Planet Zoo: One Hundred Animals We Can't Afford to Lose

The dinosaurs' fate looms over the subjects of Planet Zoo: One Hundred Animals We Can't Afford to Lose by Simon Barnes, illus. by Alan Marks. Barnes, wildlife journalist for the London Times, relays his fact-filled, environmentalist message in an intimate tone: ""The animal that is always supposed to have inspired the myth of the mermaid is the dugong.... The sailor who confuses one of these gentle, fat-faced beasts with a beautiful woman must have been at sea an awfully long time."" Thoughtfully incorporated into each spread, Marks's detailed watercolors of creatures in motion give the book a powerful visual rhythm.