Booklist
Readers
who have stumbled over a possum on the back porch or run over an armadillo
on a dark highway will love Shedd's brief discussions of 30 animals
about whom most of us think we know more than we do.. ..A former regional
executive with the National Wildlife Federation, Shedd discusses each
animal in a conversational manner ... speculating about the sources
of the myths that have grown up about the animal. [For Young Adults]
Fun facts for animal lovers and future naturalists. Click
here for Full Review
Kirkus
Reviews
Entertaining
squelchings of wildlife humbuggery from former National Wildlife Federation
executive Shedd. It is time for our warped ideas of wildlife to be straightened
out, declares Shedd in his engaging and conversational tone.... It doesn't
take him long to point out that red squirrels do not castrate gray squirrels,
or that flying squirrels can't fly, or that the moose is not very happy
to be petted... . Shedd has some time on his hands here and he uses
it wisely ... to sketch quick portraits of these animals, some three
dozen... He includes those little quirks that make them so appealing:
how the eft got its name and why we call it a newt, when it is better
to be a marten than a fisher, why the lynx has tufts on its ears. Shedd
succeeds in his self-appointed task as public relations man for besmirched
wildlife reputations... Click here for Full
Review
Library
Journal
The wise
old owl isn't really wise, and the expression "blind as a bat" is nonsense
because bats actually have very good vision .... This book takes several
of our commonly held beliefs about wildlife and gives us the real story
behind each - often quite different from what we've always believed!....He
... makes it an entertaining read by including personal anecdotes of
his encounters with many of these creatures. Recommended for public
libraries, this will be a favorite with wildlife enthusiasts everywhere.
Click here for Full Review
Publishers
Weekly
Owls can't
learn beans compared with ravens and jays; they are, however, "superb
killing machines," with "virtually silent flight" and wonderful ears
... Combining readerfriendly wildlife biology and ecology with the folklore
of the New England woods, Shedd ... uses common mistakes as springboards
for 24 entertaining essays about the real lives, habits and characteristics
of various well-known animals....Moose, it turns out, gained in numbers
... after timber companies' clear-cuts created vast "moose pastures"
of young trees. Flying squirrels are really gliding squirrels ... Shedd's
helpful chapter on cougars distinguishes the Florida panther (endangered)
from its cousins in the Western U.S. (fierce and thriving).... Hikers,
forest fans, armchair naturalists and others who enjoy these kinds of
facts can find plenty more here on bison, beavers, badgers, bears and
other North American creatures (many elegantly depicted in illustrations
by Trudy Nicholson).... Click here for Full
Review