Jennifer Owings Dewey describes how animal species are suited to live in their natural environments, and how they make their surroundings favorable to the continuation of their species. She covers radiolarians, insects, birds, and rodents. She gives a particular emphasis on the "naturalness" of the habitat and its conducive properties for the particular kind of life supported. She also notes how animals use cleverness in designing their architecture to delude predators (i.e. tropical orb weaver spiders use camouflage to disguise their presence on the web, the penduline titmouse builds a decoy entryway into its nest, the bat will nestle between thorns on the underside of a leaf to protect itself from snakes).

She also wishes to compare the architectural designs of animals to human architecture. While humans use tools and begin by drawing blueprints and mathematical designs, animals use only what they have been given naturally within the ecosystem that supports their life. She suggests further that animal dwellings are better suited to their occupants than human dwellings. This will no doubt be seen as a matter for criticism by more mature readers who may argue whether we can really tell if animals are actually satisfied with their dwellings, but for the purpose of presenting the wonders of nature in such a convenient fashion for children in the grades 6-10 who are practicing their reading/comprehension skills, this book does an excellent job. Each page is also well illustrated with pencil sketches of these animals and their dwellings by the author. ( )