illustrated by Gayle Cobb
Braughler Books, 2026
48 pages, age 7 and up
ISBN 979-8-89390-070-5

Decades ago, ten Italian wall lizards invaded a major American city — reportedly via a kid’s sock. Ten-year-old George Rau caught them on a family vacation and released them in his Cincinnati back yard. The lizards thrived, and their numbers soared—without damaging the city’s ecosystem. They captivated herpetologists, whose research led to surprising results.

When author Kerrie Hollihan found the so-called “Lazarus Lizards” in her back yard, she was puzzled and started digging for information  Now the award-winning author of Mummies Exposed! and Bones Unearthed! brings this story to young readers — and to grownups who cheer them on.

Lizards Take Over!: When Reptiles Invaded an American City will be on the shelf  in Fall 2026. Aimed at early elementary students, the picture book (illustrated by Gayle  Cobb) with back matter and other parent/teacher-friendly resources is published by Braughler Books.

“Lazarus Lizards showed up in my yard in Blue Ash fifteen years ago,” Hollihan says. “They are a local legend, so I decided to tell their story.”

As Hollihan investigated, she discovered the Lizard League, a group of biology students who work under the leadership  Eric Gangloff, PhD, a biology professor at Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio. Gangloff invited her to observe his students during their summer investigation of the lizards in Cincinnati’s Alms and Ault Parks. Gangloff completed his research thanks to an NSF (National Science Foundation) grant “Success in the Anthropocene: Evolutionary Ecology of the Common Wall Lizard in Ohio.”

“I truly believe that kids and adults have much to learn from the very ground they walk on,” Hollihan says. “Look down, look up, look across the street and across your town, and there you’ll find things to study. Discovery is so much fun!”