AUSTRALIAN ANIMALS

Seventeen unusual animals from Australia are introduced with a brief text and a handsome, full-color, close-up photograph. Like Arnold’s other titles, African Animals and South American Animals, this one arranges animals by habitat, focusing on animals of the forest, grasslands, desert, and coast. A map in each section shows where each habitat occurs on the continent. Some very odd creatures are presented, including koalas, possums, gliders, quolls, Tasmanian devils, platypuses, echidnas, kangaroos, wombats, dingoes, snakes, bilbies, and penguins. Children will relish the glossy, full-color photographs, and the text will provide a tantalizing introduction, but young researchers will need to look elsewhere for detailed information. No sources are given. The author does not indicate the size of most animals, and the “rabbit-sized” bilbies and the wombat are shown larger that the six-foot, gray kangaroo. Since no scientific names are given, the reader may search unsuccessfully for the thorny devil or quoll. And the popular kookaburra appears in a photograph but nowhere in the text. Handsome for browsing, but limited for school assignments and research. (Nonfiction. 7-9)