nonfiction Archives - Page 587 of 611

Counting Machines
A Rookie Toddler board book

A digger scoops up dirt. A dump truck rumbles down the road. Bold photos of big machines make learning to count to five fun.

#kidlit Writing Lesson: the small details

The book is set up just like the title. The counting is first. The left (reverso) page is the counting page:

4
four cement mixers

There are four small cement mixers to count.

The facing page on the right (the recto page) has the machine facts:

A cement mixer is used to make and pour cement.

The photos on the recto pages show the machines at work.

With just one idea per page, these simple board books are just right for toddlers.

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

This is the Earth
by Diane Z. Shore (Author), Jessica Alexander (Author) and Wendell Minor (Illustrator)

Booktalk: The BIG Picture

Explore hundreds of years of changing landscapes and the positive and negative impacts humans have had on the environment. Just in time for Earth Day, this book shows young readers that even the smallest actions can help save the world.

#kidlit Writing Lesson: the small details

After showing the many negative environmental changes made by humans over hundreds of years, the book reaches a crisis moment for our Earth:

This is the Earth, polluted by greed,
as we take what we want, which is more than we need,
where bulldozing trucks clear the rainforest floor
and sands wash away from the vanishing shore,

The first two lines of this stanza state the problem in a couplet (two lines that rhyme):

This is the Earth, polluted by greed,
as we take what we want, which is more than we need,

The next couplet in the stanza shows new ways that humans are changing the environment:

where bulldozing trucks clear the rainforest floor
and sands wash away from the vanishing shore,

Thankfully, two pages later the solution to this problem shows specific actions that even a small child can do. Here is the first one:

These are the bins
where the bottles and cans
and the papers await
the recycling vans.

Happy Earth Day!

It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)