Category Archives: Highly Recommend

Black Widows

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Written by Jenna Lee Gleisner

Pogo Books: All About Arachnids is an eight book series that is written in a format that is appropriate for young readers that are ready for a bit more complexity in sentence structure. Typical nonfiction features include: table of contents, index, glossary, labeled diagrams and illustrations, headings and bold typed words. “Activities & Tools” presents a simple STEM activity and “To Learn More” notes ways to gain more information. Each book has high interest photos and details habitats, behavior, anatomy and diet of a particular spider. Add this series to your library for those newer readers that are ready for something more.

In Black Widow Spiders, readers learn that only the female is black and red. The male is much smaller and is brown. That’s a surprise! These spiders have venom that is 15 times more powerful than rattlesnake venom, which means we need to stay away. Young readers will learn this and so much more after reading Black Widow Spiders. A fun activity described at the end of the book is to a little research and find out what other animals use red or another bright color to warn away other animals. This book won’t stay on the shelf long. Highly recommended.

Wolf Spiders

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Written by Becca Becker

Pogo Books: All About Arachnids is an eight book series that is written in a format that is appropriate for young readers that are ready for a bit more complexity in sentence structure. Typical nonfiction features include: table of contents, index, glossary, labeled diagrams and illustrations, headings and bold typed words. “Activities & Tools” presents a simple STEM activity and “To Learn More” notes ways to gain more information. Each book has high interest photos and details habitats, behavior, anatomy and diet of a particular spider. Add this series to your library for those newer readers that are ready for something more.

In Wolf Spiders, readers learn that there are over 2,300 different species. They are known for their long legs that they use to sprint after their prey and pounce – just like a wolf! This book is full of facts presented in accessible chunks along with stunning photos and labeled diagrams. Hand this book to your young readers and they’ll be hunting for the others in the series! Highly recommended.

Water Spiders

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Written by Natalie Deniston

Pogo Books: All About Arachnids is an eight book series that is written in a format that is appropriate for young readers that are ready for a bit more complexity in sentence structure. Typical nonfiction features include: table of contents, index, glossary, labeled diagrams and illustrations, headings and bold typed words. “Activities & Tools” presents a simple STEM activity and “To Learn More” notes ways to gain more information. Each book has high interest photos and details habitats, behavior, anatomy and diet of a particular spider. Add this series to your library for those newer readers that are ready for something more.

Did you know that water spiders are the only spiders that spend their entire lives underwater? They collect air bubbles from the surface of the water and bring them together under their web to create a diving bell – a place where they can breathe air while underwater! This is just one fact about this amazing creature in the book, Water Spiders. Young readers will enjoy the information presented in accessible chunks with accompanying photos and diagrams. Finish up this book by creating a diving bell just like the water spider! Highly recommended.

Trapdoor Spiders

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Written by Becca Becker

Pogo Books: All About Arachnids is an eight book series that is written in a format that is appropriate for young readers that are ready for a bit more complexity in sentence structure. Typical nonfiction features include: table of contents, index, glossary, labeled diagrams and illustrations, headings and bold typed words. “Activities & Tools” presents a simple STEM activity and “To Learn More” notes ways to gain more information. Each book has high interest photos and details habitats, behavior, anatomy and diet of a particular spider. Add this series to your library for those newer readers that are ready for something more.

Trapdoor Spiders begins with an insect wandering the forest floor, only to have a spider jump through a trapdoor and grab in to scurry back to its burrow, closing the trapdoor behind it. What follows is a brief introduction to the anatomy, reproduction, habitat and habits of a this particular spider. It spends most of its time in its burrow, safe from predators and bad weather, waiting for its dinner to walk by. Readers can finish by building their own dwelling with a trapdoor, just like the spider! Buy this for your updated library collection. Highly recommended.

Tarantulas

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Written by Becca Becker

Pogo Books: All About Arachnids is an eight book series that is written in a format that is appropriate for young readers that are ready for a bit more complexity in sentence structure. Typical nonfiction features include: table of contents, index, glossary, labeled diagrams and illustrations, headings and bold typed words. “Activities & Tools” presents a simple STEM activity and “To Learn More” notes ways to gain more information. Each book has high interest photos and details habitats, behavior, anatomy and diet of a particular spider. Add this series to your library for those newer readers that are ready for something more.

Tarantulas is a unique spider book in that some young readers may already have some prior knowledge of the topic, given that this spider can be a pet. Readers will learn more about the 900 or so species of tarantulas and what makes these spiders so unique. Labeled diagrams and photo illustrations add further to reader knowledge. Directions for making a pipe cleaner tarantula top off a high interest book for young scientists. Is a visit to the pet store in the future? Highly recommended.

Jumping Spiders

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Written by Becca Becker

Pogo Books: All About Arachnids is an eight book series that is written in a format that is appropriate for young readers that are ready for a bit more complexity in sentence structure. Typical nonfiction features include: table of contents, index, glossary, labeled diagrams and illustrations, headings and bold typed words. “Activities & Tools” presents a simple STEM activity and “To Learn More” notes ways to gain more information. Each book has high interest photos and details habitats, behavior, anatomy and diet of a particular spider. Add this series to your library for those newer readers that are ready for something more.

In Jumping Spiders, readers learn that these spiders live up to their name – they jump (sometimes up to 30 times their body length!). These small (all under one inch) and mighty spiders leap to catch their prey and escape predators. They live everywhere, except Antarctica, and there are over 5000 different species of jumping spiders! Your young readers will even learn that these clever arachnids have been trained to jump on cue. What else will they learn? Highly recommended.

Huntsman Spiders

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Written by Jenna Lee Gleisner

Pogo Books: All About Arachnids is an eight book series that is written in a format that is appropriate for young readers that are ready for a bit more complexity in sentence structure. Typical nonfiction features include: table of contents, index, glossary, labeled diagrams and illustrations, headings and bold typed words. “Activities & Tools” presents a simple STEM activity and “To Learn More” notes ways to gain more information. Each book has high interest photos and details habitats, behavior, anatomy and diet of a particular spider. Add this series to your library for those newer readers that are ready for something more.

In Huntsman Spiders, readers learn about their size (up to the size of a dinner plate!), habitat, diet, reproduction (they don’t eat their mates) and hunting skills. Accompanying photos and illustrations are clear and often labeled. Hand this book to a budding scientist, who wants to know about a spider that doesn’t spin a web and wait for food! Highly recommended.

Garden Spiders

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Written by Becca Becker

Pogo Books: All About Arachnids is an eight book series that is written in a format that is appropriate for young readers that are ready for a bit more complexity in sentence structure. Typical nonfiction features include: table of contents, index, glossary, labeled diagrams and illustrations, headings and bold typed words. “Activities & Tools” presents a simple STEM activity and “To Learn More” notes ways to gain more information. Each book has high interest photos and details habitats, behavior, anatomy and diet of a particular spider. Add this series to your library for those newer readers that are ready for something more.

Garden Spiders takes the reader into the world of one of the more common spider species. Readers will learn about their webs, eating habits, reproduction and variety of appearance. Accompanying photos are clear and vibrant and the close-ups are amazing! The STEM activity, making a spider web, uses common materials and is simple to do. Hand this book to your spider fans. They’ll be heading outside to observe their local garden spiders after learning all about them! Highly recommended.

What Medicine Can Do

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Written by Gabrielle Balkan and illustrated by Alberto Lot

Raccoon feels ITCHY! Luckily, his great-grand raccoon knows what to do. He asks Raccoon to describe his symptoms and tells him he has rash. Raccoon panics a bit and wonders if he’ll need to get a new leg, move to Alaska or wear armor. Luckily, his great-grand raccoon has some medicated lotion and fixes him right up. Whew! Then, Raccoon’s friend, Fox, feels icky and we check the symptoms. Fox panics – does he have an enemy making him feel bad? Who can he blame? This is a little tougher and requires a visit to the doctor, who can give him antibiotics for strep throat and he feels better. Lastly, Fox’s baby sister visits the doctor for a well baby check and gets a vaccine, medicine to prevent illness.

All three scenarios are beautifully presented and explained through simple text and bright, energetic illustrations. Unfamiliar words are bolded with an accompanying glossary in the back of the book. In addition to the medicines described, there are additional health tips to alleviate symptoms. For example, Raccoon can take a baking soda bath or use a cool washcloth to alleviate the itching.

This book does a fantastic job of demystifying medicine and when and why we use it. Readers will recognize their own emotions and fears in the animal characters as they navigate through their medical issues with the help of the caring adults around them. So many questions are answered clearly and succinctly, with a bit of humor along the way.

Highly recommended for library collections. And, show this to your school nurse – she’ll want her own copy!

Horned Toad Has a Superpower by Jill Esbaum

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Jill Esbaum and Bob Shea are back with a new nonfiction title in their Secret Animal Superpowers series. This time, we’re learning about Horned Toad’s superpower, and it’s another one that’s sure to get the “Eeeeeew!” reaction from kids that made Parrotfish Has a Superpower such a fun read-aloud. In this book, we follow a conversation between the titular horned toad and a burrowing owlet. Through their conversation, we learn a great deal of nonfiction information about both creatures. The illustrations are bright and engaging while also effectively teaching readers about horned toad behavior. There’s enough information for students to use this text for beginner research projects, but it’s engaging enough to keep kids coming back just for the fun of reading it. I highly recommend this book and the entire series.