nonfiction for children

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Nic Bishop Butterflies And Moths

November 2, 2009 in Cybil Awards, Nonfiction, Nonfiction Monday Review by Roberta | 1 comment

In most areas it is probably too cold for butterflies and moths to be active, but here in Arizona you can still see quite a few. You can spot monarchs on their long migrations to Mexico or California, as well as queens, painted ladies and fritillaries. What a perfect time to pick up Nic Bishop Butterflies and Moths.

butterflies-and-moths

The insects are the star in Nic Bishop’s book and when you open it, the photographs bring those insects right to your fingertips. Shot from unusual angles and incredibly close up, you can see adult butterflies, moths and caterpillars in detail that speaks volumes. This book would be a conversation piece even if it didn’t have a single word, but Bishop manages to create a lively and informative text as well.

In addition to nailing the text, Bishop gives proper emphasis to the immature stages, with 14 pages devoted to caterpillars and pupae. The double gatefold of a butterfly in flight is sure to induce some gasps of astonishment. Amateur photographers are going to immediately ask, “How did he do that?” In the real treasure of the book, Nic Bishop writes in the end how he captured some of the wonderful photographs. It is in this section his passion and incredible hard work reveals itself. For one shot, he jumped on a plane for a flight to Costa Rica to photograph one rare caterpillar!

Actually, knowing how much he put into the photograph of the caterpillar that mimics a snake I can not criticize at all, but I really wish he had included a small photo of what the caterpillar looks like normally. I bet children would have been even more amazed at the transformation from mild-mannered caterpillar to ferocious snake.

Nic Bishop has made a well-deserved name for himself as a photographer and author of children’s books. His previous books have won numerous honors, and this book is clearly of the highest caliber. It has been nominated for the Cybils award in the category of nonfiction picture book.

Reading level: Ages 4-8
Hardcover: 48 pages
Publisher: Scholastic Nonfiction (March 1, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0439877571
ISBN-13: 978-0439877572

Nic Bishop Butterflies And Moths by Nic Bishop

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 is at bookstogether.

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Vital Water

October 19, 2009 in Nonfiction, Nonfiction Monday Review by Roberta | 1 comment

saving-waterCrisp, clear and concise are the words to sum up Buffy Silverman’s book Saving Water: The Water Cycle. Nothing is wasteful or sloppy. The clean photographs, the neatly drawn illustrations and the confident, professional tone remind one of a fresh, cool glass of water. It isn’t fancy, but does its job well and fills an important role.

With recent emphasis on issues such as global warming and energy, the importance of saving water has dropped somewhat from public awareness. It remains, however, an issue critical to the future. Here in Arizona, we are triply aware of the vital nature of water as a resource because we have so little rain. Saving Water shows how much we need fresh water, some of the unique properties of water, and also ways to conserve it.

Silverman’s book will be popular with both educators and children doing science projects because it is full of hands-on experiments. For example, the “Changing Density” experiment on page 12 distills to the essentials how water changes density with temperature. In the corner on a yellow sticky-note graphic is a short list of the materials you will need to perform the experiment. In four simple steps she lays out the instructions. Silverman gets high marks in my book because she doesn’t give the expected results with the experiment. Instead, she gives the essential questions to ask, which leads children to further questions. I will be using the activities in this book next time I teach about water.

On the back of the book, Silverman acknowledges that she always learns something new when she writes about science, and how writing this book motivated her to get a rain barrel for her home. Hopefully children reading this book will be similarly inspired.

Reading level: Ages 9-12
Hardcover: 48 pages
Publisher: Heinemann Library (August 15, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1432910922
ISBN-13: 978-1432910921
Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 7.5 x 0.4 inches

Saving Water: The Water Cycle (Do It Yourself) by Buffy Silverman

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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 is at Lori Calabrese Writes!.

Next week Nonfiction Monday will be here.

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All Cats Have Asperger Syndrome

October 5, 2009 in Nonfiction Monday Review by Roberta | 2 comments

all-cats-have-aspergerLife takes turns sometimes, and although All Cats Have Asperger Syndrome by Kathy Hoopmann has been out for a few years, it is worth taking a look at again. With cute pictures and a gentle, but highly informative text, this is one of those children’s books that is really for everyone. It is helpful for children with Asperger Syndrome, their families, relatives, classmates, teachers, and anyone else who works with children.

Hoopmann has done a wonderful job explaining not only the challenges of raising a child with Asperger Syndrome, but also the potential, giving a sense that through the differences are positives. For example, a child may be a picky eater and be highly sensitive, but he or she can also focus on a topic for long periods of time and may see the world with amazing insight.

Her choice of cats as subjects works not only because people with Asperger Syndrome may seem aloof like cats and only want contact on their terms, but also because the highly posed cats and kittens convey messages to children who might not understand the facial expressions and postures of human models. The soft and playful cats add a touch of warmth and humor to a subject that in other circumstances may be emotionally-charged or difficult to talk about.

After reading this book, you may find there’s a little cat in all of us.

Hardcover: 72 pages
Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Pub; 1 edition (October 26, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1843104814
ISBN-13: 978-1843104810
Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 8.4 x 0.7 inches


All Cats Have Asperger Syndrome
by Kathy Hoopmann

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 is at Moms Inspire Learning.

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Praying Mantises

September 14, 2009 in Nonfiction, Nonfiction Monday Review, Picture book- nonfiction by Roberta | No comments

praying mantisesPraying Mantises: Hungry Insect Heroes (Insect World) by Sandra Markle

Finally, a book about praying mantises that doesn’t perpetuate the myth that female praying mantises always eat their mates. Sandra Markle writes in Praying Mantises: Hungry Insect Heroes, “Scientists report that mantises rarely do this in the wild.” It turns out that the myth was started when people kept praying mantises indoors to observe them. Female mantises require a lot of food to produce eggs and the people who fed them rarely supplied enough. The ravenous females ate anything presented to them at that point. When kept outside, the praying mantis often has enough to eat and her mate doesn’t become lunch.

Sandra Markle starts with a detailed look at the outside and the inside of a praying mantis. This is helpful for someone who has never looked closely at a praying mantis. Throughout the book are fabulous photographs and quick “mantis facts” that help capture a reader’s attention as he or she skims through. At the end, between “Digging Deeper” and the index, there are two activities. The first, strike time, relates to how extremely fast a praying mantis can grab its prey. The activity is easy to do and doesn’t require a mantis. The second is to observe a mantis up close in a jar for a day or two and then let it go. Just remember from above, it is hard to keep a praying mantis well fed.

We have had a praying mantis on the same plant for weeks now. Every morning we check to see that it is still there, and we’ve developed a fond feeling towards it. After reading this book we can now take our observations to another level.

Reading level: Ages 9-12
Library Binding: 48 pages
Publisher: Lerner Publications (December 15, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0822573008
ISBN-13: 978-0822573005

If you’d like to see a photograph of our mantis, check my Growing With Science blog praying mantis post.

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 is at Wild About Nature.

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Penguin Secrets Revealed

September 7, 2009 in Nonfiction, Nonfiction Monday Review by Roberta | No comments

secret-of-the-puking-penguinsSecret of the Puking Penguins . . . and More! by Ana María Rodríguez

Secret of the Puking Penguins and the other books in the Animal Secrets Revealed! series are actually well kept secrets themselves. Hidden behind the blaring, attention-grabbing titles are serious books for kids interested in real science. Ana María Rodríguez interviews five actual scientists about their research and describes new and interesting discoveries that they have made.

In the first chapter, scientists Anthony Herrel and Jay Meyers investigate how chameleons’ incredible tongues work. The tongues are not only sticky, as many of us already knew, but also are physically shaped to act like a suction cup. As the activity at the end of the chapter demonstrates, the suction cup action works much better at grabbing prey than stickiness alone.

The second chapter is about sensory apparatus in alligators. It isn’t until the third chapter does the reader find out about the “puking penguins.” As anyone who lived through the penguin craze of a few years back knows, penguins regurgitate food to their chicks. Rodríguez discusses how three French physiologists are so fascinated by the king penguins’ ability to hold food in their stomachs for long periods that they decided to study it further. By taking samples, the scientists revealed the penguins produce numerous antimicrobial substances (antibiotics) in their stomach to help preserve the food, including one completely new substance that no one had discovered before! How cool is that?

The final two chapters are about research of cuckoos, a bird that lays its eggs in the nests of other birds, and about how peacock feathers create their iridescent colors. “Chapter Notes” at the end are numbered references from each chapter. This is a nice touch that parallels how literature would be cited in an actual scientific paper, getting budding scientists ready to produce the real thing.

Other than the author should have included a few more activities to reinforce learning (there is just one), this book is fascinating and informative for young readers interested in science. Now let’s get the secret out.

Reading level: Ages 9-12
Library Binding: 48 pages
Publisher: Enslow Publishers, Inc. (September 1, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0766029557
ISBN-13: 978-0766029552

Here’s another book from the same series.

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 is at The Miss Rumphius Effect.

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