Little did George Rau know, as a young boy in 1951, that the 10 lizards he caught near Milan, Italy, and brought back to Cincinnati in one of his socks would survive when released into his backyard and spread across the city—75 years later, their population has climbed to one million. The Podarcis muralis maculiventris (the spotted belly wall lizard) has proven itself well suited to Cincinnati’s climate and ecosystem, and as the species continues to expand its range, scientists have taken increased interest in the reasons behind its thriving—asking not merely what damage an invasive species might do, but also what we might learn from its adaptiveness as climate change and environmental shifts make evolutionary ecology an imperative field of study. Hollihan writes in straightforward prose, describing how the lizards have changed to fit their new niche and posing key questions about why it happened and how we can use that information to help plan a better future. Cobb’s full-page and double-page-spread illustrations combine muted realism with a somewhat abstract quality, capturing both the real-life immediacy of the subject matter and the haziness of an uncertain future. The human characters reflect a diversity of racial backgrounds.