Full of beautiful pictures, this book is a combination of 2 types -- projects and field guide. The overall set up is split into 6 sections. The first section "You can save wild animals" is the only section that contains only projects. Each of the following sections contains between 3-9 projects focused on that subset of animals (birds, bugs, reptiles, amphibians & mammals), and then is followed by a field guide section showing common animals of that type. The project pages are split between more detailed how-to's and more idea generating pages, however all of them appeared relatively do-able without too much input from Mom and Dad, and mostly the type of thing my animal lover would enjoy doing. For the field guide sections, I think this would be a hard one to cover all areas well -- and in this case although they were split between across the US, towards the east coast, and towards the west coast -- I still have to say that as a mountain state resident, the east coast did seem slightly more represented (and there were a couple insects that live in a very small area only). I bought a copy for my animal lover, but overall this is the type of book that I would suggest checking out of the library first if available.

This was an excellent book aimed at the young wildlife enthusiast or naturalist.
Full of detailed illustrations (I had to look twice to be sure some weren't photographs) handy factfiles and creative activities to make your garden a safe haven for local wildlife, this book was full of facts about all the animals a young American might come across in their yard or local area.
The creative projects ranged from making homes for bugs to nut wreaths for squirrels and used things that could easily be found around the house, continuing it's focus on protecting the environment into recycling used containers and even toys.
If this was aimed at a British audience I would be heading out to buy a copy immediately for my classroom. I'll definitely be on the lookout for a book that is so well laid out and informative.
I received an e-ARC of this book from the publishers via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

What a lovely breath of fresh air! I had a similar book as a child but it was not as extensive as this colourful, informative guide.
I would recommend it as a gift for adventurous children, and to encourage those more reluctant to get outdoors too.
This book helps you to get inspired and get up close to nature and learn how to protect and help the wildlife around you.
There are beautiful illustrations and photographs, and step by step crafts for things like hides, nest boxes and feeders, and the best thing is that it is not pretentious at all. Everything is written in child-friendly language, using materials easily available and tools that are safe for kids, sometimes with a bit of adult supervision and guidance! You don't need any fancy drills and woodworking benches but you can expect great results.
There are lovely sections on identifying different birds, insects and animals. The target audience is North America and it shows you where on the map you are likely to see each creature and at what time of year! I'd love to see something similar for kids in the UK, where I'm from, and for Italy where I live now.

This is a book about all kinds of wildlife. It is a guide to help us, and other readers, find ways to share our world properly with wildlife and learn more about them. There are activities, projects and more in this book. We learn about collecting prints to observe, using a kiddie pool to create a frog pond, providing a welcoming yard for wildlife and painting a bat house, for some examples. The recycle ideas are helpful as well — for everyone –wildlife and us too. There are wonderful photos throughout including field guides of North American wildlife species detailing habits and habitats. We learn about the food needed to help wildlife too. Generally the projects and activities are not expensive to create and are great for families as they are kid-friendly. This is a fun and educational book, though the focus is mostly on the East Coast when discussing many of the wildlife. I would like to have seen more dedication to safety and related guidelines though, but overall a good beginning guide.

This action guide is complete with information to help kids learn about wildlife and things to try to keep their hands busy. The activities are inexpensive due to the responsibly suggested use of things normally available in homes. Many activities can easily be completed with minimal supervision allowing kids to feel as if they are doing their part to help. The reading selections are educational and would also provide plenty of snuggle time while reading.

Great book that introduces young children to nature. There are different sections and each one is broke down in to sub categories to teach kids about topics be it frogs, birds or turtles. Thanks NetGalley for the ARC!!!

My son loved looking at this book as it gave some good ideas to use when outside. It is full of photos and interesting information to use in nature. I like how you can make things to use in the wild. It teaches children how they can use nature and look after it.

I received this arc from NetGalley for an honest review. I will be purchasing this book for both my niece and nephew as it is a great title for how we can all make a difference in nature. Great illustrations and information about animals, habitat, nature and how we can be aware and help.

Thank you to NetGalley and Storey Publishing for sending me a free ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.
Wildlife Ranger Action Guide, by Mary Kay Carson is an excellent beginners book for children to not only become familiar with wildlife around them but also a guide on how to live with wildlife. The action guide was engaging with easy to read text, and informative pictures. I greatly enjoyed reading the activities and projects that can be easily done and appreciated that most of the activities included ways to reuse household items. Living in an area where plastics straws are being phased out I really liked the Be Home, Bees activity that calls for 30-40 drinking straws, what a great way to recycle straws! I intended to buy this book for my grandchildren and my college daughter who is studying environmental science and look forward to trying some of the activities with them.

This book will inspire our future generations and help them learn the importance of protecting our natural resources. Very engaging and inspiring as well. A must have for all libraries, school, public and home!

This is a well-illustrated, informative, fun guide for kids that teaches them about various species of insects, reptiles, animals, birds, etc. with many projects provided to get close or protect each group. It features 70+ profiles of birds, turtles, lizards, spiders, etc. with maps of their ranges, information on what they eat, where to find them, etc. There are lots of color photos and interesting tidbits.

The projects were my favorite parts (there are various projects with color photos and steps for each type of wildlife), along with the information on how to make your back yard as wildlife friendly as possible.

I did note that the map ranges were frequently incorrect. There were several species that supposedly don't live in Minnesota that definitely live here and are very common sights. Turkey vultures and opossums are two examples.

All in all, though, this is a great book to add to your nature study library.

My rating system:

1 = hated it
2 = it was okay
3 = liked it
4 = really liked it
5 = love it, plan to purchase, and/or would buy it again if it was lost

I read a temporary digital ARC of the book for the purpose of review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Storey Publishing for sending me a free ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

Wildlife Ranger Action Guide, which I give a 3.5/5, is a promising introduction to nature watching for young enthusiasts, encouraging a love of nature and science through observation and wildlife-friendly crafts.

This book is very inviting: it’s laid out well, it’s colorful, & engaging for readers. There are individual sections for 1) birds, 2) insects, 3) turtles and lizards, 4) amphibians, and 5) mammals. Each section is laid out with information about the category, section-specific crafts, and a handful of selected species profiles (referred to as field guide pages). The crafts don’t require expensive or hard to obtain materials, and most can be done with responsible older kids or with limited adult supervision (parents of course can make the decision if their kids can handle scissors and other sharp objects without supervision).

However, I must be clear this is a guide for beginners and although it is a general guide, it does skew more toward east coast species (31 species of the 78 range only in the eastern part of the U.S.). Additionally, since it is such a general guide, MANY common species with large ranges were excluded (for instance, crows were covered but ravens were not), and not much time was spent on each species (only basic information was covered and the profiles could have easily expanded to a second page). I’m also not sure exactly what the intended age group for this book is. The text-heavy information pages were geared towards a low reading level (and explained very basic terminology, like what a species is, that I feel most kids would already understand), but many of the crafts required responsible older kids or adult supervision.

My primary problem, however, was how little space was dedicated to safety information and general warnings. The Wildlife Ranger Action Guide only spends a quarter-page to mention readers should research what poisonous plants, stinging insects, disease-carrying species (such as ticks), and venomous snakes are local to their area. I don’t think this was nearly sufficient for a beginner’s guide; instead, I would have appreciated a short section of common species to avoid (if the author truly didn’t want to add species-specific information they could give broad, cautious tips such as most venomous snakes have triangular-shaped heads). Additionally, I think there should be better cautions within each species profile. For children not used to hands-on nature, some “common sense” things might be new for them, and with wildlife it’s always better to be overly cautious. There was also a lot of space devoted to how to save wild animals, but almost nothing on animal safety. The best way to save wild animals when you see them is to leave them be; for a wildlife guide I sincerely wish there was more encouragement for kids to observe and save physical interactions for professionals, or at a minimum describe safe handling practices.

I know how massive and difficult an undertaking such as this is - the U.S. is incredibly diverse and it’s impossible to include all the unique species we can find in our backyards. However, limiting to 78 species is barely the tip of the iceberg and it meant a lot of common species were passed over. I think the Wildlife Ranger Action Guide could have easily doubled the number of species covered, especially since it’s marketed as a general U.S. guide, or they should produce region-specific books.

Overall, this is such a FANTASTIC concept, and I hope to see it flourish in the future. Wildlife Ranger Action Guide releases March 31st, 2020 and is available for preorder on Amazon. Thank you again to NetGalley and Storey Publishing for the privilege of reviewing an ARC.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you NetGalley.


I LOVE books like this for my family. We've read through the book together once already, and will probably read over it again afew more times!

THis guide is a great introduction to nature watching and field guides for little ones! The activities inside get kids actively engaged in attracting and watching animals outside, and the animal guides give good information about finding the animals in your area. This would be a great way to get the younger children, who may not be quite ready for more detailed field guides, started. Once they're engaged and understand habitat and food chain (something this book shows quite well), you can introduce them to adult field guides specific to your area, so they can learn about all of the creatures that they have attracted to your yard.