This is a book to be shared between parent and child; it is an encyclopaedia, a calendar, an activity book, a Pandora's box of nature, and provides the key to knowing more about the countryside and environment around oneself. Through the colour illustrations and the informative text, the reader can discover why flamingos are pink, how owls see in the dark, where rain comes from and why porcupines have prickly spines. The book is systematically cross-referenced, and has over 2000 illustrations.

 

There are 400 pages in this book. It is an anthology. This book was published 1994 by Penguin Books Ltd .

Dr Phil Gates lectures on biology at the University of Durham, UK, and regularly writes for BBC Wildlife. His other natural history books for children include The Aliens Are Coming, The Amazing World of Plants and 365 Days of Nature and Discovery.