Rodent Rascals: From Tiny to Tremendous— 21 Clever Creatures at Their Actual Size

Writing with warmth and enthusiasm, Munro celebrates the biodiversity of rodents. She introduces 21 rodents in all, ranging from the house mouse to the naked mole rat, and describes each creature with casual wonder: “Bushy-tailed wood rats or pack rats love to collect bright shiny things, such as keys, bottle caps, and jewelry,” and the African giant pouched rat can be trained to sniff out land mines and detect tuberculosis in labs. Because the animals are drawn to scale, readers get a clear sense of their relative sizes. The world’s largest rodent, a capybara, fills a page with its head and nose alone; the smallest, the pygmy jerboa, occupies just a page corner. Munro blends naturalism with a hint of personality for each rodent, accentuating the positive attributes of an underappreciated group of animals. Ages 6–10. (Feb.)