Your Backyard Is Wild Read online

  Table of Contents

  Backyard Discovery

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Chapter one

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Backyard Discovery

  Benjamin sat quietly for a few moments. He looked up at the sky, but he could see only a handful of stars—even on a clear night, the bright lights of the city blocked them out. Then he heard some rustling and saw a couple of bushy tails. More squirrels, he thought. Or skunks.

  But as he kept watching, he realized it was a pair of raccoons!

  Books in the Jeff Corwin Series

  Jeff Corwin

  A Wild Life:

  The Authorized Biography

  Jeff Corwin

  Animals and Habitats of the United States

  Jeff Corwin

  Junior Explorer Book 1:

  Your Backyard Is Wild

  Coming Soon!

  Jeff Corwin

  Junior Explorer Book 2:

  The Great Alaska Adventure!

  PUFFIN BOOKS

  Published by the Penguin Group

  Penguin Young Readers Group, 345 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A.

  Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4P 2Y3

  (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)

  Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

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  Registered Offices: Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  Published by Puffin Books, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, 2009

  Copyright © Jeff Corwin, 2009 Illustrations copyright © Guy Francis, 2009 All rights reserved

  LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA IS AVAILABLE.

  eISBN : 978-1-101-13628-7

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  Dear Reader,

  Growing up outside of Boston, I wasn’t really able to explore the natural world unless I went out into the countryside. So I had to find unique ways to discover the animals and plants around me—which led me right into my backyard! Even though I was living in a city, I found lots of amazing wildlife right outside my door. I just had to take a closer look!

  And that’s what the Baxter kids like to do in my Junior Explorer series—explore their immediate surroundings. Whether in a city backyard or in their hometown near the Florida Everglades, Lucy and Benjamin Baxter always find ways to discover fascinating animals and plants. And so can you! It doesn’t matter where you live—all you have to do is look outside, engage your curiosity about the natural world, and have fun discovering the plants, animals, and natural life around you.

  Happy exploring!

  Jeff Corwin

  Chapter one

  Te sun was rising and Daisy, a chocolate Lab, was pulling at the end of her leash.

  “Please, Mom? Can’t we bring her?” nine-year-old Benjamin Baxter begged as Daisy stopped to sniff a patch of grass. “Dogs go on planes all the time.”

  Elizabeth Baxter, Benjamin’s mom, shook her head. “The city’s not a good place for Daisy,” she said. “She’s used to being here in Florida, where she has lots of space to run. In New York, she’d have to spend most of her time indoors. And besides, it’s only for a week.”

  Benjamin had heard this before. “But there’d be so much for her to see in New York! I know she’d love it as much as we will! And she won’t get to meet Gabe.” How could it be a family reunion if one member of the family was missing?

  Mrs. Baxter put an arm around her son. “We’ll all miss Daisy,” she said. “But we’ll be back before you know it, and Julie will take good care of her. She always does.”

  Julie was their neighbor. She had three dogs of her own. Daisy would have plenty of space to run, thought Benjamin, but nobody to give her extra-special attention. He stroked Daisy’s head gently. Leaving Daisy behind was the only bad part about their trip.

  In just two hours, the Baxters would be heading off on their first-ever real family vacation. They’d taken plenty of trips before. But Benjamin’s mom was a biologist, his dad was an ecologist, and most of the family’s travel had to do with their jobs. They were always exploring new animal habitats or collecting samples for their labs.

  This trip, though, was going to be different. They were going to New York City! They would be staying with Benjamin’s cousin, Gabe, who was nine, just like Benjamin. And they would be visiting the famous sights that Benjamin had seen only in movies or in other people’s photo albums.

  Benjamin was excited to think that this time he’d be the kid who brought back souvenirs for his classroom. This time he’d be the one with the inside scoop on a famous museum. For him, this would be a whole new kind of adventure.

  Suddenly Benjamin’s mother started running down the street! Every morning they took the dog for a walk together—and every morning his mom found a different creature to watch. “Look, Benjamin!” she cried. “It’s a great blue heron!” Benjamin and Daisy followed, but she had disappeared into a swamp to get a better look at the long-legged, long-necked bird.

  The Baxters lived at the edge of the Florida Everglades, a wilderness full of plants and animals you couldn’t see anywhere else in the country. Benjamin’s parents seemed to know everything about the different species of the Everglades, and most of the time Benjamin loved to tag along when they went exploring.

  Today, though, he was totally distracted. There was a whole other world in New York just waiting for him, and he was counting the minutes until he got there.

  When they got home, Benjamin’s eight-year-old sister, Lucy, was just getting out of bed. “Time to get dressed,” Benjamin’s dad, Sam Baxter, told her when she shuffled into the kitchen. “We’re almost ready to go.”

  Lucy was never cheerful in the morning. But she had to be excited about the trip, Benjamin figured, because today she didn’t argue with their dad. She disappeared into her room and came back in a clean T-shirt and a pair of shorts, and with her hair pulled back in a neat ponytail. Lucy put her suitcase by the door and returned to the kitchen to pour herself a bowl of cereal.

  “Better get your bag, too,” Benjamin’s dad told him. “Then we can load up the car.”

  Benjamin went upstairs to collect his things from his room. He’d packed a lot more than Lucy. There was the stuff he knew he had to bring: clothes and shoes, toothpaste and underwear. And then there was the stuff he really wanted to bring, such as his camera and binoculars, his collecting jars, his notebook and pencils, and his magnifying glass.

  He lugged his suitcase, a backpack, and a duffel bag back down the stairs. He wasn’t even at the bottom when Lucy spoke up. “Mom said one piece of checked baggage per person. Remember?”

  “But I need all my gear,” Benjamin said. “How am I supposed to observe and record New York without it?” His parents were big believers in obser
ving and recording. They said these were the two most important things a scientist could do: watch closely and write down what you saw.

  Lucy rolled her eyes. “That’s not what we’re doing this time. The buildings are too tall. . . . The streets are too crowded. . . .” She crunched a bite of cereal. “And what are you going to study, anyway? People in a rush? New neighborhoods? You’re not going to need all that gear for this trip.”

  Benjamin paused. He hadn’t really thought of it that way. But it was like second nature to him to look at the world like a scientist. So what if he wanted to do it in New York, too? There might not be many new animals to study, but what if he wanted to observe and record other things he saw in the city? Maybe he could even write a report about them when he got home, like his parents always did after one of their nature trips.

  “Just because it’s not nature doesn’t mean we can’t take a scientific approach,” Benjamin retorted.

  Then his dad stepped in. “The camera and binoculars are a good idea,” Mr. Baxter said, getting back to the matter of the luggage. “I’m not so sure about the other stuff . . . but maybe I can find some extra room in my bag.”

  Benjamin did a quick calculation. If his dad took the camera and collecting jars, he could do without the duffel bag. He would still get to bring one suitcase—the piece of checked luggage—plus his backpack as a carry-on. So he could still bring his other stuff, tucked safely under a sweatshirt in his suitcase. He needed it just in case.

  By noon, the Baxters were sitting on a hot, cramped plane. They had been there for almost two hours already, and the plane still hadn’t left the airport. Daisy would have hated this, thought Benjamin. He wasn’t having much fun himself.

  He had already eaten all the snacks he’d packed. He didn’t want to run down the batteries on his MP3 player. And he was saving his books—two mysteries—for when they were really in the air. There was only one thing to do, then. Benjamin bent down, unzipped the backpack he’d stowed under the seat in front of him, and took out his binoculars. He always looked for animals when he was bored.

  Lucy looked over and shook her head. “We’re in the airport!” she reminded him.

  “You never know what’s out there,” said Benjamin. He scanned the run-way from the tiny plane window.

  Benjamin could see baggage carriers and airport workers. He could see a line of planes ahead of theirs, waiting to take off. But it didn’t take him very long to find something else.

  He handed Lucy the binoculars and pointed. “Look at that radio tower,” he said. “See the pile of sticks on top? I think that’s an osprey’s nest.”

  The heap of sticks looked round and even. And just as the kids were watching, a huge bird swooped into it! Even from this distance, Benjamin could tell it was an osprey by the dark mask over its face. It looked almost like a raccoon, if you ignored its five-foot wingspan. “Cool!” he said. It was the last thing he’d expected to see here.

  “Let me see,” their mom said excitedly, leaning across the aisle. “You know, ospreys will build their nests anywhere, so long as they’re near a source of fish.” She took the binoculars and looked in the direction he was pointing. “Yes, Benjamin, you’re right!”

  Would Gabe know an osprey nest if he saw one? Benjamin wondered. And would he be excited about it? The last time he’d seen Gabe, they’d both been five years old, in kindergarten. He hardly remembered him, except that he had dark, curly hair and a big smile.

  His mom and Gabe’s mom were sisters, but they lived very different lives. Benjamin worried that he and Gabe might be really different, too. What if they didn’t have a good time together?

  Impossible, he thought as he remembered the extra stuff he’d packed in his suitcase. First there was his rock collection—or the best rocks from his collection, really, since bringing all of them would have been too heavy. He had pieces of quartz and crystal from family exploring trips, plus smooth rocks and sharp rocks he’d found around their neighborhood. A city kid should like rocks, Benjamin thought, since you can find rocks anywhere. His collection would give him and Gabe something to talk about.

  And if Gabe wasn’t into rocks, Benjamin was sure he’d want to see his alligator skull! It was cast from the skull of a real alligator that his mom had in her lab. It had two rows of razor-sharp teeth and a jaw that was hinged so it could open and close. People said that alligators lived in New York’s sewers, but Benjamin was pretty sure his cousin had never seen one up close, like Benjamin had in the Everglades. It was a surefire conversation starter.

  Benjamin felt better knowing that some of his treasures were coming along for the trip. Maybe, while he was learning about New York, Benjamin could also teach Gabe a thing or two about where he comes from.

  Chapter Two

  Afew hours later, as the Baxters’ plane circled above New York City preparing to land, Benjamin caught a glimpse of the famous skyline shining in the afternoon sun. It was just as he’d imagined it, only better, and he couldn’t wait to see it up close! In the airport, it felt like his family waited forever for the suitcases to appear on the carousel and their turn in the taxi line to come up.

  Finally, they were on their way to Gabe’s house. Their cab sped along the edge of the city, and Benjamin craned his neck so he could see the tops of the buildings as they zipped by.

  Suddenly Lucy was practically in his lap, trying to see for herself. “Hey, that’s my arm!” Benjamin complained. “You’re crushing me!”

  He could see why she didn’t want to miss anything, though. The sky-scrapers were tall—he’d expected that. But there were so many of them! And where there weren’t buildings, there were cars in traffic. Or crowds of people waiting to cross the street. The city reminded Benjamin of an ant colony. It was busy and social, like that. But much bigger, of course.

  He leaned down for his backpack again, this time to take out his notebook. “Field notes,” he explained to Lucy when he saw her looking over. Their family always took notes when they were seeing something new. Real scientists tried to describe a thing carefully so they’d remember what it looked like even when they left it behind. Benjamin was sure he would never forget seeing New York for the first time, but he took the notes out of habit.

  The taxi turned, then inched down an off-ramp. Suddenly they were on the Brooklyn Bridge! Gabe and his parents lived in Brooklyn, one of the city’s five boroughs, so the Baxters had to be getting closer.

  Benjamin rolled down his window and stuck his head out to see the bridge’s famous archways. There were ferryboats and sailboats way down below, on the East River. Benjamin glanced at a map posted in the cab. It showed that this river fed into New York Harbor at the tip of Manhattan, just a short distance from where the bridge stood. From there, it wasn’t very far to the open ocean.

  The cab came off the bridge and turned onto a side street. It was quieter here, with trees lining the sidewalks. And soon they pulled in front of a building with wide steps leading up to the front door.

  Benjamin saw a blur shoot out the doorway, down the stairs, and onto the sidewalk. It was Gabe! He looked a lot older but otherwise just the same as Benjamin remembered him.

  Soon Gabe’s parents, Aunt Lily and Uncle Peter, were out on the sidewalk, too. Benjamin’s mom and Aunt Lily gave each other a huge, sisterly hug, and the grown-ups told all the kids how big they’d grown. It was the first time they’d all been together in years. Benjamin was a little nervous and didn’t know what to say to anyone.

  When the conversation turned to the details of the trip, Gabe looked at Lucy and Benjamin and grimaced. “Want to see my room?” he asked. It was as if he’d just seen his cousins yesterday.

  Benjamin grinned. “Let’s skip this boring stuff,” he said. Suddenly he wasn’t nervous at all.

  He and Lucy followed Gabe into the building. It was a long walk up to the fifth floor, where Gabe lived. “I thought New Yorkers had elevators,” Benjamin said, a little out of breath.

  “Some do,” said Gabe.
“But this building is called a walk-up. It means, you know, that you walk up!”

  Gabe’s place wasn’t at all like the fancy New York apartments Benjamin had seen in books and TV shows. It looked comfortable, like their house at home, with a sunny living room and a cozy kitchen. There were family pictures on the walls, and Gabe’s artwork on the fridge.

  “My room is right in here,” Gabe said, opening a door. It was small and crowded with stuff. “Want to see my collection?”

  Benjamin could hardly believe his ears. He and Gabe were both nine—and they both collected stuff! “Sure. I brought a collection, too!” he said. When his sister looked at him and rolled her eyes, Benjamin shrugged.

  Gabe opened a drawer and took out six stacks of baseball cards, each secured with a rubber band. “I collect Yankees cards,” he said. “Look at this one . . . it’s Derek Jeter as a rookie.”

  The kids pored over the cards until Gabe realized one of them was missing. “Hold on,” he said. “I just had it. . . . Maybe it’s over here. . . .” While Gabe rummaged around his room, Benjamin took a look out the window. It faced the back of the apartment building. He could see a lot of sky and even a sliver of water. Directly below him was a patch of green.

  “Hey, Gabe—what’s that?” he asked.

  “The backyard,” said Gabe.

  “A backyard!” cried Lucy. “In New York?

  “Can we see?” asked Benjamin. He thought no one had those here. He couldn’t wait to tell the kids back home!