In this colorful and appealingly formatted book, scientist Victoria Stanley is on a research trip, funded by The Foundation, to the Amazon. The Foundation’s director conveys in a letter that they want her to gather information on environmental problems in the Amazon. They are especially interested in the ways that animals, plants, and people are affected by human activity. She is also expected to report on the level of threats to the ecosystem. Each spread focuses on a different animal (including river dolphins, giant spiders, piranhas, poison frogs, jaguars, and several kinds of monkeys), plant (gardens and forests), and a group of people (the Yanomami). The information about each topic is presented through a mixture of brief diary entries and letters to the director by Mrs. Stanley, bulleted status reports, sidebars containing Amazing Facts, and photographs. Readers can learn, for instance, that the Yamomami have had to leave their land because trees have been cut down, that the Humboldt’s woolly monkey is threatened by habitat loss, and that Brazil nuts are full of nutrients. Students interested in the Amazon will find this book an engaging way to acquire nuggets of information about a small number of loosely connected subjects. Despite the director’s request, they will not learn, with rare exception, about the level of the threats. Nor will they learn anything about Mrs. Stanley’s research methodology. Still, the book is readable and informative without being at all dry and concludes with a Glossary and list of web sites and books for further information. Book ten in the Crabtree “Connections 2” series. Reviewer: Cynthia Levinson