How To Be A Good Creature: A Memoir in Thirteen Animals. Written by Sy Montgomery and illustrated by Rebecca Green. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Raincoast. 2018. $29.00 ages 10 and up

"For most of our lives together, Tess interrupted our work constantly to lay joy in our laps. After our morning outing, when we'd fed Christopher and the Ladies, Tess would sit quietly in my office or in Howard's for about an hour. Then she'd have had enough. As we were writing, suddenly a ball or a Frisbee would appear on one of our laps. We'd have to go outside together to play. There were times ... "

I have been an admirer of Sy Montgomery's work for a long time. I am a long-time fan of the Scientists in the Field series from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and many of those books showcase her brilliant writing. She is a consummate researcher and journeys often with well-known scientists to learn more about the creatures that so fascinate her.

In this new book, she shares her love of the animals who have been her teachers.

"All the animals I've known - from the first bug I must have spied as an infant, to the moon bears I met in Southeast Asia, to the spotted hyenas I got to know in Kenya - have been good creatures. Each individual is a marvel and perfect in his or her own way. Just being with any animal is edifying, for each one has a knowing that surpasses human understanding. A spider can taste the world with her feet. Birds can see colors we can't begin to describe. A cricket can sing with his legs and listen with his knees. A dog can hear sounds above the level of human hearing, and can tell if you're upset even before you're aware of it yourself."

Her stories begin with Molly, a Scottish terrier, who was as tenacious as the young girl wanted to be. Then, moves on to entertain and engage readers with a varied host of animals that have impacted her life in many ways. Her travels have taken her to various locations and introduced her to emus, a tarantula, hyenas, the moon bear, pink dolphins and the great white shark to name a few. She also pens other stories of pets who have made her life better, including Christopher Hogwood, a runt pig who grew to weigh more than seven hundred pounds, a weasel who visited at Christmas one year and killed a favorite chicken, the chickens who followed Sy and her husband Howard wherever they went. It is a wonderful, sometimes heartbreaking, collection of stories. Each creature chronicled here became an important part of her life, and changed her ... for the better. Her stories fascinate and will give readers pause to think on the beauty and pain that is life on this planet. 

Back matter includes a collection of archival photos, a list of books that provided inspiration for her writing, and a comprehensive list of the books Ms. Montgomery has written for both children and adults.

Check her website at http://symontgomery.com/.