For most kids, especially those with pets, the mystery of animal birth is revealed fairly early. Animal sex comes a little later. But unless they’ve watched a lot of nature television, the rituals of animal courting (i.e., everything before the sex) can remain a little obscure. This despite the fact that courting is one of the more common and visible forms of animal behaviour – everyone has seen puffed-up male pigeons hustling lady birds in the park, or heard cats in heat yowling like old blues singers.

Outlining the wide variety of mating rituals in the animal world is the purpose of Nova Scotia writer Pamela Hickman and Ontario illustrator Pat Stephens’ latest animal book (they also collaborated on Animals and Their Young). The book is organized into six brisk chapters, beginning with “Attracting a Mate,” through “Fighting for Rights,” and ending up with “Mating Spaces.” A huge variety of animals is covered, from greater birds of paradise to great grey slugs, all brought to life in Stephens’ detailed and realistic images.

The book’s text and illustrations maintain a straight, no-nonsense tone throughout, never revelling (as in Maple Tree Press’s recent Gross Universe) in the more squeamish aspects of its theme: “You may think screaming, fighting and urinating in public is rude,” says the book’s introduction, “but some animals do these things to attract and win mates.” So there.

Hickman and Stephens have done a good job of laying out the information clearly and concisely, though it’s hard not to wish for a wee bit more playfulness in both words and visuals.