Coyote (book review)

I want to see them. I want to find their outlines when I scan the edges of the meadow. I want to know if I'm being watched while I work in the garden or mow the field. I want to know where they sleep and spend their days, where they go when the neighboring dogs race through or when November arrives after the leaves here have blown free and hunters slip into the newly naked woods.

So says Catherine Reid, author of Coyote: Seeking the Hunter in our Midst. Living in an old Massachusetts farmhouse, Reid has heard the howls of the coyotes, the adaptable, unstoppable hunters that live among humans. She wants to see one. Reid has tracked the history of the coyote back to when it first turned from the scrawny, sneaky animal in old Western cartoons to the elusive eastern creature that we often mistake for a wolf. She finds their tracks and scat in the woods near her house, hears them howling at night when we are asleep. She wonders, how is it that each hunting season, their numbers increase instead of decline? Is it extreme adaptability, or something else? Reid wants to dig deeper into the life of the coyote, to find out how it thrives among the humans who drove its larger cousin, the wolf, to near extinction. Reid takes you on an unforgettable journey into the lore and past of her home state on a quest to discover the secret behind this mysterious canid.

First of all, this wasn't only a book about wildlife. It was also a narrative about love and hate and family. It shows us how, as part of human nature, we want things to be totally predictable. We want to be in control, and we don't want to live among animals that reflect us in them, both the aspects we like about ourselves, and those we don't like so much. That was partly why we drove the wolf out. This was a great book about both people and animals, and I found it both enjoyable and educational.

This was my final book for the Non-Fiction Five Challenge.

For Love of Insects (book review)

For Love of Insects, by entomologist Thomas Eisner, is a book devoted to his discoveries about the lives of arthropods. Although the title uses the word insects, Eisner's research isn't limited to them. He also talks about whipscorpions, spiders, and millipedes. The book mainly discusses chemical defenses, but it also has a chapter mainly devoted to the mating and reproduction of a certain kind of moth, and one devoted to insect camouflage.

I found the chapter about orb weavers especially interesting, because it talked about the web structure and how the spider decides when something is safe to eat and when it isn't. But honestly, I really enjoyed the whole book. I was glad for the full-color photographs, because they helped me see what he was talking about even better. I also learned a ton of new facts about insects and other arthropods, and it wasn't at all hard to understand because of the author's easygoing style. This is a must-have for any bug-lover's collection!

This is a substitute for the Nonfiction Five Challenge. It also fills in the slot for my "E" author in the A-Z Challenge.

Witch-Hunt (book review)

Witch-Hunt, by Marc Aronson, is the true story of the Salem Witch Trials, which actually began in Boston with the possession of the Goodwin children in 1688 and truly ended with a confession by Ann Putnam Jr. in 1706. During the trials, twenty-five innocent people, both adults and children, were killed (twenty were executed and five died in prison, including two infants). But what about the mysterious "afflicted" girls? What caused them to lead innocent women (and even a few men) to their deaths? According to Ann, the girls were used by the devil, forced to scream and moan even when their so-called "tormentors" were actually doing nothing. But was that what really happened at Salem? Scientists have a few different ideas, but you will have to dig deeper to truly discover all the secrets of the Witch Trials.

This book was an extremely fast read, filled with startling revelations and surprises. It reads like a novel, and at the end you will find that, while you were enjoying the book, you learned a lot, both about America's mysterious history and about the human conscience itself.

This is a substitution for the Nonfiction Five Challenge.

All My Patients are Under the Bed (book review)

All My Patients are Under the Bed, by Dr. Louis J. Camuti, is the tale of his career making house calls for pets in New York City. His job is not limited merely to cats. He has also visited pigeons, monkeys, and ocelots, as well as a few dogs. This has led the author to conclude, "If an animal can fit through an apartment window in Manhattan, someone will have it as a pet."
Camuti has treated celebrity cats, burglar cats, wildcats, and even a ghost cat! And there are spots in his heart...and in this book...for all of them.

This book was a very fast read, faster than I expected. It was heartwarming and funny, but also very sad. Some of the stories are of heartfelt goodbyes, others of bright new beginnings. And you learn a lot along the way, as well, about the behavior of cats, and also how to care your best for them.

This book was for the Nonfiction five Challenge.

Lucy and her Times (book review)

Lucy and her Times, by Paseal Pieg and Nicole Verrechia, was the first book I read for the Nonfiction Five Challenge. It was about the evolution of humans and some of the earliest people who lived. One of the most famous of these people was Lucy. She looked sort of like a modern day woman, but was shorter and hairier. She lived in the Afar region of Ethiopia, and although scientists don't know much about Lucy's social life, they do know that she ate fruit, nuts, eggs, and grubs. As Lucy and her kind lived on the savanna, they in turn were eaten by jaguars and other large predators. Unfortunately, however, we still don't have answers to many questions. But scientists are still searching for answers to the mystery of Lucy and human evolution, so you never know...they just might find something amazing!

I enjoyed this book, and I learned a lot from it. It made me want to read more books in this series (the W5) and look more into the topic of early humans. One thing I enjoyed about this book was that it was neither too complicated nor overly simplistic.

Another challenge

I'm excited to join the Nonfiction Five Challenge again. Here's a list of some of my possible reads:


Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown

Catwatching by Desmond Morris

Coyote by Catherine Reid

All my Patients are Under the Bed by Dr. Louis J Camuti

How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card

The Usborne Introduction to the Second World War by Paul Dowsell

Bobcat by Hope Ryden

Lucy and her Times by Paseal Pieg and Nicole Verreehia

Substitutes:
Witch-Hunt by Marc Aronson

The Big Book of U.S. Presidents (book review)

The New Big Book of US Presidents was by Todd Davids and Marc Frey. There isn't much to say about this one. It was basically your typical gathering of short biographies about the presidents. I did enjoy this book, though. One thing I found interesting were the short snippets about other things that were occurring during each president's time in office.

I give this book 8 out of 10 stars.

And that wraps up another challenge! My completed list:

1. The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan
2. The Cat's Mind: Understanding Your Cat's Behavior by Dr. Bruce Fogle
3. Wolf Country: Eleven Years Tracking the Algonquin Wolves by John B. Theberge with Mary T. Theberge
4. Mysteries of History by Robert Steward, Ph.D.
5. The New Big Book of U.S. Presidents by Marc Frey and Todd Davis

Wolf Country (book review)

In Wolf Country, John Theberge tells the story of he and his wife Mary's adventures tracking the Algonquin wolves. Through his writings one learns a lot about a few of the wolf packs, such as the Jocko Lake and the McDonald Creek packs. You also get to know some individual wolves. The book describes the wolf-killing ban and the "winter of hate" that followed. It also talks about predator and prey relationships between wolves and deer, and the problems of coyote-wolf hybridization.

I enjoyed this book, and I recommend it to anyone who is interested in wolves or in the wildlife of Algonquin park. I hope that sometime I can read his other books and that they are as well-written and interesting as this one!

I give this book 9 out of 10 stars.

a couple more reviews

Mysteries of History, by historian Robert Stewart,explains some of the greatest mysteries of the world's past. The book starts with mysteries from prehistory and ends with modern times. A few examples include Stonehenge, Marco Polo, El Dorado, and J.F.K.'s assassination. Stewart goes into great detail and includes vivid, interesting pictures in each chapter. If you are particularly interested in a certain chapter, there are recommendations of good history books at the end.

I really enjoyed this book and I recommend it for anyone who is curious about the unexplained or anyone who is interested in history.



Shadow of a Bull, by Maia Wojciechowska, is the story of Manolo Olivar, the son of the famous bullfighter, Juan Olivar. The entire Spanish town of Arcangel is waiting for the day Manolo will fulfill his destiny and enter the ring. But Manolo has a secret he can't risk sharing with anyone: he is a coward and dreads the day he must start his bullfighting career. When the fateful day finally comes, Manolo must decide whether he wants to follow in his father's footsteps or live the life he truly wants.

This book was the sad and moving story of a boy coming of age and pursuing his destiny. If you are interested in Spanish culture or bullfighting, I highly recommend this book to you. The characters were interesting and you could easily believe they were real people.

Also read in the last two weeks:

*Flyte by Angie Sage (9 stars)
*Guardians of Ga'Hoole: The Hatchling by Kathryn Lasky (8 stars)
*Ida B by Katherine Hannigan (8 stars)
*The Children of the Lamp: The Cobra King of Kathmandu by P.B. Kerr (8 stars)
*Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer (9 stars)
*Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling (10 stars)

The Cat's Mind (book review)

The Cat's Mind, by Dr. Bruce Fogle, is the key to deciphering your cat's behavior. It explains the problems of spraying, wandering, and fighting, and it debates about whether neutering is the best thing for your cat or not. The book shows you step-by-step how your cat catches prey. At the end, there are also graphs explaining how neutered males, females, neutered females, and males compare in subjects like hygiene, friendliness to other cats, loudness, etc.

Although this was a highly scientific book and there were some things I didn't quite understand, I still learned a lot from this book and hope to read Bruce Fogle's other book, The Dog's Mind.

I give this book 8 out of 10 stars.

Non-Fiction Five Reading Challenge: 2 books down, 3 to go.

The Worst Hard Time (book review)

The Worst Hard Time is an amazing book by Timothy Egan that tells the story of the people who survived the Dust Bowl. This book even won the National Book Award! I can certainly understand why. (My grandpa lent this book to me, and I can see why he liked it so much!)

The Dust Bowl was a series of terrible dust storms that caused many people to suffocate or die from diseases like dust pneumonia and laryngitis. It swept through the mid-west during the Great Depression, which was already causing great suffering. The story is told in three parts: the first part tells how the mid-west flourished during the Roaring 20s, the next talks about the Depression and about when the dust storms began, and the final part tells the tale of the worst of the dust storms, as well as about the beginning of the end of this terrible time. This deeply moving story makes me thankful I didn't live through those frightening times!

This is definitely a 10 out of 10!

Non-Fiction Five Reading Challenge: 1 book down, 4 to go.

The Spring Reading Thing reading challenge: 7 books down, 23 to go.

another reading challenge...hooray!

After much careful deliberation, Annie has chosen her books for the Non-Fiction Five Reading Challenge. (Unlike her mom, she will probably actually finish all these challenges. And she writes much better reviews to boot!)

1. The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan (also on her Spring Reading Thing list)
2. The Cat's Mind: Understanding Your Cat's Behavior by Dr. Bruce Fogle
3. Wolf Country: Eleven Years Tracking the Algonquin Wolves by John B. Theberge with Mary T. Theberge
4. Mysteries of History by Robert Steward, Ph.D.
5. The New Big Book of U.S. Presidents by Marc Frey and Todd Davis