Through the perspective of a group of 7th and 8th graders from Michigan, "Adventures in the Amazon Rain Forest" takes readers into the Peruvian Amazon where the students explore the vast diversity of the rain forest and its inhabitants as well as learn the "basics" of living in this exotic environment. Color photographs capture the students during their field trip as they venture through the Amazon on canoes, climb to the canopy to contrast life forms to those of the forest floor, and discover uses of the wealth of resources such as medicinal plants. They interact with Peruvian schoolchildren through sports and music as well as learn the skills of trading with members of one native Amazonian tribe, the Yagua. While discovering the importance of saving the rainforests, they also are exposed to the complexity of preserving this endangered ecosystem in light of the economic pressures on local people to sustain themselves.

The hardback version is called "Bats, Bugs, and Biodiversity: Adventures in the Amazonian Rain Forest."