Urban Animals of Washington, D.C

K-Gr 4—Although cataloged as architecture, this book would serve as a tourist treasure hunt to find the sculpted animals hidden on various buildings in the nation's capital. Each photographic spread includes a wide-angle view of the building or structure in question and a close-up of the featured animal. Descriptive couplets use pedestrian rhyming, e.g., "On the corner of this roofline there is copper cresting./Will this snake strike or is he just resting." The architectural terms, such as "pediment," "finial," "buttresses," "pilasters," are illustrated and simply defined in the glossary, e.g., "Cresting: a series of ornaments at the top of a roof or wall." Close-up images reveal such details as the mule on the Pension Building and the frog's mouth and feet at the Washington Cathedral. The list of animals at the end of the book provides not only the addresses of the buildings, but also the dates in which they were built and the names of the architects and designers. An additional purchase for architecture study or interest in the DC area.—Frances E. Millhouser, formerly at Fairfax County Public Library, VA