I know it looks like I'm on a raccoon binge with my reading at the moment, but the title and cover of this book are actually quite misleading. It's a laid back, friendly guide to the animals that can be found in the author's back garden and neighbourhood. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, so very far from New Zealand, and of course a lot of the local wildlife there are things I would never see in my own country. I find it interesting to learn about the urban wildlife of other places though, so that's fine.

The book's split up into sensible sections - insects, amphibians, and so forth - and gives a brief description of each animal, its likely behaviour, and entertaining anecdotes about things Bogue has seen it do, or has heard it do from locals. It's not really a science book. It's more an introduction to the opossum that sleeps in the garage roof, or the birds that might be seen around the bird feeder. Bogue clearly has an enormous affection for the creatures that share his city environment, and the book is full of tips for how to co-exist with them, and not to resort to things like poison sprays that will only damage the environment. I said above that it is a friendly guide, and I think that's the best term for it - chatty and affectionate and can't-we-all-just-get-along (yes-even-with-the-scorpions-they-have-an-ecological-niche-so-try-not-to-disturb-them). It'd be a great book to have on the shelf if I lived in that area... something to pick up and dip into whenever there's something fun scurrying about the garden.