Publisher Description

Lizards are cool. Literally. They are ectotherms, which means they can't make their own heat. That's why you see many types of lizards basking in the sun, seemingly doing nothing at all. That's the life. But make no mistake, lizards have very busy lives looking for food and avoiding being food. Popular science writer Sneed B. Collard III gets down and dirty with all kinds of lizards from your average "Joe Lizard," the western fence lizard, to the impressively large Komodo dragon. In a kid-friendly narrative, Sneed explores many different kinds of lizards, their habitats, defense systems, hunting techniques, and mating rituals. He reveals the exciting life of a lizard from rappelling from the tops of trees to the forest floor, to dropping off a tail to get away from a predator.

Author Biography

Sneed B. Collard III is the author of more than fifty-five books for young readers, including the award-winning novels "Dog Sense", "Flash Point", and "Double Eagle", and the first Slate Stephens Mystery, "The Governor's Dog Is Missing". In 2006, Sneed was awarded the prestigious Washington Post- Children's Book Guild Nonfiction Award for his body of work. When he is not writing, Sneed can often be found speaking to students, teachers, and librarians across the country.

Excerpt from Book

So Many Lizards, So Little Information Most people don't know very much about lizards. This seems odd when you consider that lizards--or saurians, as they are sometimes called--are the most common reptiles on the planet. According to the German Herpetological Society's TIGR Reptile Database (www.reptile-database.org), scientists have described more than five thousand species of lizards--more than all other reptiles combined. So why don't people know much about lizards? Maybe we don't bother learning about them because lizards can't win football games or help us with our homework. Maybe lizards are so common we simply overlook them. But maybe, just maybe, we don't know about lizards because most of us have never had the chance to. . . . Meet Joe Lizard

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