Picture Books
Birds of the World
This is my favorite of the Dorling Kindersley Eyewitness Handbooks and I would venture to guess that it's probably the best bird handbook you can find. Hundreds of birds, from doves and swallows, to hawks and falcons and tropical birds are included with clear photos, a small map of where they can be found, an icon showing how large they are in comparison to the book, and other basic information about their habitat, migration, etc. Our family has used this guide extensively in identifying and learning more about the substantial variety of birds we find in our own backyard.
The Children's Book of Heroes
The Lady of Guadalupe
This has been one of my family's very favorite picture books since our oldest was a toddler. It is a beautiful re-telling of a beautiful story with illustrations that complement it nicely and which are very appealing to children. I especially like Tomie de Paola's attention to detail. It's informative enough to be interesting even for adults.
The Princess and the Kiss
Angus and the Ducks
How Do Bees Make Honey?
A small, inexpensive book filled with pictures and lots of other information picture about bees and other insects. You'll learn how to tell bees apart from other insects, how bees live together in colonies and all about their beehives, how bees communicate with each other (my children have really enjoyed trying to re-enact the bee's dances) and of course how bees make honey. The one thing I didn't like is that the material is so disjointed because it jumps around between different kinds of insects.
Who Eats What? Food Chains and Food Webs
This book explores the notion of various plants and animals that are linked together based on "who eats what." Children will learn about some simple food chains such as – leaf, caterpillar, wren and hawk. They also see how one plant or animal can belong to several food chains and that members or these related food chains (food webs) have a certain amount of dependence on each other. The text goes on to explain, through an example of a problem with over-hunted otters around the turn of the century, that when part of a food chain is disturbed, the other members will also be affected.