Maxy is upset when her parents’ farm is left without animals after a health scare, but she keeps their memory alive looking after her own herd of ‘pretend cows’.
With her mother having fallen ill during pregnancy, her father starts to keep chickens and Maxy comes to terms with the challenges of the new birth as she encourages a stubborn hen to lay eggs.
"I was very small when I saw my first dolphin," says zoologist Nicola Davies, recalling a seminal visit with her father to a dolphin show at the zoo. Enchanted at the sight of what she called the "big fish" jumping so high and swimming so fast, she determined right then that she would meet the amazing creatures again "in the wild, where they belonged." And indeed she did--as part of a pair of scientific expeditions, one to Newfoundland at the age of eighteen and another to the Indian Ocean a year later. In WILD ABOUT DOLPHINS, Nicola Davies describes her voyages in a firsthand account filled with fascinating facts and captivating photographs of seven species of dolphins in action.
Nicola Davies's seemingly boundless enthusiasm for studying animals of all kinds has led her around the world--and fortunately for young readers, she is just as excited about sharing her interests through picture books. The zoologist's latest offering puts a decidedly quirky twist on her years of experience: POOP: A NATURAL HISTORY OF THE UNMENTIONABLE is a fun, fact-filled guide to the fascinating world of poop across species. "As a zoologist, you are never far from poop!" the writer explains. "I've baked goose poop in an oven with my dinner, looked at bat poop under the microscope, and had my T-shirt stained pink with blue-whale poop. I was obviously fated to write this book."
The exceptional combination of Nicola Davies's zoological expertise and her first-rate children's writing is apparent in her remarkable catalog of award-winning titles. Her first book with Candlewick Press, BIG BLUE WHALE, was hailed by American Bookseller as an "artfully composed study" offering "language exactly appropriate for four- to seven-year-olds and precisely the right amount of information." In ONE TINY TURTLE, Nicola Davies's clear, compelling narrative follows the life of the rarely seen loggerhead turtle, which swims the oceans for thirty years and for thousands of miles in search of food, only to return, uncannily, to lay her eggs on the very beach where she was born. The author's next book, BAT LOVES THE NIGHT, is a tenderly written ode to a much-misunderstood flying mammal, the pipistrelle bat, while SURPRISING SHARKS--winner of a BOSTON GLOBE-HORN BOOK Honor Award--contains unexpected facts about another one of the planet's most infamous animals.
When she is not off on scientific expeditions, Nicola Davies lives in a cottage in Somerset, England, where she is lucky enough to have pipistrelle bats nesting in her roof.
Another in the ‘Country Tales’ books by Nicola Davies, a series of circumstances beyond Maxys’ control have left her overwhelmed and waiting for change. Her imagination, combined with the reality of life on the farm lend a sense of stability and calm, even when everything seems ‘wobbly.’ Here we find a story of family life and all its’ challenges reflected in the farm animals. Through her engagement with them, Maxy renews her sense of belonging and comes to terms with the shifting events of life. The eloquent, clear story-telling and Cathy Fishers’ drawings together create a connection that makes it easy to become engaged with the tale. I am loving the Country Tales series and this one seems particularly timely. Warm, thought-provoking and utterly enjoyable; a wonderful book for young readers.