Animals on the Edge

Animals on the Edge: Science Races to Save Species Threatened with Extinction
by Sandra Pobst
National Geographic, 2008

Genre: Endangered Species Non-Fiction

Honors:

• Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA) 12/01/08
• Wilson's Children 10/01/10
• Wilson's Junior High School 01/09/10 

Review: This book introduces young readers to the people involved in protecting endangered species and describes both the causes of declining populations of certain species and the modern methods being used today to work against the forces affecting animal habitats and health. Chapters focus on animals from the polar regions, the ocean, the rainforest, and more, with information about methods such as animal tracking through feces, breeding in captivity, tracking and preventing poaching and other criminal activity affecting endangered species, and ecosystem restoration efforts.

Opinion: The back of this book contains some very useful resources for youth doing research on endangered species. There is an index, glossary, bibliography, a list of websites, and recommended books for further reading. There are also some great wildlife shots of the species and of some of the scientists and species protectors at work. At 64 pages there is a lot of useful information packed into a small space, making this an ideal book for jumpstart research that would be easy for older tweens to get into and (hopefully) will not turn off younger tweens.

Ideas: With so many tools embedded into the book, I would find it very useful to model this book for exercises in using the references list, the index, or the glossary. Even the list of websites could be modeled for a research lesson.