Month: January 2010

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Leaf and Tree Guide

The Backyard Explorer Kit: 3-in-1 Collector’s Kit! by Rona Beame is for children who love hands on activities and want to learn more about trees. The kit includes a 3 1/2 by 8 inch Leaf and Tree Guide to trees (that will conveniently fit in a pocket or backpack), a plastic leaf-collecting bag, and an unbound 25 page Leaf Collecting Album. Although the product has been around for several years now, it is still a great deal of fun and worth a look.Leaf-and-Tree

The guide has information about trees, how to identify a number of common species (with color photographs of specimens), and 16 hands on activities. Some are the usual activities, such as making a bark rubbing or forcing buds. Others are novel, such as hatching leaf galls. We did one experiment and proved that open pine cones will close again if you soak them in water. Cool!

pinecone-wet
Dry, open pinecones will close up again if you put them in water.

The Leaf Collecting album has two awesome features. First of all it is unbound, and comes with a long shoelace so you can put it together yourself. This allows children to add as much of their own material as they want without worrying about crushing the material or breaking the binding of the book. Secondly, the album pages have lightly printed illustrations on them, which means that if a child hasn’t collected a particular leaf yet, the album still remains a useful learning tool. The best part is that it doesn’t ask for collection of a particular species of tree, only a leaf of a given shape. Therefore it can be used in almost any locale.

For the child who loves hands on and nature, this is a wonderful kit.

I bought ours at a garden gift shop.

Reading level: Ages 9-12
Paperback: 96 pages
Publisher: Workman Publishing Company; revised edition (July 1, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0761133194
ISBN-13: 978-0761133193

nonfictionmonday

Nonfiction Monday is a blogging celebration of nonfiction books for kids. For more information, stop by Picture Book of the Day.

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Look to the Stars

Several children’s books have been released to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the flight of Apollo 11. Look to the Stars by Buzz Aldrin and Wendell Minor (Illustrator) is remarkable because it is much more than merely an account by the second human being to touch the surface of the moon. Dr. Aldrin shows us how this incredible accomplishment is part of a long history of discoveries and advancements, and how it may lead to many more new things in the future. In fact, he spends relatively little time on the Apollo 11 mission, given his giant part in it. When he does mention it, he humbly thanks all the nearly 400,000 others that worked to make the project possible. Here is a man who understands his place in history.

Look-to-the-stars

I admit I didn’t know what to expect when I picked up Look to the Stars. Even though it was a New York Times bestseller, it hasn’t gotten as much ‘buzz” (sorry) as some of the others on the same topic. Once I had read it, however, I was hooked. Yes, Buzz Aldrin is a “celebrity,” but he has still done a good job keeping the information relevant and exciting to children. The quotes on every page and the phases of the moon over the page numbers let us know that extra thought was put into the details of this book. The illustrations are perfect, such as a view of a future child space tourist looking back over the surface of the moon towards a vibrant blue earth in the distance. The personal touches, such as putting his wedding day on the fascinating time line in the back of the book, made me smile.

Although recommended for ages 4-8, I would say that this picture book would definitely be appealing to older children as well. Pick up a copy and go on your own personal journey into space.

Reading level: Ages 4-8
Hardcover: 40 pages
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile; First Edition, First Printing edition (May 14, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0399247211
ISBN-13: 978-0399247217

nonfictionmonday

Nonfiction Monday is a blogging celebration of nonfiction books for kids. For more information, stop by Picture Book of the Day. This week’s post also happens to be at Picture Book of the Day.

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Cybils 2009 Finalists Revealed

Time to check if your favorite children’s and Young Adult books of 2009 made the cut at the Cybils Website.

For those of you that I have contacted about reading these books, here are the nonfiction picture book finalists. I can’t say anything about them right now, but these would be what I would be sharing. Check the Cybils website link above for more information on each book.

Non-fiction Picture Books

Or if you are looking for books to share with your children, the other genre finalists are some fantastic ones.

Fiction Picture Books

Middle-Grade/YA Non-Fiction

Note: I added Cars on Mars because Amazon won’t make a carousel widget with less than 6 books. Cars on Mars is a good book that didn’t make it as a Cybils finalist.

Finally, Amazon also created a list of Best of 2009 Picture books, although they combined both fiction and non-fiction. Some of the ones on this list couldn’t be nominated for Cybils because of requirements about the date of publication. In any case, it is fun to compare the choices. Only The Lion and the Mouse and The Curious Garden made both lists.

Please read my financial disclosure page for information about my affiliation with Amazon.