Introduces beginning readers to an assortment of fascinating creatures including crabs and mollusks that inhabit the sea, and wasps, spiders, and bees that live on land, in language both attractive and comprehensible. With several short chapters devoted to each type of animal, readers learn how to identify them, what they eat, where they live, how they defend themselves, and how the next generation is produced. At intervals, animals are compared and contrasted and review questions posed.

The primary purpose of the four volumes of the Seaside and Wayside nature readers is to teach children to read while teaching them something else of value. They develop thought, enlarge vocabulary, awaken fresh and healthy interests, direct the mind into new paths of study, and gratify that curiosity about his surroundings which every child by scores of questions shows.