Classics, Nonfiction, and Children's Literature
From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons (Holiday House, 1991) is a detailed Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out book with details on how seeds grow into plants. It includes charts with the parts of the seeds details on how pollination occurs, and clear charts of the various stages of photosynthesis. The detail provides a nice full instruction in how
Dear Katie, The Volcano is a Girl by Jean Craighead George (illustrated by Daniel Powers; Hyperion, 1998) is the story about a grandmother and a granddaughter on vacation in Hawaii. They tour a volcano, and while Katie insists that the volcano is Pele (a goddess) her grandmother disagrees and explains how volcanoes form because cracks
How Mountains Are Made by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfelt (illustrated by James Graham Hale; Harper Collins, 1995) is a Lets-Read-and-Find-Out book (Level 2). The books in this picture book informational science series are sometimes uneven, but this one hits the mark for teaching many concepts with a friendly frame. In How Mountains Are Made, the facts
Adam and His Kin by Ruth Beechick (published by Mott Media, 1990) is titled to be a book telling a narrative story of the early patriarchs of the Earth, beginning with Adam and going through Abraham. Unfortunately, it really feels like a paraphrase retelling with very little narrative. It seems unfair to say: there was
With the story frame of a child growing a garden, Compost!: Growing Gardens From Your Garbage by Linda Glaser (illustrated by Anca Hariton; Millbrook Press, 1996) gives the startling claim that the garden is made from garbage! Throughout the book, the kid describes just what can be put in the compost pile. To make it
Adding plants to a city is a great way to bring neighbors together in the fictional picture book City Green by DyAnne DiSalvo-Ryan (HarperCollins, 1994). The author-illustrator’s pictures show a bleak looking spot next to Marcy’s apartment building. It is an empty lot where a different apartment building once stood. Along with Miss Rosa, Marcy
Sir Circumference and the Dragon of Pi by Cindy Neuschwander, illustrated by Wayne Geehan. Sir Circumference is a silly story that uses finding pi as a solution to a problem: the Knight Sir Circumference has been turned into a dragon. Characters named Radius and Lady Di of Ameter help him by finding a potion with poetic instructions telling
As with many of the Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out series books, Franklyn M. Branley’s Down Comes the Rain, illustrated by James Graham Hale (Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Stage 2, Harper Collins, 1963/1997), interests the child reader by giving examples of simple things for children to do and try throughout. For example, it suggests activities such as dipping one’s fingers in water,
It was a sad day for me when I passed on my favorite parenting book. Caring for Your Baby and Young Child: Birth to Age Five by The American Academy of Pediatrics is a great book for any parents of little ones because it provides so much great care advice. But, I no longer have
I love the unique style of Tomie dePaola, and I was so sad to hear that this iconic children’s illustrator passed away this year. I read Patrick: Patron Saint of Ireland by Tomie dePaola (Holiday House, 1992) two years when my daughter and I were learning Medieval history. In this biographic picture book, dePaola writes
Follow the Water from Brook to Ocean by Arthur Dorros (Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out, Stage 2, HarperCollins Children’s Books, 1991) emphasizes the collection and movement of water. It names and explains underground water systems, springs, brooks, rivers, and water’s power to carve through rocks to create canyons. Water’s interaction with Earth creates waterfalls, causes floods, and is dammed
Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli, the Newbery Award Winner for 1991, is celebrating its 25th anniversary since publication. It’s hard for me to imagine this book being an “old” one, but since I knew I read it as a child, I should not be so surprised. Maniac Magee is the story of a legend, a
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