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IGUANA  •  VOLUME 15, NUMBER 1  •  MARCH 2008 55BOOK REVIEWS

as the authors’ introductory remarks state, the book is aimed
more at young people and adults who may not yet appreciate
snakes and their place in nature. This book makes a valiant and,
I hope, successful effort to “develop an acceptance of — better
yet, an admiration for — snakes that equals that expressed for
many other wild creatures.”

I still think of the Southeast as a herpetological paradise, but
friends who grew up in Florida suggest that it ain’t what it used

to be. Nevertheless, at least from a distance, it seems very exotic,
and, despite having cumulatively spent years in the Neotropics
studying many wonderful snakes, the snake fauna of the south-
eastern United States still has a romantic quality — and I’d still
like to have another Yellow Rat Snake for a pet someday.

Robert W. Henderson
Milwaukee Public Museum

Lizard Love. 2008. By Wendy Townsend. Front Street, Boyds
Mill Press, Honesdale, Pennsylvania. 196 pp. Hardcover —
ISBN-10: 1932425349 — $ 17.95.

Wendy Townsend is a newly minted graduate of the
Vermont College MFA Program in Writing for Children

and Young Adults, but she has been writing all her adult life and
has long been a personal hero of mine. Fifteen years ago, when
I was struggling to understand Green Iguanas well enough to
rehabilitate seriously damaged individuals, Wendy’s writing
(much of which appeared in early issues of the IGUANA
TIMES) was an inspiration — not only could she write a clear
and concise technical description of iguana husbandry, she also
spoke eloquently of her detailed behavioral observations, delin-
eating complex group dynamics, as well as the personality dif-
ferences and moods of the various individuals in her charge.
With Dr. Frederic Frye, Wendy co-authored the pioneering
Iguanas: A Guide to their Biology and Captive Care in 1993. In
that same year, she, sadly, predicted that ill treatment at the
hands of the pet trade would lead Green Iguanas down the same
path as “dime-store turtles and county fair anoles, doled out as
token prizes, like [so many other] valueless objects.”

Wendy brings all her love of nature, her sympathetic touch
with language, and her observational skills to bear in her delight-
ful debut novel for young adults. The book’s protagonist, a young
mammalian female named Grace, appears in the prologue as a
six-year old at her grandparent’s country home. Her best friends
are the local birds and insects and the denizens of the garden and
the local pond, which include the beloved bullfrog that she bliss-
fully hugs to the party dress she has worn to her aunt’s wedding.

We next encounter Grace as an adolescent living with her
mother far from her childhood Eden in the gray concrete metrop-
olis of New York, replete with dim winter light, constant mechan-
ical chatter, and oppressive odors. Grace finds her haven at a local
pet shop, “Fang and Claw,” where she meets an amphibian surro-
gate in the form of Walter. “He was chubby, with soft-looking skin
almost as white as the T-shirt he wore. Across the front it said
Bronx Zoo Reptile House. His shaggy hair was a pale color. He
made me think of the tree frog who blends in with silvery lichen
on tree trunks.” She also meets Spot, a wonderful creature with a
“great spiky crest and a black banded tail,” his head covered with
colorful jewel-like scales. Grace learns about reptiles while helping
the gentle Walter rehabilitate damaged animals. Just as Walter pro-

vides a hide box in order to
help a frightened monitor
adapt to her surroundings,
Spot the iguana helps Grace
adapt to the unfamiliar
environment of the city, her
love for her pet bolstering
her self-esteem as she crawls
through the school year.

Back at her grandpar-
ent’s house with Spot for
the summer, Grace finds
that even Eden is not eter-
nal. Grandpa has given up
gardening to avoid spend-
ing so much time in the sun, and all of the habitat provided by
the unruly blackberry brambles has been uprooted by “helpful”
neighbors from the newly built houses along the now much busier
roadway. Nevertheless, Spot enjoys his time in the summer sun,
gradually becoming more and more orange even as Grace suc-
cumbs to the physiological changes inherent with the onset of
adolescence. By the time she’s due to head back to the city, Grace
finds herself so much altered that she desperately wishes she were
more reptilian and less pronouncedly mammalian.

Teased mercilessly at school and even subject to a “love bite”
from Spot, Grace struggles to come to grips with her changed
physical self. Experiencing the sexual maturity of the iguanas,
snakes, and monitors in her world, Grace finally has some meas-
ure of success at adapting with the help of her animal and human
friends, especially the kind and “naturally” wise Walter.

Townsend makes excellent use of her natural history knowl-
edge to elaborate, yet not overwhelm this charming coming-of-
age tale. Many of her animal characters are taken from real life.
Spot the iguana, for instance, lived a remarkable 24 years, and,
having been privileged to tour “backstage” at the Bronx Zoo
Reptile House, I suspect that much of the detail from that part
of the story is also very real. Young readers, especially animal
lovers, will empathize with the embattled Grace and her coping
mechanisms. Older readers/animal lovers (who enjoy young adult
fiction as I do) are liable to see their youthful selves reflected.

AJ Gutman
IRCF

Reptile-Assisted Coming of Age