This book is really just an introduction to what will become for me an ongoing hobby - that of transforming the land surrounding my small house into an active nature habitat. Beautiful pictures, valuable information, and fun projects make this a "go to" book for the beginning backyard naturalist. Hopefully it will also be an incentive for its readers to end up turning yet more land into "certified nature habitats" though a certification program created by the National Wildlife Federation in an effort to slow or end the decimation of natural habitat for native plants and animals. ( )