. At the end of the book are suggestions for getting involved in wildlife protection, places to contact, and a glossary of wildlife forensic terms. "The Wildlife Detectives" was written by Donna Jackson, with photography by Bob Rozinski and Wendy Shattil.

"The Snake Scientist"
The first book in the series, "The Snake Scientist," (compare prices) has proven so popular that it has also been published in a softbound edition. It was written by Sybil Montgomery and illustrated by photographer Nic Bishop. Once again, the reader gets a glimpse of the important, and fascinating, work of a scientist. The book centers on the work of Dr. Robert Mason, a zoologist at Oregon State University, and his investigations in Manitoba, Canada of red-sided garter snakes. Thousands of these snakes winter in subterranean caverns and reemerge in the spring. When they reemerge, Dr. Mason conducts a number of experiments to learn more about them. "The Snake Scientist" is a Booklist Editor's Choice and won a 2000 International Reading Association Children's Book Award, among others.

Science books that engage the readers' interest and expand their knowledge are to be cherished. You should be able to find all of these books in your public or school library. Because these are books children are apt to want to read and discuss again and again, they would make nice additions to your child's personal library. You may also find, as I did, that you will not only enjoy reading them, but you will also learn a great deal.

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