I have been a puffin lover since the day I first set foot on Skellig Michael - one of two breathtakingly beautiful (and very rocky) islands off the west coast of Ireland's Iveragh Peninsula - and saw these little "clowns of the ocean," with their chubby black and white bodies, and colorful beaks, up close and personal. I know we're not supposed to anthropomorphize the birds and beasts, but they're just so darn cute! So when I discovered that Tilbury House, one of my current publisher obsessions, had released a book about the return of puffins to the Maine island of Eastern Egg Rock, I thought I'd better find a copy.

Project Puffin, which is told in the first person, chronicles Stephen Kress's efforts to reintroduce puffins to the Maine coast, where they once flourished, before being killed off by Euro-American settlers. Beginning in 1973, with the help of the Canadian Wildlife Service, Kress began transferring puffin chicks from the thriving Great Island colony, eventually establishing populations on Egg Rock, as well as nearby Seal Island. Using the same methods, Kress and his team also reestablished a tern colony. Profusely illustrated with color photographs, and including a brief glossary at the rear, this is an engaging and informative book, and will be of particular interest to young bird watchers and ecologists. ( )