The Gibson Park Grassland Detectives

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

In these books, nature writer Diane Swanson uses the detective method as
a vehicle for exploring some of Canada’s most fascinating natural
ecosystems. The characters in each book are more or less
interchangeable—four grade school students are challenged to figure
out how an ecosystem works using only their natural curiosity and a few
detective tools such as a magnifying glass, a notebook, and a
pocketknife.

In The Kingfisher Camp River Detectives, four young sleuths explore a
B.C. river valley and see everything from eagles to algae. The kids
collect minerals from the riverbed, find fossils of animals and plants,
watch a belted kingfisher feed her young, and learn how they can help
protect rivers by preventing water pollution from storm sewers and
industrial waste.

In The Gibson Park Grassland Detectives, four kids from a suburb
explore the flora and fauna found in a remote grassland area deep in the
B.C. interior. They discover prickly-pears (Canada’s smallest cactus)
and have their lunch raided by a thieving magpie.

In The Central School Seashore Detectives, four young Sherlocks scour a
Pacific tide pool for wildlife. They find weeds that pop, clams that
hitchhike and a deciduous tree that keeps its leaves on year-round.

Each book is divided into five chapters and includes a glossary and an
index. A summary called “Nature Notes” at the end of each chapter
gives young readers an idea of how scientists (or detectives) might have
recorded their observations. Swanson’s prose is consistently strong
but the somewhat awkward illustrations by Judith Rackham and Terry Smith
give the series a slightly amateurish appearance. Recommended.