BEE HIVES AND BAT CAVES: AMAZING ANIMAL HOMES Edited by Katherine Farris and illustrated by Andrew Plewes Toronto, Greey de Pencier (an Owl Book), 1990. 48pp, paper, $7.95, ISBN 0-920775-46-2. CIP SINGING FISH AND FLYING RHINOS: AMAZING ANIMAL HABITS Edited by Katherine Farris and illustrated by Sam Sisco Toronto, Greey de Pencier (an Owl Book), 1990. 48pp, paper, $7.95, ISBN 0-920775-15-4. CIP Grades 1 to 4 / Ages 6 to 9 Reviewed by Norma Charles Volume 18 Number 5 1990 September These two lively books from the editors of OWL are activity and information books. They are both filled with interesting puzzles, crafts and creative activities that will lead children to discover fascinating facts about animals. Singing Fish and Flying Rhinos is about strange animal habits. Readers will find out about Super dads, like the seahorse male, which incubates as many as three hundred baby seahorses before "giving birth"; the flying rhinos, who's really a bird with a large beak; and a singing fish, which is a catfish that sings like a boiling pot on summer evenings. Bee Hives and Bat Caves is about unusual animal homes. In a section about nests, we discover that the ruby-throated hummingbird's nest is so tiny it is bound together with spiders' webs. In an intriguing section about cave dwellers we learn that although many cave inhabitants are blind (as a bat!) they can be formidable predators. Since the books lack an index and a table of contents and the information is not detailed, they would not be very useful research tools for a school library. It seems that their intended reader is the young budding scientist, to whom OWL magazine appeals. Both books are richly illustrated with clear, heavy black-line drawings on good quality white paper. It will take a lot of willpower on the teacher's part not to photocopy class sets of the wonderful pages of puzzles, mazes, word searches, and draw-what-you-think-is-under-the-snow or -under-the-water pages. Perhaps these books will inspire educators and their students to create their own fascinating activities on their way to discovering the secrets of our world. Norma Charles, van Horne Elementary School, Vancouver B.C.