>I want to buy a field guide for a nine-year-old girl who currently lives
>near Phoenix and will be coming up here in a month and a half, for
>good. I was going to buy her the Peterson Field Guide to Western Birds,
>but I had second thoughts. Maybe that book is a bit to dense for her.


Just a personal opinion, but when I was a kid, I hated the scaled-down
kids books. It was frustrating to see something that wasn't in the book.
Or maybe I thought a kids book was demeaning. <g>

On the other hand, I liked a book that had readable information beyond dry
descriptions. The Audubon Field Guides, despite the photographs and the
wretched bird organization, are better in better in that regard. Hard to
identify a bird from those photographs, though, especially for a beginner.

Kelly Cassidy