Books to Take to the Beach

In my Growing With Science blog I have been doing a series on science you can do at the beach, for example this week’s activity about tide pool animals. In the process I’ve discovered a number of wonderful books about seashore and ocean creatures, plus rediscovered some old favorites.

How to Hide an Octopus and Other Sea Creatures
, written and illustrated by Ruth Heller, is a longtime favorite of ours. This is a lively introduction to camouflage in the animal kingdom that teaches about a number of novel sea creatures. This book is where we first learned about pipefish and red sea dragons. I love the rhyming text, because it helps young ones just learning to master language. The bright illustrations are unique and eye-catching, and looking for the animals hiding in each spread is great fun. This is a classic that is well worth revisiting.

What Lives in a Shell? written by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld and illustrated by Helen K. Davie, is the perfect book for younger readers to learn more about the seashells they discover at the beach. They quickly find out that a seashell is someone’s home. What Lives in a Shell? is part of the Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Science series, which always seem to be high quality introductory science books.

If you going to the beach or visiting an aquarium close to home, there are a number of exciting nonfiction books out there to heighten and reinforce your experience.

How to Hide an Octopus and Other Sea Creatures by Ruth Heller

Reading level: Ages 4-8
Paperback: 32 pages
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap (April 29, 1992)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0448404788
ISBN-13: 978-0448404783

What Lives in a Shell? (Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Science 1) by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld and Helen K. Davie (Illustrator).

Reading level: Ages 4-8
Paperback: 32 pages
Publisher: Collins; 1 edition (April 22, 1994)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0064451240
ISBN-13: 978-0064451246

nonfictionmonday

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

Tools of Timekeeping Review

Tools of Timekeeping: A Kid’s Guide to the History & Science of Telling Time (Tools of Discovery series) by Linda Formichelli and W. Eric Martin

Every once in awhile you stumble across a book that teaches you things you never expected. Tools of Timekeeping has been one of those books for me.

Linda Formichelli and W. Eric Martin delve into the history of telling time in a thorough and engaging way. Each page is filled with a compelling account of timekeeping through the ages and the people who changed it. They have tried to place each discovery or invention in the context of its period, so that children understand how problems are solved with every development. I was pleasantly surprised that I learned something new in every chapter.

Even better, 15 hands-on activities show kids how to build their own working water clocks, sundials, “sandglasses” (hourglasses), incense clocks and more. This is the part I found most enlightening. Although I had a vague idea how to make a sundial, Formichelli and Martin’s instructions help you make an incredibly accurate and detailed sundial, down to finding your latitude so you can get the angles correct. Later on they discuss how to make a close approximation with a hand sundial. I think it was important to show this the simpler one later, after the children had worked through how to make an accurate one and know how much really goes into it.

Hands-on activities assist any learner delve into the material more deeply and gain a better understanding of the concepts presented, but in the case of the hands-on or kinesthetic learner these activities are critical. This book presents activities that are spot-on relevant and extremely detailed, not just vague afterthoughts as is too often the case. The authors have made the abstract ideas come to life through these awesome projects.

In addition to all the new facts I picked up from this book, I realized something about myself. I realized I enjoyed being an art masterpiece volunteer because with each lesson we presented a relevant hands-on activity, having the kids draw, paint or sculpt. Also, I love science because after learning a concept or developing a question, it is time to do a hands-on experiment to test it out. This realization helps me focus on my strengths as a writer. Who would have thought reviewing a book could do that?

Reading level: Ages 9-12
Note: Older children and young adults would also find this book useful and appealing.
Paperback: 144 pages
Publisher: Nomad Press (July 1, 2005)
ISBN-10: 0972202676
ISBN-13: 978-0972202671
Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7.9 x 0.4 inches

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 Write About Now.

Strange Insects

Stink Bugs, Stick Insects, and Stag Beetles: And 18 More of the Strangest Insects on Earth by Sally Kneidel

Sally Kneidel knows her insects. In Stink Bugs, Stick Insects and Stag Beetles she gives detailed descriptions of 21 different kinds of insects in a way that is accurate, thorough and appealing. The book has a personal touch as well, because many of the insects are those the author encountered at the La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica.

The book is divided into parts: insects you will probably find, insects you might find and insects you probably won’t encounter in the United States. Each part contains seven chapters covering individual insects or groups of related insects. The title of the first section of each chapter is “That’s Strange.” Here the author emphasizes an odd fact about that particular insect or group of insects. She adds more punch by using a conservational tone and a bit of anthropomorphism to draw the reader into reading further. Once the reader’s attention is caught, however, the author quickly switches into a brisk, scientific tone. Next the author describes “What They Look Like” in enough detail to help with identification. Realistic drawings assist the reader to recognize each type. The next sections cover “Why Do They Do That” and “Where They Live,” ending with an activity called “ What You Can See and Do.”

One reviewer at Amazon had an issue with Kneidel’s use of anthropomorphism, and also the change of her voice to more scientific tone. Because she consistently used the more conversational tone in only the first section, I thought it was acceptable. Clearly she was using it as a hook. Sometimes we get so caught up in being factual that we forget to make the text exciting to read. How to best achieve the level of interest is open to debate.

I was disappointed, however, because the author never created any over-arching story in this book. It really felt like 21 randomly selected insects, with no connections made or concepts clarified in how insects relate to one another or their overall environment. Anyone could come up with 21 different insects (or other organisms) to write about. It is helpful to have some unifying theme to tie them all together.

Overall this book is a terrific introduction to the wild world of insects for someone who is interested in insects, but not overly knowledgeable.

Reading level: Ages 9-12
Paperback: 128 pages
Publisher: Jossey-Bass (June 30, 2000)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 047135712X
ISBN-13: 978-0471357124

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 In Need of Chocolate.

Fireworks for Fourth of July

Reading Fireworks by Vicki Cobb and Michael Gold (Photographer) is a wonderful way to get ready for the Fourth of July.

fireworks1

The author says, “You’ll get a bang out of this” and she is right. You can almost see the lights, hear the explosions and smell the smoke from reading the first few pages. She calls it “painting the sky with light and sound.” Cobb quickly points out, however, that although spectacular and interesting, fireworks are not toys. They can be extremely dangerous and even deadly.

In addition to discussing the nuts and bolts of fireworks themselves, Cobb also packs in a lot about the science behind the show. She educates the reader about scientific terminology, such as combustion, what an element is and how a match works. She even describes how a “party popper” works, which is the type of explosive a child might have experienced first hand.

The photographs definitely add to the quality of this book. Did you know that different types of fireworks have beautifully descriptive names like chrysanthemum, peony, soaring palm and silver willow? Michael Gold’s images make you want to “ooh” and “aah” just like for the real thing.

Interspersed throughout the book are great hands-on activities. Some are familiar, like growing crystal gardens using laundry bluing. Others are innovative, like doing a flame test to show how the fireworks get their colors. This experiment will require more than just adult supervision; the author suggests an adult should carry out the final step of adding the materials to an open flame of a gas stove.

Vicki Cobb has a friendly, conversational style that makes even difficult material easy to read. In the case of this book, younger readers may need some help with the unfamiliar terminology. Adults wanting to learn more about pyrotechnics will also find this book fascinating and useful.

If you are interested in adding new dimensions to your Fourth of July fireworks experience, this book can provide it.

Reading level: Ages 9-12
Library Binding: 48 pages
Publisher: Millbrook Press (September 2005)
ISBN-10: 0761327711
ISBN-13: 978-0761327714

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 Tales from the Rushmore Kid.

Photo provided by Public Domain Pictures