Elementary

A Look at Rocks

Book cover: 'A Look at Rocks: from Coal to Kimberlite'
Author(s): 
Jo S. Kittinger
I really didn't expect to get much out of a children's picture book on rocks. Rocks are, well, rocks! I was wrong. Mrs. Kittinger has done a fine job in presenting various types of rock, how they are formed in nature (with a significant emphasis on volcanoes) and the various fascinating and often beautiful varieties of rocks. There are many stunning photos and fascinating statistics on rock-related items from Mount Rushmore (and it's lesser known "sister-sculpture" - Stone Mountain - of some "monumental" figures of the Confederacy) to the Grand Canyon to amazing volcano formations.

A Look at Minerals

Book cover: 'A Look at Minerals: from Galena to Gold'
Author(s): 
Jo S. Kittinger
A surprisingly interesting (and fairly in-depth) picture book that introduces children to minerals - which include metals and gems. Many full color photos highlight and enhance the text, which covers topics such as Mohs' Scale of Mineral Hardness, ice crystals, cleavage planes (the way minerals break when cut) of various minerals, metals in their natural state, special metals like gold, silver and platinum, how various minerals form and what they look like in their natural state. My children and I found this to be quite an interesting book.

Elephant Families

Book cover: 'Elephant Families'
Author(s): 
Arthur Dorros
This book focuses on elephant's care for and interaction with each other with a significant emphasis on elephants being killed by poachers. Unlike the interesting scientific information designed to impart facts and help children develop an interest in science (as I've come to expect from the Let's Read-and-Find-Out Science Series) this book gets lost in the mediocrity of environmentalism by giving children a sort of emotional attachment to elephants (by over-emphasizing their slight similarities with people) and shocking them with details about how and why people kill elephants and a somewhat

Sharks

Book cover: 'Sharks'
Seymour Simon is well-known for his numerous photo-essay-type of picture books for elementary-aged students. Most of his books center around one specific well-defined topic and are illustrated with full-page photographs of the subject. This book is no exception. Sharks is an unpaginated, 32-page picture book, with approximately half of those pages containing full-color photographs of sharks.

Birds do the Strangest Things

Book cover: 'Birds do the Strangest Things'
Author(s): 
Leonora and Arthur Hornblow
Twenty-two stories of the natural but strange and fascinating behavior of various birds. The text covers ostriches, hummingbirds, kiwis, loons, peacocks, emperor penguins, woodpeckers and much more. The text is somewhat lengthy (approx. 12-20 lines per page), but in fairly large print and at a fairly easy reading level. My children find this book completely fascinating. Part of the "Step-Up" series which includes "Meet George Washington" et al.

Fish do the Strangest Things

Book cover: 'Fish do the Strangest Things'
Author(s): 
Leonora and Arthur Hornblow
An informative and enjoyable collection of stories about some very interesting and remarkable fish - such as the Deep Sea Angler, the Archer Fish, the Lungfish, the Puffer Fish and the Mud-Skipper. Although the illustrations aren't fabulous, this book and others in the series have been real favorites with my children. The stories are engaging, fairly short (two to three pages with rather large type) and the content is very appealing.

Falcons Nest on Skyscrapers

Book cover: 'Falcons Nest on Skyscrapers'
Author(s): 
Priscilla Belz Jenkins
This is a very interesting book (with excellent illustrations) that introduces young children to various falcons living in the United States, some of their remarkable abilities and the story of how some scientists were successful in re-introducing the peregrine falcon in the Eastern United States after they nearly became extinct because of an insect spray called DDT which was used on crops earlier this century. The story focuses on Scarlett, a peregrine falcon who was born in captivity, released, and discovered building a nest thirty-three stories up on the ledge of a skyscraper in Baltimore.

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