What does a scuba diver have in common with a duck-billed platypus?” This book provides a pleasurable way for seven- to nine-year-olds to answer this and other questions about animal locomotion.

Experienced nature writer Pamela Hickman’s latest work explores how animals’ movements are adapted to their habitats. Readers discover why kangaroos hop and how snails slide. In six short chapters the author sorts predator and prey into “swimmers and floaters,” “fliers and gliders,” and so on. Thinking about where an animal lives and how it moves will help children appreciate that individual organisms fit into larger systems in the world around them.

Hickman conveys her material in a fresh, personable way. Text and information boxes relate examples from children’s lives so that they identify with the animal under discussion. Commendably original activities form another strength of this book. In a section about feet, Hickman challenges children to step into a sandbox and measure how far their feet sink. They then repeat the activity while standing on cardboard. Thus children see how broad feet distribute weight over a larger area and help camels stay on top of sand.

In some areas the reader needs more clarification. Children might deduce from the text that the crake is a bird, but not know where it lives or what it looks like. The jacana from the same passage is illustrated, as are many other creatures, with Pat Stephens’ fine, bright artwork. Large pictures, with wonderful colour contrasts, such as the one of a hummingbird, truly enhance this book. A pleasant walk on the wild side, Animals in Motion should move quickly off bookstore and library shelves.