Nicely illustrated guide for beginning naturalists, youthful or adult. Looks at spiders, fungi, earthworms, galls, wildflowers, vines, lichens, maples, starlings, squirrels, and other common but interesting "finds." Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Introduces common living things that continue to make a living during the winter and suggests activities for discovering what each creature looks like, where it lives, and how it survives.

A wealth of information. - Booklist "A nice range of accessible information and activities." - Orion Afield

This book will introduce you to the beguiling world of nocturnal animals through directed observations and hands-on exploratory activities that lead you to your own exciting discoveries.

Hiking, trekking, camping, climbing, biking, skiing, snowboarding, swimming, whitewater rafting, and mountaineering with children of all ages 50 family adventure trips--close-to-home, budget-wise, and national parks How to plan, pack, and organize trips, especially tricky with infants and toddlers and extended, mixed, or blended families A helpful guide for parents who want to keep traveling, remain active in the outdoors, and get their kids interested in nature and the environment. Blends interactive parenting and coaching skills with outdoor sports, adventure, and travel. Taking children on camping trips or rafting trips can be a challenge, but by balancing safety and adventure, independence for older children, and family participation, everyone can have fun. A section on safety includes basic first aid and what to put in emergency kits.

“With the twinned calamities of climate change and mass extinction weighing heavier and heavier on my nature-besotted soul, here were concrete, affordable actions that I could take, that anyone could take, to help our wild neighbors thrive in the built human environment. And it all starts with nothing more than a seed. Bringing Nature Home is a miracle: a book that summons butterflies." —Margaret Renkl, The Washington Post As development and habitat destruction accelerate, there are increasing pressures on wildlife populations. In his groundbreaking book Bringing Nature Home, Douglas W. Tallamy reveals the unbreakable link between native plant species and native wildlife—native insects cannot, or will not, eat alien plants. When native plants disappear, the insects disappear, impoverishing the food source for birds and other animals. Luckily, there is an important and simple step we can all take to help reverse this alarming trend: everyone with access to a patch of earth can make a significant contribution toward sustaining biodiversity by simply choosing native plants. By acting on Douglas Tallamy's practical and achievable recommendations, we can all make a difference.

With wonder and a sense of humor, Nature Obscura author Kelly Brenner aims to help us rediscover our connection to the natural world that is just outside our front door--we just need to know where to look. Through explorations of a rich and varied urban landscape, Brenner reveals the complex micro-habitats and surprising nature found in the middle of a city. In her hometown of Seattle, which has plowed down hills, cut through the land to connect fresh- and saltwater, and paved over much of the rest, she exposes a diverse range of strange and unknown creatures. From shore to wetland, forest to neighborhood park, and graveyard to backyard, Brenner uncovers how our land alterations have impacted nature, for good and bad, through the wildlife and plants that live alongside us, often unseen. These stories meld together, in the same way our ecosystems, species, and human history are interconnected across the urban environment.