This series is specially written as a first natural history book for the new reader. The life cycle from conception to adulthood is explained for a variety of familiar animals and plants, with illustrations of each stage in their development. The books are designed to be used in a number of ways: young readers can follow or read a text specially set in large type; older children can read the more detailed smaller type. In addition, young children can "read" the pictures as the "story" is read to them. This book gives a description of the life-style of the three-spined stickleback. It looks at the way in which the female lays her eggs and how the male fertilizes them and looks after them before they hatch. When the young fish hatch out of the eggs, they are protected by the male for a few weeks until they can find food and fend for themselves. At the end of the book there is a chapter on how to keep your own fish and the final section illustrates the fish's life cycle. Philip Parker has edited many children's science books and presently works for Greenpeace as information officer.