Chasing Bats and Tracking Rats: Urban Ecology, Community Science, and How We Share Our Cities - Hardcover

Guy PhD, Cylita

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1773215388 ISBN 13: 9781773215389

Publisher: Annick Press, 2021

Synopsis

Gripping narrative non-fiction with STEM and social justice themes that proves cities can be surprisingly wild places—and why understanding urban nature matters.

What can city bees tell us about climate change? How are we changing coyote behavior? And what the heck is a science bike? Featuring the work of a diverse group of eleven scientists—herself included!—Dr. Cylita Guy shows how studying urban wildlife can help us make cities around the world healthier for all of their inhabitants. In the process, Guy reveals how social injustices like racism can affect not only how scientists study city wildlife, but also where urban critters are likelier to thrive. Sidebars include intriguing animal facts and the often-wacky tools used by urban ecologists, from a ratmobile to a bug vacuum. Cornelia Li’s engaging illustrations bring the scientists’ fieldwork adventures to life, while urban ecology challenges encourage readers to look for signs of wildlife in their own neighborhoods.

About this title

About the Author

CYLITA GUY, PhD is a Toronto-based ecologist, data scientist, and science communicator who studies bats. In her downtime, you can find your friendly neighborhood batgirl chasing her next big outdoor adventure.

CORNELIA LI is a Chinese-born illustrator based in Toronto. She is intrigued by narrative weaved into daily interactions between people and their surroundings and sets out to capture this relationship by externalizing ideas and emotions into visual elements.

Reviews

Gr 2-6-This work takes a unique and effective approach to educating middle graders on urban ecology. Rather than the clinical removal of a typical science nonfiction book, the author uses personal narrative and anecdotes in addition to more traditional fact-based writing on current issues in ecology. Each chapter introduces a friend in the urban ecology field with a pithy vignette about their interactions with wildlife or nature, and then a description of their field of study and its key issues. Especially delightful is the representation of urban ecologists who are frequently marginalized in science; all of the collegial friends she features are women and/or POC (the author is Black). She directly addresses how bias and policing against ecologists who are, for example, Black or Indigenous, hurts the process of science and, by extension, the protection of our ecosystem. The inclusion of real people with exciting careers and passions makes the book highly readable yet informative enough to supplement a research project. Importantly, urban wildlife, including bats, rats, bees, bears, coyotes, and insects are destigmatized and depicted as valuable city dwellers worthy of respect and tolerance. Her warm, personal approach to science is inviting, while Li's stylized illustrations are contemporary, fun, and enrich the text. VERDICT Acute yet entertaining writing on an exciting and diverse cohort of real-life scientists makes this book a wonderful urban ecology text for an elementary or even middle school library.-Mallory Weberα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Edition details

• Publisher: Annick Press
• Publication date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1773215388
• ISBN 13: 9781773215389
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Li Cornelia
• Number of pages: 108