Written by: Mary Miche
Illustrated by: Consie Powell
Published by: Dawn Publishing
Published on: September 1, 2012
Ages: 5+
This is a great little book for introducing a variety of animals and their ecosystems. Every page has a variety of familiar and new animals for children to wonder over. There are many different areas and climates within, from oceans and deserts to forests and towns.
The author introduces a great deal of new vocabulary, from niche to phytoplankton, in easy-to-understand terms. All of the animals on the page are related to the new vocabulary words.
The illustrations are very unique in that they are pieced together to look like different quilts, so in addition to scientific information there is a soft introduction to various shapes as well as crafts. The pages are, like many quilts, quite busy, so this is more suited to sitting down and reading rather than reading aloud to a number of children.
The back of the book has a supplemental section with illustrations of famous environmentalists like Wangari Maathai and David Suzuki. Teachers and parents will especially like the game suggestion for role-playing the animal food chain.
Hi, I knew about Wangari Maathai through the picture book Planting the trees of Kenya - I find it fascinating how we are brought to these visionaries, and in your case animals and their ecosystems, through picture books. Very nice.
ReplyDeleteI echo Myra's thoughts, and I think it's interesting what you mentioned on the Nonfiction Monday host blog..."Astronomy is the first thing kids in Japan learn about when they go back in September for second semester, since this is the moon month!" We had a beautiful moon, a blue moon, here the other night. My son is in Idaho and he sent me a photo of the moon and its reflections in a lake. Lovely! And lovely to think of you and the kids in Japan looking at the moon too!
ReplyDeleteI like the quilt illustration twist. That could set up some nice possibilities in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations! You won the Robert Frost cap etegami-collage in my September give-away. Please send me your full name and postal address by email. :)
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