FIREFLIES, GLOW-WORMS AND LIGHTNING BUGS, by Lynn Frierson Faust (Eastern and Central U.S. and Canada), is both charmingly written and technically expert, awakening us to their diversity.

SWIFT GUIDE TO BUTTERFLIES: By Dr. Jeffrey Glassberg, president of the North American Butterfly Association. A fully revised photo-driven butterfly ID tool. Even an easy photo-driven index.

THE NATURALIST'S NOTEBOOK by Nathaniel Wheelwright and Bernd Heinrich is a guide to being a better observer of nature in every season, with a 5-year blank calendar-journal at the back to call your own.

GARDEN INSECTS of North America (Princeton): Whitney Cranshaw and David Shetlar's comprehensive, easy-to-use reference is a gardener's must-have tool; now fully revised (Dec. 2017).

SPIDERS AND THEIR KIN is a tiny treasure, a little book that will get you understanding and appreciating these incredibly important creatures, and even beginning to ID the major groups. Best $7ish ever spent.

PETERSON REFERENCE GUIDE TO SPARROWS OF NORTH AMERICA, by Rick Wright, helps you get to know "your" sparrows (and juncos and towhees).

PETERSON GUIDE TO WOODPECKERS: Learn from a longtime conservationist and woodpecker expert why most species are mainly black and white, and how they evolved to withstand all that hammering and much more, plus in-depth species profiles.

COMMON SPIDERS OF NORTH AMERICA: Want to get really serious about spiders? This is the book, richly illustrated and packed with learning: ID hints, native ranges, even behavioral insights into different species.

BETTER BIRDING: Not a field guide, but a science-heavy guide to how pros observe birds using contextual cues, from senior staffers of eBird.org and American Birding Association. Includes raptors; sea, water and shorebirds; birds of the woodland edge; etc. Science-heavy.

COMMON LICHENS is an intimate look at these not-plants, not-animals that are essential to Earth's health.

MAMMALS OF NORTH AMERICA: Who knew I lived alongside 52 species of mammals of America's 462 total?

TRACKS AND SIGN OF INSECTS by Charley Eiseman demystifies all the lumps and bumps and squiggles and webs you see outdoors and ask, "What's that?"

KAUFMAN FIELD GUIDE TO BUTTERFLIES of North America: Probably the only butterfly book you'll ever need, plus easy to use.

KAUFMAN GUIDE TO INSECTS, a perfect overall guide to representative insects of every major group, with biology and life histories.

WEEDS OF NORTH AMERICA (Chicago University Press): the continent's 500 most troublesome plants, identifiable in all their life stages, seed to maturity.