Alien Invaders - Hardcover

Jane Drake and Ann Love are sisters and coauthors who have shared a life-long interest in the environment and the wild: “As kids, our parents led our family vacations into wild places — we spent more time looking for shorebirds in sewage lagoons than most Canadians would ever admit to.” Their writing for children has always had a natural history/environmental-action focus. They are interested in making children more observant of the natural world. Together they are the authors of many award-winning books, including their most recent, Cool Woods: A Trip Around the World’s Boreal Forest, Snow Amazing: Cool Facts and Warm Tales, Trash Action: A Fresh Look at Garbage, and Sweet! The Delicious Story of Candy. They have been shortlisted for numerous awards, including the Red Cedar Award, the Norma Fleck Award for Nonfiction, the Hackmatack Award, and the Silver Birch Award. Ann Love is one of the founding members of Pollution Probe. Both are married, have three children, and live in the Toronto area.

Mark Thurman is an artist, illustrator, author, and teacher who enjoys writing and illustrating picture books and conducting workshops for students and teachers. He has over thirty books to his credit. He was cocreator of the “Mighty Mites,” a scientific cartoon in Owl magazine. Mark Thurman lives and works in Toronto.

Grade 3–6—The authors introduce three classic examples of alien invaders: brown rats, cane toads in Australia, and the fungus that caused the potato blight in the U.S. and Ireland. Ten more species are introduced with a narrative that describes the invader, its life cycle, the damage it causes, and attempts to control it. A short list of facts gives the common and Latin name, the size (metric and English), homeland, invaded countries, and the method of entry. Additional chapters describe some vulnerable habitats such as Lake Victoria, the Great Lakes, Hawaii, the Eastern hardwood forests, and the Western rangelands. The chapter "Get Ready for the Pandemic" explains why the avian flu virus (H5N1) has the potential to be catastrophic. The concluding chapters give further perspective on the impact of these species and what people are doing and can do to control them. The background on each double-page chapter is a full-bleed color painting that includes an illustration of the invader. A world map shows the origins and destinations of a few of the threatening species. Other than a confusing chapter on "The Role of the Community Elder," the material is accessible and will be useful for young researchers.—Carol S. Surges, McKinley Elementary School, Wauwatosa, WI
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