The Who, What, Why of Zoology
Jules Howard and Lucy Letherland
Wide Eyed Editions

For youngsters with a budding interest in the study of animals ie zoology – this is for you, whether or not you have aspirations to become a zoologist.

The author starts by defining zoology and explaining what zoologists do and then takes a quick look back over the past hundred or so years at how the work of zoologists has changed with the help of ever-developing technology.

Readers then join the scientists working in the field and visit different biomes around the world and this is where the book differs from the many others about environmental regions in that it provides an insight into the role played by zoologists in the world today.

We start with temperate forests, then take a we look at tropical rainforests, deserts,

grasslands including savannahs, the tundra, and then dive down to underwater reefs and beyond, to the ocean floor.

For each region, the book explores the kind of terrain, introduces some of the animals who live there, provides some interesting facts related to those animals, and looks at the work zoologists do in that region, and how they go about it.

After all the exploring we return to the laboratories to see zoologists working not in the field but using high-tech equipment to further their research.

We also find out about the role museums, zoos and aquariums play in the area of zoology. Throughout Lucy Netherland’s illustrations illuminate the text and also offer gentle humorous touches in each spread.

The book ends with a reminder that zoology is for everyone and, with quotes from some of today’s great zoologists, offers pointers in how young readers can start out on their own zoological adventures.

Fascinating, informative and pitched just right for older primary readers and above.