Be a City Native Detective: Solving the Mysteries of How Plants and Animals Survive in the Urban Jungle

Be a City Nature Detective is the fifth title in the “Be a Nature Detective” series, with the previous books having investigated beaches, wilderness, ponds and night. A selection of mammals, insects, birds, plants and the night sky are the topics examined this time. The established series Q/A format continues with a page or two of explanations related largely to the single page introductory notes about adaptations (being nocturnal, omnivorous, biennial or perennial) to city living. A quiz in the form of an illustration follows the main text, inviting the reader to recall the identity of the subjects covered. Having the answers on the facing page reduces the challenge, though. Words in bold text are defined in a Glossary, and a few resources are listed on the final page. There is no Table of Contents or Index.

The individual accounts contain a variety of useful information, such as physical description, preferred habitat in a city setting (e.g. your house, garden, garbage bins and dumps, parks, rooftops, along streets), how they’ve adapted to living near humans, and the problems they cause. The scientific details tend to have an encyclopedic tone which, along with some longish sentences, often seems more suited to older readers. This is particularly noticeable with the plant examples which discuss goldenrod tea “used for ulcers, fever, kidney problems and chest pains...” and knowing “how hard it is to get rid of [dandelions]”, not something on the minds of many kids. The book could use more of the appealing, kid-friendly storytelling like the history behind the starlings’ arrival in North America, how burdock seeds inspired Velcro, and the many foods and other products that can be made from dandelions. A couple of the plants, ginkgo trees and ailanthus, will be unfamiliar to many readers, especially those living outside the maritime provinces from which most of the choices are drawn. There are a few notable omissions youngsters would commonly see—raccoons, ducks, reptiles/amphibians—while the less obvious bed bug and cockroach are included. The section on the night sky seems an odd inclusion given the subtitle, Solving the Mysteries of How Plants and Animals Survive in the Urban Jungle: was it already part of the earlier title, Be a Night Detective? (http://www.umanitoba.ca/cm/vol24/no12/beanightdetective.html) Nicely rendered watercolor illustrations, with inserts for close-up details, add plenty of visual appeal.

With its focus being fairly regional, Be a City Nature Detective will be a brief introduction to some of the wildlife with which people share urban environments. It might have minimal readership elsewhere when compared to the more comprehensive title, City Critters: Wildlife in the Urban Jungle (http://umanitoba.ca/outreach/cm/vol18/no25/citycritters.html) by Nicholas Read.