Outside: A Guide to Discovering Nature

Beautifully designed with black and white line drawings, this large tome gives the feeling of a home textbook. It provides information and activities that will inspire interest in the outdoor world.

It's a big book - almost 400 pages - with lots of drawings, watercolors, and text answering many questions about animals and other aspects of the natural world, like Why do birds make nests? It appeals to a wide range of ages - I'd say kids from eight to 14, depending on whether they are reading it with an adult or on their own.

Born in Lisbon in 1973, BERNARDO P. CARVALHO attended the College of Fine Arts of Lisbon, and later co-founded the children's publishing company, Planeta Tangerina. He has since created more than twenty books for children and won several prestigious awards for his illustrations.

Born in Lisbon in 1973, InAs Teixeira do Rosario received a PhD in Ecology from the University of Lisbon and has a particular interest in reptiles, amphibians and mammals.

Born in Portugal in 1976, MARIA ANA PEIXE DIAS received her PhD in Biology from the University of Lisbon, before migrating for a short time to Great Britain to work with BirdLife International, the world's largest nature conservation partnership. Since her early childhood, Maria has showed a particular interest in the insects and plants taking over the suburban gardens and vacant plots of her local neighbourhood.