Author: Sue Heavenrich

I love frogs almost as much as I love bugs. One time I even tried to learn the languages of our local frogs. Peeper, American toad, Wood frog – I got the basics. But never enough to ask them the important questions. So I had to get my hands on Steve and Robin’s newest book – which will be released Feb. 26th.

The Frog Book
by Steve Jenkins & Robin Page
40 pages; ages 6-9
HMH, 2019

Frogs are creatures of two worlds – they spend part of their lives in the water and part on land.

Spread by spread we meet frogs that hop, frogs that fly, frogs bigger than your hand, and frogs smaller than your thumb. Frogs have lived on earth for millions of year. “In fact,” the authors write,” a frog could have been stepped on by one of the first dinosaurs.”

What I like love about this book: I love that each page features a particular froggy feature, from “what is a frog?” to frog adaptations. We discover what frogs eat (and it’s not all flies), frog defenses, and life in the trees. Unfortunately, one-third of all frog species are in danger of extinction due to habitat loss, climate change, pollution, and disease. Back matter includes quick facts about every frog featured in the book: size, diet, home range.

I also love the torn- and cut-paper illustrations. The detail is amazing! And I really love the end papers! They are a luscious mix of bubbly pond shades of blues and greens. If you can’t wait for spring to bring frogs, this book may tide you over the next few weeks.

Head over to Archimedes Notebook for more books that include frogs, and some froggy Beyond-the-Book activities.

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

Copyright © 2019 Sue Heavenrich All Rights Reserved.

Too many people, including some elected leaders, seem not to understand the difference between weather and climate. So I am relieved to find books for kids that are grounded in climate science. Searchlight Books (Lerner) recently published a series on climate change. The books are each 32 pages long, and aimed for students in 3rd -5th grade.

Climate Change and Energy Technology, written by Rebecca E. Hirsch, is divided into four chapters. In the first she clarifies what climate change is. It is not the weather, which changes from day to day. Climate is the “usual weather for a place”, but as we have been learning, what is “usual” has been changing over the past decade. And the warming climate has contributes to more extreme storms, including blizzards.

Hirsch devotes a chapter to energy: fossil fuels, wind, sun, geothermal, and hydro. She examines inventions that increase energy efficiency as well as create new ways to capture, store, and use energy. Think about the increasing number of electric vehicles on the road and the emerging need for quick-charging stations.

Her last chapter explores how we will energize out future. How can we build better batteries? Are there untapped renewable energy sources that we could harness?

“STEM in Depth” sidebars explain how solar panels work and how tidal power is captured. The book ends with four things anyone of any age can do to help reduce their carbon footprint. There’s also a glossary and resources for further investigation.

There are five more books in the series:
Climate Change and Air Quality
Climate Change and Extreme Storms
Climate Change and Life on Earth
Climate Change and Rising Sea Levels
Climate Change and Rising Temperatures

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

Copyright © 2019 Sue Heavenrich All Rights Reserved.

I love the National Geographic Kid’s books for early readers. Here are two recent books in their “Readers” series that focus on the ocean

In the Ocean 
by Jennifer Szymanski
48 pages; ages 2-5

This book is a level 1 co-reader, meaning that it’s a book for a shared reading experience between a kid just learning to read and a parent or older reader. It is divided into four chapters of 6 to 10 pages: Water in the ocean; Ocean homes; Animals in the ocean; and People and the ocean.

Each spread introduces a single idea, such as what oceans are, how waves move, or what coral is.

The left side presents text for the older reader. Text on the right side (I Read) is in larger font. Some words are bolded – words about the ocean, places, action words. After each chapter is a section called “Your Turn” – a matching game or other activity for kids to do to further explore the ocean.

Tide Pools
by Laura Marsh
32 pages; ages 4-6

This is a book for kids who are beginning to read on their own. It opens with a color-coded table of contents. Topics are presented in yellow and orange sections, while green indicates an activity. Throughout the pages you’ll find text boxes with seashell icons. Labeled “Tide Pool Talk”, these highlight new words which are also featured in the photo-glossary on the last page. The Q & A boxes are fishy jokes, and others provide labels and information about the photos. It’s a fun way for beginning readers to learn that information comes from text AND captions, labels, and sidebars. I love the “cool facts” about tide pool critters.

Head over to Archimedes  Notebook for another book review (Coral Reefs) and some fun links.

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

Copyright © 2019 Sue Heavenrich All Rights Reserved.

Absolute Expert: Dolphins
by Jennifer Swanson, with Justine Jackson-Ricketts
112 pages; ages 8-12
National Geographic Kids, 2018

Justine Jackson-Ricketts is a marine biologist who loves dolphins. Good thing, because she is our guide into the world of dolphins. She does research on community ecology – that means she is learning how dolphins interact with each other and their environments.

In this book she and Jennifer Swanson team up to tell us all about dolphins, beginning with how they are related to each other and where to find them. Then we get a close-up look at dolphins, inside and out. They have streamlined heads so they can cut through water quickly, and their flippers have bones that look almost like fingers. They’ve got rubbery skin, layers of blubber, and a brain designed for problem-solving.

What I like about this book: The photography is gorgeous! And I really enjoy having Justine along for the read, because she (and Jennifer) explain everything in terms a non-dolphin can understand. I love the “Deep Dives” at the end of each chapter – hands-on activities that extend your understanding of life as a dolphin. And I love the Dolphin Personality Quiz. Turns out I’m a bottlenose dolphin. Click-ck-ck! Squeeeek? Bzzzzt!

Head over to Archimedes Notebook for another dolphin book and some beyond-the-book activities.

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

Copyright © 2019 Sue Heavenrich All Rights Reserved.

The Secret Life of the Little Brown Bat
by Laurence Pringle; illus. by Kate Garchinsky
32 pages; ages 6-9
Boyds Mills Press, 2018

The sun has set. A July sky dims, then grows darker.

For most of us, that means time to sleep. But for Otis and his family it is time to WAKE UP! There’s so much to do before they fly into the night. The book takes us into the family life of little brown bats, how parents know their pups, and first flight.

What I like about this book: It’s such a personal look into the lives of little brown bats. I love the nearly step-by-step instructions Laurence Pringle gives us on how to hunt using echolocation – not that I’ll ever use it (unless I’m hunting moths maybe). If the bat’s name, Otis, seems familiar that’s because it comes from the genus name Myotis, which means mouse-eared. The illustrations are perfect – with a soft feel that you almost want to snuggle up to.

Head over to Archimedes Notebook for another book review and some hands-on activities.

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

Copyright © 2019 Sue Heavenrich All Rights Reserved.

In some places spring is already poking through. Not where I live – that won’t happen for another month. Maybe more, given the unpredictable nature of this winter … But I couldn’t wait for things to totally thaw to share this book, published just a couple weeks ago.

Snowman – Cold = Puddle, By Laura Purdie Salas; illus. by Micha Archer
32 pages; ages 4-8. Charlesbridge, 2019

science + poetry = surprise!

“Science is why and how a flower grows,” writes Laura Purdie Salas. “Poetry is looking at that flower and seeing a firework.” This book may look like math, but it is poetry in disguise. Laura takes us on a seasonal deep dive, exploring spring through a series of equations.

snowman – cold = puddle
breeze + kite = ballet
1 dandelion X 1 breath = 100 parachutes

Smaller text includes more information about these seasonal observations, along with context. For example, dandelions depend on wind to spread their seeds. And some of those seeds can travel hundreds of miles before settling down.

What I like love about this book: What a fun way to explore a season! And turning math into poetry is definitely a plus. I like that she includes a variety of math functions (addition, subtraction, multiplication) and divides her poem into three acts: early, mid-, and late spring. I like that there are two levels of reading this book, the math-poetry and the nature notes.

I love the artwork! In her notes at the back of the book, Micha Archer says that for her, spring = color. She used collage to create the illustrations, layering tissue papers, using crayon-rubbing resists with watercolor washes, carving her own stamps, then snipping, slicing, and gluing down the papers. She used oil paints to add the children’s faces.

But what I really, really, really love about this book is the equation she has left readers to solve on the very last page.

you + the world = ?

Head over to Archimedes Notebook for some Beyond the Book STEM-ish activities.

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

Copyright © 2019 Sue Heavenrich All Rights Reserved.

Before I could read words, I “read” books by looking at pictures. My favorite book at the time was my dad’s geology textbook that had an entire section on fossils and dinosaurs. That could explain my love of children’s books about paleontology (the branch of science concerned with fossil animals and plants). So here’s a book about the lives of animals whose bones we find in stones…

Charlotte’s Bones: The Beluga whale in a farmer’s field
by Erin Rounds; illus. by Alison Carver
36 pages; ages 5-9
Tilbury House, 2018

Many thousands of years ago, when a sheet of ice more than a mile thick began to let go of the land… the Atlantic Ocean flooded great valleys…

Some of those glacier-scoured valleys were in Vermont. When they became part of the sea, Charlotte and her Beluga buddies swam into the bays. They hunted salmon and raised their young. But one day Charlotte got trapped in a marshy area and her pod could not rescue her.

What I like about this book: The wonderful way that Erin Rounds shows the process of decay and sedimentation that covered her. And how, thousands of years later, in 1849, railroad workers found Charlotte’s bones. A naturalist wanted to know more, so he pieced the bones together. Then he wondered, how did a whale get to a farmer’s field in Vermont?

I like the extensive back matter that helps to answer the naturalist’s questions. There is more information about other ice age mammals whose remains have been discovered in Vermont as well: Musk oxen, woolly mammoths, saber-toothed tigers.

Head over to Archimedes Notebook for another dino book review and some Beyond the Books activities.

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

Copyright © 2019 Sue Heavenrich All Rights Reserved.

 

The Dinosaur Expert
by Margaret McNamara; illus. by G. Brian Karas
40 pages; ages 4-8
Schwartz & Wade, 2018

Kimmy collected things so she could study them. She collected rocks
and shells
and leaves and pebbles and feathers.

I love books that inspire kids to follow their passions – even when their passion seems so out of the ordinary. And I especially love books that encourage girls to explore science.

This book opens with an illustration of Kimmy examining an ammonite from her fossil collection. Yes, she collects them, too. So on the day that Kimmy’s class is visiting the natural history museum, she is very excited. She knows a lot about dinosaurs and can’t wait to share. But when she mentions that she wants to be a scientist, one of the kids says, “Girls aren’t scientists.” And Kimmy stops talking.

What I like love about this book: I love the illustrations of the various dinosaurs. And I love the expressiveness of Kimmy’s face – readers will understand how she feels about the possibility that there is no place for her in paleontology. What I really love, though, is that the teacher nudges her towards an exhibit of Gasparinisaura, a dinosaur discovered by a woman.

And there is Back Matter (and you know how much I love that!). Titled “My Favorite Paleontologists by Kimmy”, we discover seven women who dug and sorted and identified dino bones. Six of them are alive and working in their field right now.

Head over to Archimedes Notebook for some Beyond-the-Book activities

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

Copyright © 2019 Sue Heavenrich All Rights Reserved.

 I love stories of accidental invention. This one is particularly fun to read.

The Boo-Boos that Changed the World
by Barry Wittenstein; illus. by Chris Hsu
32 pages; ages 4-8
Charlesbridge, 2018

Once upon a time, in 1917 actually, a cotton buyer named Earle Dickson married his beloved, Josephine, and they lived happily ever after. The End.

Uh, no – that’s actually the beginning. Otherwise it would be a very short story, right? It turns out that Josephine was accident prone. She cut herself on kitchen knives, grated her knuckles – whatever could happen would happen!

Earle had learned a bit about bandaging wounds from his dad, a doctor. So he tried to come up with a better way to make bandages that Josephine could use herself. Something that she could wind around a cut and that would stick on. Something easy… so he created what would eventually become Band Aids. The end. Except they weren’t as easy to use as he’d hoped. So how could they be improved?

What I like about this book: I love the fun way that author Barry Wittenstein tells about the accidental invention of Band Aids. I love that he tells part of it, and it seems to be complete, The End. But no, turn the page and there’s more! I like that Earle had to solve real problems, like how to make Band Aids sticky. And how to package them. And how big to make them. And how to market them. (Hint: who uses lots of Band Aids? Boy Scouts!)

And there is Back Matter (of course!). An author’s note tells more about Earle and his invention, provides a timeline, and a list of other medical inventions.

Head over to Archimedes Notebook for some Beyond-the-Book activities.

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

Copyright © 2019 Sue Heavenrich All Rights Reserved.

Weird Animals
by Mary Kay Carson
32 pages; ages 6 – 10
Sterling Children’s Books, 2019

Slime-oozing slugs, red-lipped fish, spine-covered bugs, and tube-nosed bats. Weird animals are an awesome sight.

OK, I’m going to admit right here that I read this book because of its cover. I mean, look at those fish-lips! If you’re looking for a weird animal, the red-lipped batfish has to be right up there in the top ten.

But… why are its lips so red? Do they help it find a mate? Scare off predators?

What I like about this book: Mary Kay Carson answers these and other questions about why animals have weird adaptations. For example, the Spiny Devil Katydid is covered with thorny-looking spines that make it hard for bats to swallow. The fluffy pink fairy armadillo is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. Instead of a tail it’s got a kickstand to prop it up so it can fling dirt while digging.

I like the way the pages are laid out. Three color-coded words in the introductory sentence at the top correspond with color-coded text explaining why those adaptations work for each animal. Plus large photos of the critters. Plus there’s back matter: a glossary of “weird words” and an index. And did I mention the end pages? Large portraits of some of the weirdest in the crew. Totally fun and I learned a lot, too.

Head over to Archimedes Notebook for another book and some beyond the book activities.

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

Copyright © 2019 Sue Heavenrich All Rights Reserved.