Catching Air: Taking the Leap with Gliding Animals

by Sneed B. Collard III

*NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book*  *Junior Library Guild Selection 2017* Only a few dozen vertebrate animals have evolved true gliding abilities, but they include an astonishing variety of mammals, reptiles, and amphibians. North America’s flying squirrels and Australia’s sugar gliders notwithstanding, the vast majority of them live in rainforests. Illustrated with arresting photographs, Catching Air takes us around the world to meet these animals, learn why so many gliders live in Southeast Asia, and find out why this gravity-defying ability has evolved in Draco lizards, snakes, and frogs as well as mammals. Why do gliders stop short of flying, how did bats make that final leap, and how did Homo sapiens bypass evolution to glide via wingsuits and hang gliders―or is that evolution in another guise? color photography

Genres: Nonfiction, Picture Books

48 pages, Hardcover

Published March 28, 2017

About the author

Sneed B. Collard III (see also "Sneed B. Collard") is a biologist, world traveler, speaker, and author of almost one hundred books for young people, including the 2024 Orbis Pictus Award winner, Border Crossings (Charlesbridge Publishing). His other recent science titles include Fire Birds; Hopping Ahead of Climate Change; Little Killers; Waiting for a Warbler; Beaver & Otter Get Along . . . Sort of; and the upcoming picture book, Like No Other. Collard holds science degrees from the University of California at Berkeley and U.C. Santa Barbara. He lives in Montana.

Reviews

[Tina Hudak · Rating 5 out of 5]

The plethora of outstanding photography is equally matched with the narrative style of non-fiction writing on animals who glide from the Draco lizard to the Paradise tree snake. Folios of full-page animal imagery complement the opposite one. These include informational boxes on “How Nature Works,” combined with historical anatomical drawings, more detailed photographs, and scientific facts highlighting a species. Within the mere 30 pages a dozen animals and several environments are highlighted along with lists of online websites, adult books and relevant “words and phrases.” Whether for teaching or interest, this is treasure of a book.

[James Biser · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is another good book by Sneed Collard about animals that have developed an unusual anatomy that allows gliding from tree to tree. It is strange that this has happened repeatedly in a variety of unrelated species. There are squirrels, snakes, strange marsupials and many types of frogs.

[Debbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVE the photographs that accompany the text!

[Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fascinating topic about different types of gliders. I usually think of flying squirrels when I think of gliding animals, but I loved that this book talked about a variety of different species that have evolved to have gliding abilities (including snakes and fish!). It would be a great book to share with curious school-agers.