The classification of plants and animals seems complicated and confusing when nothing is known about it except words one may have heard, such as "genera," "phyla," "species," "invertebrate," and others equally bewildering.

And yet no one can hope to really know much about the countless inhabitants of the earth until he understands the classification system.  It is a fascinating subject, and it is the key to an exciting world.

Dr. Riedman's books on scientific subjects have usually been written for young adults, but in this book she has shown herself equally adept at presenting her material for a somewhat younger audience.

As usual, there is no patronizing.  All the necessary scientific words are used, but they are carefully explained, and a subject that would seem, offhand, to be dull, becomes, in the author's skillful hands, a thrilling adventure.  The reader is made to feel like a detective, following clue after clue until, at least, the mystery is solved, and he feels that he is responsible for its solution.

In the course of unraveling the "plot," the author gives us interesting thumbnail biographies of Aristotle, Matthias de l'Obel, Linnaeus, Tournefort, Lamarck, and Darwin, all of whom added rungs to "the ladder of life."

There are two-color pictures on nearly every page, detailed, scientifically accurate and, at the same time, beautiful works of art.

From the dust jacket