Catching Air: Taking the Leap with Gliding Animals

In this addition to the How Nature Works series, Collard (Hopping Ahead of Climate Change) introduces animals that don’t technically fly but glide. Readers learn why some creatures have developed this asset (preventing injury from falling, escaping predators) and the biological characteristics (namely flaps called patagia) that enable them to soar. Photographs of squirrels, frogs, snakes, and other animals in midglide accompany Collard’s direct and informative narrative, as well as sidebars that focus on the physical attributes, habitats, and behaviors of individual species. Details about the history of gliding across millions of years provide scaffolding for readers to understand the mechanisms of evolution (“These animals probably have skeletons and muscles that, over time, could evolve a true flying capability”). It’s an intriguing and focused look at animal adaptation. Ages 6–8. (Mar.)