‘This could be some new kind of animal. Something new to our forest. Wouldn’t that be exciting?’ When Lori, a curious and wide-eyed slender loris, spies a bewildering cat-like figure in the fading light of the evening, she instantly becomes obsessed with finding out what it is. So she teams up with her friend Don Wrongo, the crafty racket-tailed drongo, to look for the elusive animal. But they can hardly get to the bottom of this all by themselves. And along their tireless search for the ever-teasing shadow, they recruit the wiles of M. Owli, the non-musical delights of a mob of mynahs, the gossipy banter of Mina Mouse, the faithful love of Kau’a, the wisdom of Viji the all-knowing turtle, the fury of Baba Brown, the—the—Oh, for the love of gordonflies! Who’s not in this book? Packed with eccentric creatures and heart-stopping turns, Lori’s great big romp is a little look at friendship and self-discovery—and the rush of adventure.

This book is a lifetime of real anecdotes about various pets and domestic animals in New Zealand. It contains a great deal of factual and scientific information about these animals. It contains some excellent original animal poetry. There is some sound genetics and explanation of the coat color genes in several species of animal and good practical advice on how to breed the animal you want. There is a lot of good practical information to help any small holder. Running through this book is a love of animals and a plea to treat them humanely. This book also gives insight into the way of life of New Zealanders in the countryside. Pet owners, farmers, vets and animal rights activists would all find this book interesting.