Baby Ground Squirrel

Winter is barely over when the baby ground squirrels (also known as the prairie gopher) are born. At first completely dependent on their mother, the little ones will grow up quickly. By midsummer their parents will disappear underground again to snooze the rest of the season away. And now the young ones face the world alone, as they fatten themselves up for the long winter ahead.

Nicole Peterson - Children's Literature

Baby ground squirrels have many secrets and this book has captured them. The photographs are phenomenal. They show the life of the ground squirrel (which are sometimes called gophers) from the first hours when they are the size of a thumb, and called "pinkies," through adulthood. The author and photographer of this book (a husband and wife team) spent three years observing a family of baby squirrels that lived near their home. They were able to observe and take pictures of the squirrels through a small tent that they call a blind, so that the squirrels had absolutely no idea they were being watched. Young children can look at the pictures while their parents or teachers read the book. Older children will be able to read the book by themselves and enjoy looking at the way the text relates to the pictures. 2004, Fitzhenry and Whiteside, Ages 8 to 12.

Aubrey Lang has been a freelance writer and photographer for more than fifteen years and a science writer and wildlife photographer for the past twenty-five years.

Wayne Lynch has seen his work published in more than two dozen countries. With Aubrey Lang he has produced nearly forty titles for children and adults, and countless articles in well-known nature magazines, including Ranger Rick, Owl, Wild, National Wildlife and Canadian Geographic.