Last week I shared the first half of my mega science book reviews. I promised the second half of the mega review this week and today is the day!! Last week we focused on general science, transportation and space. This week it is plants and animals. We will start with How Plants and Trees Work by Christiane Dorion and illustrated by Beverley Young.
This is an interactive pop-up book. It has wheels to turn, flaps to open and 3-D pictures. It covers things like how a plant grows from a seed, why it has flowers, how plants defend themselves, and so much more. It shares things like the weirdest plants, edible plants, and how we use plants. It also shows where different types of plants are in the world. There is even a page on why trees are important.
When talking about plants one cannot skip over talking about the pollinators. Therefore another great book is What on Earth? Bees by Dr. Andrea Quigley and illustrated by Pauline Morgan. This book starts with bee poems and goes into the history of bees. Did you know that some wasps turned into bees because they liked the pollen of the flowers more than the insects on the flowers? It includes the types of bees, the body parts of bees, life cycle, pollination, how they make honey and so much more!! It has various crafts and activities to help bees and to understand bees even better. They range from one to teach about pollinating to making homes for different types of bees and so much more! There is even a section about the disappearing bees and other ways besides honey that they are helpful.
This book is full of information and colors. It has many projects and activities that vary in difficulty, but give hands-on ways to learn more about bees. I can see most kids loving this book and the activities and crafts. It is perfect for any bee unit or plant unit. It is recommended for grades 1 to 4.
Since we are talking about animals, we should mention Song of the Wild: A First Book of Animals by Nicola Davies and illustrated by Petr Horacek. This book is exactly what it says a first book of animals. It is full of information about many different animals. It is divided into chapters: Big and Small, Colors and Shapes, Animal Homes, Animal Babies and Animals in Action. Then it gives information about different animals in each section. It goes into a little bit of information about the animals in ways that young children will understand. The words are simple and fun and the illustrations are amazing!!
The recommended ages are 3 to 7. Hazel knows the information already in this book, so she was not all that interested. (She loves watching Wild Kratts growing up and as a result knows more than I do about most animals.) The book is an amazing way of introducing animals from different parts of the world and in different environments. It covers animals in the dessert, ocean, jungles and more. Want to teach your younger children about animals? Check this book out!!
Let's move to the ocean with Secrets of the Sea by Kate Baker and illustrated by Eleanor Taylor. This book is full of the life in the seas. It is for older kids--grade 3 to 7. The chapters are In the Shallows, Forests of the Sea, Coral Gardens, The Wide, Wide Blue, and Into the Deep. Each chapter shares information about creatures in the various section of the ocean. Each creature has its common name, Latin name, size and visual description. Then there is information about the creature and its life. Finally there are three quick facts and of course amazing illustrations. It is packed full of information!!
This book is an amazing resource for any ocean unit or classroom. The illustrations are beautiful and the information is quick but very detailed. Kate Baker does a wonderful job of describing the sea creatures and giving a glimpse at their lives in few words. It is truly an amazing book.
Now Hazel LOVES National Geographics Kids. She loves all the amazing information shared in their books and magazines. Our next book, Chomp! by Brady Barr, is no different. What are the different ways of biting or chewing? This book is broken into chapters by the various types of chewing: Grippers, Slicers, Crushers, and Gulpers. In each chapter is a variety of animals that eat in that way and the details are amazing. There is information about the animal, how and what it eats and lots of photographs. There is information about things like number of teeth and bite force as well.
Now I will admit this is not one of Hazel's favorite animal books. She does not like to see all of their big mouths and teeth, but it is full of so much information. It is perfect for those kids who love the scary animals from snakes and sharks and so many more. Have you ever thought about how the lion's bite is different than a snake's bite? This book shows you how. It is recommended for grades 2 to 5.
Our next book is Koala by Claire Saxby and illustrated by Julie Vivas. Now we have reviewed books by Claire Saxby previously (Emus and Big Red Kangaroo) and loved them!! In a similar style this book follows a baby koala bear as he begins to go off on his own. It tells the story of the koala with little asides full of information about koala bears. This book is recommended for ages 4 to 8.
I love how the book tells a story which can be read without reading the asides and how the asides add so much information about the koala bear. The illustrations are beautiful. These books are among our favorites. We love the simple stories and looks at the animals' lives. The information shared on each pages goes with the story but is not necessary to follow the story. It is truly a beautiful book!!
Our final book for today is Science Comics: Dogs by Andy Hirsch. This is a graphic novel science book for ages 9 to 13. We reviewed Science Comics: Bats previously. Dogs is narrated by a little friendly dog named Rudy. It shares the history of dogs as well as the various subspecies (what we tend to call species of dogs). It explains the differences between the subspecies as well as answering questions like why dogs bark and why they sniff butts. Are you ready to find these answers in a fun way? Check out this graphic novel.
I hope you will join us in reading these fun and beautiful science books!! They are such great books for classrooms, homeschoolers and homes that love to share non-fiction books.
