How on Earth?: A Question-and-Answer Book About How Animals and Plants Live

Pat Galloway, formerly the resource librarian at the Toronto & District
Parent Co-operative Preschool Corporation, is currently with the
Scarborough Public Library.

This fascinating fact-finding expedition into the diverse world of
plants and animals is designed for the intermediate reader. Under the
broad headings “Animal and Plants,” “Communities,” and “Making
Room for Wildlife,” the author uses a lively question-and-answer
format to reveal the patterns and relationships of growth that link all
living things, from one-celled animals to humans. Each of the book’s
40 topics, from “Life in the Arctic” to “Keeping in Touch,”
receives a brief introduction with three question-and-answer paragraphs.
Many questions are cross-referenced to other topics. Clear photographs
and illustrations depict the species covered in the text.

Underlying the book’s lighthearted and informal approach to botany is
a serious concern about the hazards facing the world’s wildlife.
Orenstein, a zoologist and lawyer involved in conservation issues,
offers suggestions on how the reader can assist in reversing the decline
of many species. His entertaining, informative, and visually appealing
book is a tad more sophisticated than most intermediate introductions to
the subject. Recommended.