If you haven’t seen this book yet, beware. The tiger looks as if it could walk right off the cover. This book provides a marvelous overview of a variety of endangered species with engaging illustrations by Vicky White.
Young readers can pick and choose which animal they want to read about, although most will want to read about them all. By looking at extinction from several perspectives, readers will appreciate the complexity, as well as the finality, of extinction. A passionate story about why we should care that amazing animals are disappearing from the earth every year.
BIRD, BUTTERFLY, EEL (Simon & Schuster 2009) written and illustrated by James Prosek, presents a look at the life cycles, changing of seasons, and something else that these three animals have in common – migration. The author uses a subtle “compare and contrast” of the “why” as he shows three very different, but equally amazing, migration stories.
This collection of poems about forest animals is just plain fun – and funny. Even the simplest forest animals (slugs, toads, and skunks) become amazing (or a little stinky). This poetry collection is an accessible compliment to an early-grade science curriculum studying animals, plants, or an ecosystem community such as a forest. The poems are also a great entry to invite students to write their own creature poems.
It’s time to move! 999 bright green tadpoles just won’t fit in one tiny pond. Father goes off to find a new home, but “oh, no!” he’s nabbed off by a hungry hawk. Mother cries, “Hold on!” and a whole string of tadpoles soars through the air like the tail of a kite. This delightful story with its simple illustrations will charm young and old, alike. Right up until the happy ending, when 999 bright green tadpoles safely find a new – and commodious – home.
Click HERE to enjoy a chapter-by-chapter discussion guide complete with a manipulative analysis game called Character Wheel, a word game, bookmark print-outs, and instructions to make an inexpensive-super-fun dog toy – one that Hero would be sure to enjoy!
And, for an added bonus, click HERE to watch a video featuring the talented Stephanie Roth Sisson, illustrator for Princess Posey and the Next Door Dog and the rest of the Posey series. In it, Sisson states that, “Stephanie Greene is ‘spot on’ with her observations about 1st graders and what is important for that age.”
Posey and her first grade friends are writing stories about their pets. Though Posey doesn’t have a pet – yet – her teacher will let her write about the pet she hopes to own one day.
But Posey doesn’t want a pretend pet. She wants a real one and when a new neighbor moves in next-door, Posey gets her hopes up. Maybe she can write her story about the next-door dog!
Before long, Posey’s excitement wanes. The next-door dog has a giant-sized bark and ever since a long-ago scary incident when a dog jumped on her, Posey’s never gotten over the tiny bit of lingering fear.
Dressed in her pink tutu and her magic veil, Princess Posey is determined to meet the next-door dog and face her worst fears. All by herself.
Read more about author Stephanie Greene HERE and the Princess Posey books HERE.
Max Spaniel is one funny chef. With the striped cat by his side, Max Spaniel is busy whipping up meals and keeping the customers entertained. Even when the pizza pie special becomes a pizza mess, Max knows exactly what to do!
This humorous easy-read, filled with vibrant, wacky illustrations will keep young readers laughing and asking for more.
Frogs around the globe are disappearing. Some are being born deformed, others are dying. Dr. Tyrone Hayes and his team want to know why and they’ve been conducting experiments and studying the effects of a pesticide, atrazine, on leopard frogs.
THE FROG SCIENTIST is full of amazing photographs and detailed information about what it means to be a real live scientist working in the field. Kids can read, not only about Dr. Tyrone’s on-going research, but also about some of the pivotal events that led Dr. Tyrone to be the scientist that he is today.
Learn more about this month’s Author-In-Residence, Pamela S. Turner, HERE.
Noah and the other Action Scouts – Megan, Richie, and Ella – have received a note. Mr. Darby, the leader of the Secret Society, a group of animals and humans living in The Secret Zoo (a magical place hidden behind walls, velvet patches, and the secret passageways of their local zoo in Clarksville), needs their help.
Only two weeks earlier, Megan had been rescued from The Secret Zoo after an unfortunate run-in with a sasquatch while trapped in the Dark Lands. Now, Mr. Darby has asked the foursome to help protect The Secret Zoo as “Crossers.” He promises their training will be rigorous and comprehensive. Will the Action Scouts accept the challenge?
With chapters such as, “Body Basics,” “Animals on the Move,” “Life Support,” and “Animal Diets,” nearly everything a child might want to know about the animal kingdom can be found in this Dorling Kindersley book. Amazing photographs, detailed sidebars, and in-depth descriptions allow the reader to view the animal kingdom up close and personal!
Pamela Turner has teamed up with the Monterey Bay Aquarium to offer one of the most comprehensive selection of teacher resources ever presented on ReaderKidZ. With the book Project Seahorse in hand and the internet at his or her fingertips, a young reader can intimately come to appreciate the mesmerizing fish known as the seahorse.
Click HERE to access a series of cross-curricular lessons annotated with the National Core and California State Standards. Enjoy activities such as Sea Horse Similes, Estimate and Measure, and the Sea Horse Life Cycle: Father Knows Best. For a fascinating multimedia podcast click HERE. And, for schools of coloring pages, memory games, habitat posters and more click HERE to access the aquarium’s resource page.
Have fun with the plethora of Project Seahorse lessons, activities, podcasts, and videos – all designed to help you become familiar with, “…the little fish that will hold your hand.”
Few subjects enthrall children, from reluctant to experienced readers, more than animals. Whether they’re the beloved fictitious animal characters created in novels, or the fascinating, sometimes horrifying, always mesmerizing animals children discover in non-fiction, animals hold an attraction that never palls. This month, ReaderKidZ celebrates books about animals by introducing our guest author Pamela Turner and her wonderful book PROJECT SEAHORSE (Houghton Mifflin 2010).
Did you know that seahorses are actually fish? That there are more than 40 different kinds of seahorses, ranging in size from as small as a cashew nut to as long as a banana? That seahorses change color to match their surroundings and that it’s the males that get pregnant instead of the females, and give birth to as many as 2,000 babies at one time? These facts and many more, combined with fantastically vivid photographs, make Turner’s book about two biologists working to save the reef environment that supports seahorses and other invaluable sea animals from destruction off the coast of Handumon, a community in the Philippines, endlessly fascinating. The book is a powerful cry, too, to stop the killing of more than 20 million seahorses every year for decorative purposes.
Read, “What’s Your Story, Pamela S. Turner?” HERE.
For more about Pamela and her books, visit her webpage HERE.
I grew up in Riverside, California, in a town so smoggy that the sky was grey for most of the year. Once in a while it would clear up enough and…”Hey! There are actually hills behind all that haze! Who knew?”
Riverside is not a very picturesque town. “Not very picturesque” means that if you wanted to take a pretty picture, you would need to get in your car and drive away from Riverside. Sorry, Riverside. Now I live in Oakland, California. Most famous quote about Oakland: “There is no there there.” However, I do have a view of San Francisco from my house, and San Francisco is VERY picturesque. Even when it’s hazy. Some cities have all the luck.
I have always loved animals. If I go into someone’s home I’m afraid I will ignore their cute little baby and zoom right over to their homely dog. Or their cat, or their parrot. One of my first memories is trying to pull my grandfather’s puppy into my playpen by its ears. Buster forgave me, as dogs do. Now I have two dogs of my own, Manchee and Tux, and a frog named Dumpy.
Manchee dressed as a lion for Halloween!
Tux
I have also always loved books. My mother said I could get a library card as soon as I could write my name, which I managed when I was four years old. After that I took out the maximum ten books every single trip. Once I got punished for taking a pencil to a picture book and connecting some lines that some artsy artist left out—which seemed monstrously unfair. I was just HELPING!
When I was little and someone asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up, I would say, “I want to write children’s books.” So I am living my dream!
Did you ever get into trouble at home or school?
Well, I didn’t get into trouble with this, but it was so stupid I must share. There was a kid at school who broke his arm and had a cast, which everybody signed. My friend Sheila and I were jealous. We wanted broken bones and casts, too! So Sheila and I jumped on her bike and took turns – one of us pedaled fast and steered really close to parked cars, while the other sat behind with one leg stuck out in hopes of breaking it on a fender. After a few nasty bruises we gave up.
Dumpy
I TOLD you it was stupid.
What books were favorites as a child?
The Velveteen Rabbit, The Jungle Book, The Chronicles of Narnia, and The Children of Green Knowe.
What one thing can you tell readers that nobody knows?
When I was little and riding in the car, I always imagined there was a horse running alongside. I would imagine it jumping fences and hedges and anything else in its path. The horse was white with a grey mane and tail, just like the plastic Arabian horse I played with at home.
Pam's Study with Kendo Dummy!
Do you have a special place where you write your books?
I usually write in an upstairs bedroom/study. Sometimes we have guests but most people don’t like to sleep in the bed in my study because in one corner next to my desk I keep a kendo dummy. I practice kendo (Japanese swordsmanship) and the dummy has on armor and looks, I suppose, sort of creepy at night. The dummy doesn’t seem scary to me, since I hit him all the time, and he has never once hit me back. But if I should ever disappear mysteriously, arrest the kendo dummy. He has motive and opportunity.
James Prosek, presents a look at the life cycles, changing of seasons, and something else that these three animals have in common – migration. The author uses a subtle “compare and contrast” of the “why” as he shows three very different, but equally amazing, migration stories.
A WHIFF OF PINE, A HINT OF SKUNK: A FOREST OF POEMS (Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2009) by Deborah Ruddell and Joan Rankin.
