Canadian Wild Animals. Rev. ed.

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.

“A moose’s body is thick and wide, with stilt like legs below; /
they help a moose in wintertime, to wander through deep snow. / A mother
moose gives birth to twins, in June or late in May; / and when these
calves are one year old, she sends them on their way.”

The word “moose,” we are told, is the Algonquin word for “twig
eater.” Colleayn O. Mastin also tells us that the moose can live up to
25 years in the wild, that it is the largest member of the deer family,
and that it can dive as deep as six metres under water in search of
food. By combining light verse with factual prose, Mastin easily engages
a young reader’s natural curiosity about 15 Canadian critters. Her
subjects include the deer, lynx, porcupine, raccoon, rabbit, red fox,
coyote, black bear, and skunk.

As in previous volumes in the Nature Canada Series, Canadian Wild
Animals is a first-rate combination of fun, facts, and superb
illustrations. Highly recommended.