STEM Friday

November 15, 2019November 14, 2019

Pluto Gets the Call

Pluto Gets the Call
by Adam Rex (Author) and Laurie Keller (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Pluto loves being a planet. That is, until the day he gets a call from some Earth scientists telling him he isn’t a planet anymore! You probably wanted to meet a real planet, huh? Join Pluto as he takes you on a journey through the solar system to introduce the other planets (who commiserate about his situation).

Snippet:

FYI: “‘I am here to tell you, as the NASA administrator, I believe Pluto is a planet,’ said Bridenstine during a keynote on the final day of the International Astronautical Congress in Washington, D.C. on October 25.”

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

November 15, 2019November 11, 2019

Otters, Snails and Tadpole Tails

by Eric Ode; illus by Ruth Harper
32 pages; all ages
Kane Miller Books / EDC Publishing, 2019

Will I find you here
where cedar wears her mossy shawl

With an otter as our guide, we meet the amphibians, mollusks, birds, mammals, insects, reptiles, and plants that inhabit a wetland.

What I like about this book: I love that the otter shows up in most of the spreads – as though they’re our tour guide. It reminds me of the time my youngest insisted there “might be otters” in our little stream and so we hiked the length of it – finding crayfish, insects, mammal tracks, birds … but no otter! And there’s a wonderful poem about the heron that “measures the morning in slow, perfect strides” – which perfectly captures the heron that stalks the river’s edge nearby.

I love Ruth Harper’s artwork. Can’t think of a medium more perfect for capturing the feel of wetlands than watercolors!

Head over to Archimedes Notebook for another book about our connections with nature, and some hands-on Beyond the Book activities.

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

November 8, 2019November 8, 2019

As We Grow

As We Grow
by Libby Walden (Author) and Richard Jones (Illustrator)

Booktalk: A lyrical look at each stage of life and the journey of transformation that we experience as we grow up.

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

November 8, 2019November 8, 2019

Not a Butterfly Alphabet Book

Moths have gotten pushed aside by their day flying cousins, but now Jerry Pallotta gives them some well-deserved attention with his new Not a Butterfly Alphabet Book: It’s About Time Moths Had Their Own Book! illustrated by Shennen Bersani.

Don’t let the name “alphabet book” dissuade you. Although they are wryly humorous (as you can tell from the title) and full of quirky facts, these are serious nonfiction books that use the alphabet as a way to organize information. This one highlights 26 different species of moths, from the giant Atlas moth to the gorgeous zigzag moth (you’ll see immediately how it got it’s name). Along the way readers learn about aspects of moth biology, such as facts about their mouthparts, wing scales, and life cycles.

Shennen Bersani’s amazing illustrations explode the myth that moths are drab or boring. You are likely to say, “Wow!” with every page turn. They are gorgeous. Seriously!

Not a Butterfly Alphabet Book will thrill budding entomologists and artists alike. Pick up a copy and find out why moths deserve their day in the sun.

Be sure to fly over to Growing with Science blog for an activity suggestion and links to related books for our Moth Week celebration.

November 8, 2019October 25, 2019

One North Star

One North Star: A Counting Book
by Phyllis Root; illus by Beckie Prange and Betsy Bowen
36 pages; ages 8-12
Univ Of Minnesota Press, 2016

Who lives here under one north star?

One by one, we meet the plants and animals that share the land beneath the star. Phyllis Root takes readers on a field trip through bog and marsh, along river and around lake, across prairie and into the woods, counting flora and fauna as we go. The woodcut and water illustrations by Beckie Prange and Betsy Bowen provide additional opportunities to explore diverse habitats and plants and animals living there.

What I like about this book: Each spread introduces different species. For example, One moose… but on the next page it’s two bats and one hawk. By the end of the book we’ve met 55 different plants, birds, fish, insects, mammals, and herps. I also like that Root includes the reader in her book. “You live here, too,” she writes. “We all live together under one north star.” Nine pages of back matter provide further opportunity for curious young naturalists to explore each habitat and the wild things living there. And (very important) – how to locate the north star in the sky above you. I give this book a constellation’s worth of stars, and One Big North Star.

Head over to Archimedes Notebook for more sky books and some hands-on activities (including how to make a telescope).

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

November 1, 2019October 31, 2019

If You Played Hide-And-Seek with a Chameleon

If You Played Hide-And-Seek with a Chameleon
by Bill Wise (Author) and Rebecca Evans (Illustrator)

Booktalk: A fanciful look at what would happen if kids played games with twelve different animals.

Snippet:

BONUS! Download the Activities

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

November 1, 2019October 24, 2019

Snack, Snooze, Skedaddle: How Animals Get Ready for Winter

by Laura Purdie Salas; illus by Claudine Gévry
32 pages; ages 5-9
Millbrook Press, 2019

Soak up the sun, breathe in the breeze, munch crunchy apples that fall from the trees.

Because nights are growing longer, days are getting colder, and soon snow and ice will cover the landscape. Laura Purdie Salas shows how different animals prepare to survive the winter. Some, such as hummingbirds and butterflies, migrate. Others store up nuts and seeds, or build layers of fat, and spend the winter napping. And others grow extra layers of hair so they can keep warm.

What I like about this book: Rhyming text reveals survival secrets of twelve different animals, from worms to mammals. And yes, humans are counted amongst those mammals. A line of smaller text, offset by squiggly lines, offers additional details. Claudine Gévry’s illustrations are filled with details inviting readers to explore the spreads that show animals across the two seasons of autumn and winter.

And there is back matter! Salas provides more information about the three basic winter survival strategies: migrate, hibernate, or tolerate. Following pages tell more about the migrators, hibernators, and tolerators, and end with a glossary.

Check out the “Beyond the Book” activities over at Archimedes Notebook.

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

October 25, 2019October 24, 2019

Spontaneous Human Combustion

Spontaneous Human Combustion
by Craig Boutland (Author)

Booktalk: This book explores the phenomenon of spontaneous human combustion — what can we learn about it through historical documentation and the theories surrounding it?

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

October 25, 2019October 20, 2019

Biodiversity

Biodiversity: Explore the Diversity of Life on Earth (Build It Yourself series)
by Laura Perdew; illus by Tom Casteel
128 pages; ages 9-12
Nomad Press, 2019

We share our planet with millions of other species – from bacteria to plants to fungi and animals. This tremendous variety of life on Earth is called “biodiversity”, a shortened way of saying “biological diversity.” In six chapters, author Laura Perdew introduces biodiversity, why it’s important, threats to biodiversity, and how we can protect it.

In discussing climate change, Perdew discusses human activities that contribute to a warming planet, such as burning fossil fuels and deforestation. The warming planet is melting polar ice, causing sea levels to rise and flood coastal habitats. The increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere reacts with ocean water to create acidic ocean water which, in turn threatens coral reefs and clams. Perdew also delves into pollution, habitat loss, invasive species, and over-exploitation of resources. Fortunately, there are things people can do, from implementing conservation policies to developing new energy technologies to taking personal actions.

In addition to informative text and photos, each chapter contains a comic strip, text-boxes of “words to know”, quick facts, sidebars, and primary source links with QR codes (urls listed at the back). There are more than twenty hands-on STEM activities, from field trips to making things. Want to make bio-gas? You’ll need some help from microbes, but all you need are a plastic bottle, an uninflated balloon, and some dead leaves. There are directions for making a water filter and even instructions for making your own smartphone-microscope.

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

October 18, 2019October 17, 2019

Save the Crash-test Dummies

Save the Crash-test Dummies
by Jennifer Swanson (Author) and TeMika Grooms (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Cars take us to work. To school. To soccer practice. To the grocery store and home again. Can you imagine a world without them? It’s not easy! One of the reasons we can use cars so much in our everyday lives is because they are safe to drive. But that hasn’t always been the case. If it weren’t for the experiments conducted over decades that involved all kinds of crash test volunteers–dead, alive, animal, or automated–cars as we know them might not be around. And then how would you get to school?

Snippet:

See the book trailer.

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