Anyone can get involved in gathering data for ongoing, actual scientific studies such as the Audubon Bird Count and FrogWatch USA. Just get out into a field, urban park, or your own backyard. You can put your nose to a monarch pupa or listen for raucous frog calls. You can tally woodpeckers or sweep the grass for ladybugs. This book, full of engaging photos and useful tips, will show you how.

Loree Griffin Burns, PhD., is the author of The Hive Detectives: Chronicle of a Honey Bee Catastrophe and Tracking Trash: Flotsam, Jetsam, and the Science of Ocean Motion, both ALA Notable books. She lives in Massachusetts. loreeburns.com Ellen Harasimowicz also lives in Massachusetts and is a freelance photojournalist whose work has appeared in the Boston Globe, the Washington Post, and Scientific American. ellenharasimowicz.com