” A tree falls in the forest. Crash! Bur=t that is not the end of the tree’s story. It’s just the beginning of its new life as a rotting habitat.” (p. 7)
Now the large font text, of 3-4 sentences per page, gives brief descriptions of the work of ants, pill bugs, fungus, earthworms, millipedes, springtails, mites, centipedes in and on the log on the forest floor.
Highly magnified color photos of these creatures, including bacteria and microbes, grab the readers attention.
Simple text in large font describes different modes of transportation used by children around the world to get to school: a topic very relevant to young children. This book makes a good teaching tool, rich in Non-fiction text features such as captions, table of contents, headings, bolded vocabulary words to indicate what is found in the glossary, and an index. Color photos support the text and website/books suggestions for further reading are included. A map in the back color-codes the continents to place photos geographically. It’s got a good sturdy binding and provides guided reading level on the back.
This is the story of Ginny. Ginny is in kindergarten and loves to read. The only problem is that Ginny sees two of everything. When she bumps into chairs, the kids laugh at her and when she reads things twice her teacher tells her to only read it once or stop squinting. Math is really hard and so is simple things like cutting for Ginny, but on Vision Screening Day the mystery is solved. Ginny has double vision. After going to the eye doctor, she is relieved to find out her eyes aren’t playing tricks on her and she doesn’t need surgery. Eye exercises, glasses and a patch will fix her vision problem. This is when she becomes a kindergarten pirate that can do numbers, scissors, read and not bump into things. This is a nice story about being different and having a disability. This would be a great resource for those little ones that do have trouble with their vision. This is a cute story that teaches kids it is ok to have difficulties and disabilities. I like how it puts a positive spin on wearing eye patches for the many kids that have to.
From the bestselling Llama Llama series, this book is about Llama Llama dealing with Christmas preparations. The holidays bring so much planning, stress and craziness that Llama Llama just can’t take anymore! Llama Llama just can’t wait for the big day, but there is so much to do to get ready. Every day of waiting and waiting is just so hard and finally Llama Llama has had enough HOLIDRAMA! A cute story told in rhyme with delightful pictures, this book is great about making us all realize the importance of the holidays. I think it makes us parents/teachers think about how kids sometimes feel about the most wonderful time of the year. Llama Llama and Mama Llama take a time out and remember the holidays are about the true gift of having each other. I just loved it!
This is the story of a little guy, Puzzlehead. The author/illustrator has created geometric characters that go on an adventure together. Everyone seems to have found the perfect thing to do. All but Puzzlehead. When Puzzlehead finally finds the perfect place for him, he soon realizes that it is quite lonely and wants to play with his friends. The only problem is that he is stuck! With help from his friends, they pull him free and at the same time they see how they all fit together into one piece. This is a cute story about friendship and fitting in based on puzzle/shape type characters. Teachers could use this book in many ways, such as teaching shapes, geometry and friendship.
This book is from the set of books, Dinosaur Wars. In this book, it compares the two dinosaurs-deinonychus and styracosaurus. The book welcomes the reader to dinosaur wars! The book then goes into detail about each dinosaur comparing their size, speed and agility, defenses, weapons and attack style. Even though these two dinos never battled each other, it discusses what may have happened had they battled. I really like the layout of this book. On the left facing page there is the information about the deinonychus, along with a picture and then on the right is the information about the styracosauus (and a picture). On each set of facing pages there is also a fierce fact and a glossary word. At the end of the book, there is a fictionalized story of the two dinos meeting and battling. I think that kids will really like how the book nicely compares two different types of dinosaurs and the story with the “dinosaur war” at the end. Great set of nonfiction dinosaur books!
This books starts with the glossary which prepares the reader for perhaps difficult vocabulary. The cleaning methods of 12 different animals are described and explained. Grooming keeps animals clean and free of parasites. It also encourages a sense of community in many animals. Photographs of the animals show good detail. Text is large and easily read. Basic information is in simple sentences for younger readers (2nd grade). Additional information written at a higher level (4th grade) is in a text box. Suggestions of other books to read, 2 websites, and an index are in the back.
Photographs of castles, knight’s armor, artifacts, and artwork from the Middle Ages fill this book on knights and castles. Text is large and in different fonts on the page. Many words are large and bold. Some of them are in the glossary, some are defined on the page. Both focus the reader’s attention to that section. Knights, who they were and what they did, are defined and described. Photographs illustrate armor and weapons. Photographs and medieval artwork show details of castles and help explain the design. This is a good beginning resource for those wanting to know about a knight’s life in the middle ages. Much information is packed into 24 pages – just enough to whet the appetite of young readers.
Outstanding watercolor illustrations portray the emotions of a cat before, during, and after his boy’s family moves from a house to an apartment. The cat was quite comfortable living in the house with its many hiding places and windows with birds and waiting in a sunny spot for his boy to come home from school. When the family moves to an apartment, the cat is miserable and hides. Gorgeous paintings show a variety of points of view from the cat’s perspective. As the cat begins to accept the new home with less hiding places, it notices the apartment has windows with lots of birds – and settles in a sunny spot for the boy to come home.
When Mama raccoon gets sick and has to stay in bed, Papa and the kids happily take of Mama’s jobs. Told in rhyme, Papa and the children discover they are exhausted after just one day of cooking and cleaning up after themselves. When Mama feels better and is ready to get out of bed, Papa and the kids rush around madly to tidy the house. Mitra Modarressi’s delightful watercolor paintings are colorful and filled with details as Dad and the children begin to make messes that grow larger and larger as the day progresses. Cute story of role reversal!