Camouflage and invisibility are two very different things. Camouflage is the use of color or other aspects of appearance to help an object blend with its environment. Invisibility, on the other hand, is changing the way light reflects or refracts when it hits an object and thus preventing the light from reaching our eyes. We literally can not see an object that is invisible.

Becoming Invisible: From Camouflage to Cloaks tells how scientists have been able to bend electromagnetic waves that are near relatives of visible light (see Exploring Light and its Relatives Part I and Part 2) with special man-made materials called metamaterials. Using metamaterials made of metal and fiberglass, scientists have been able to develop “cloaks” that bend microwaves and infrared light around an object, hiding it from detection. Very cool!

Activity 1. Hiding with color – camouflage for younger children

Read one of the books suggested below to introduce the idea of camouflage.

Gather:

• Fabric swatches of different colors and designs
• Painter’s blue tape (doesn’t leave a residue when it is removed, but it is more expensive) or masking tape
• Suitable area to play hide and seek, indoors or out

You might want to sort the children into teams if you are working with a large group. You will need enough swatches of fabric so that each child or team can hide a few different swatches. Make loops of tape with sticky-side out and then apply a few to the back of each swatch. Now select a child/team to be the hider. They will hide the swatch in plain sight in the play area by taping the swatch to items while the other children, who will be the seekers, close their eyes or wait in another area. When the hiders have applied their swatch, have the seekers come look for it. Once they have found it, change roles. The goal is to find a background object that matches the color close enough that the fabric is difficult to see, and thus takes longer to find.

Activity 2. Hiding with color- camouflage for older children

Gather:

• Paper
• Art supplies such as markers, crayons, colored pencils, etc.
• Painter’s blue tape (doesn’t leave a residue when it is removed, but it is more expensive) or masking tape (optional)
• Suitable area to play hide and seek (optional)

For older children, have them create their own camouflage patterns for different settings. You could also have the children do the hiding activity (1), but substitute their own designs on paper for the fabric swatches. Or figure out an experiment to test the effectiveness of various camouflage designs.

Activity 3. Making glass “disappear”

We don’t need high tech metamaterials to make an object invisible. We can hide a piece of Pyrex® glass by immersing it in a material that has a similar index of refraction, Wesson® oil.

Gather:

• small Pyrex® glass bowl
• A larger glass bowl
• Wesson® oil or baby oil, or a mix of the two

Place the smaller bowl inside the larger bowl. Fill them both with Wesson® oil, baby oil, or a mix of the two. Once covered with oil, the smaller Pyrex® bowl should disappear from view.

See a similar activity using a Pyrex® stirring rod and explanation from Exploratorium

Activity 4. Make jelly marbles disappear in water

Obtain some jelly marbles from science supply stores, for example from Steve Spangler. Soak the jelly marbles overnight in water. Then fill a clear glass container with water. When you drop in the soaked jelly marbles, they will disappear.

Jelly marbles are polymers that absorb water. When they are swollen with water, they have the same index of refraction and disappear when you place them in water.

This video shows examples of both of the index of refraction activities:

Isn’t that amazing?

If you try any of these activities, be sure to let us know what you find out.

Related camouflage links:

• Brain Pop Jr. has a unit on camouflage
• The Invisible Man
• The Arts of Deception at Mongabay.com (has ads)
• Survivors: How Does Color Protect Insects from Predators?

Children’s books about camouflage (title links go to Amazon):

	Becoming Invisible: From Camouflage to Cloaks (Great Idea) by Carla Mooney (is for ages 8 and up) My review
	Hiding in Deserts (Creature Camouflage) by Deborah Underwood My review
	Animal Planet Weird and Wonderful: Show-Offs (Animal Plant Weird & Wonderful) by Margaret McPhee is not just about camouflage, but all the ways animals use color. My review
	Where in the Wild?: Camouflaged Creatures Concealed… and Revealed by David Schwartz and Yael Schy, with photography by Dwight Kuhn My review
	Where Else in the Wild? is a enchanting combination of poems by David M. Schwartz and his wife, Yael Schy, and photographs by Dwight Kuhn. My review
	How to Hide an Octopus and Other Sea Creatures (Reading Railroad) by Ruth Heller
	How to Hide a Butterfly and Other Insects (Reading Railroad) by Ruth Heller.
	What Color Is Camouflage? (Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Science, Stage 2) (Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Science, Stage 2) by Carolyn B. Otto and illustrated by Megan Lloyd

Way back when I started this blog, I purposely chose the title “Bug of the Week” for the long-running Wednesday feature because I knew I would want to include spiders, pill bugs, and other creepy crawlies, as well as insects.  A World of Bugs shows children the range of arthropods and other invertebrates that are often called “bugs.” It tells what their features are, how they grow, where they live, and how they move. It is filled with huge, full color photographs that are very attractive. On the last page, the book also has some suggestions for activities to do before and after reading the book.

Identification of insects and their relatives requires careful observation of their anatomy.

Insects are part of the phylum of animals called Arthropoda.  All arthropods have:

• supporting skeleton on the outside, called an exoskeleton
• bi-lateral symmetry, which means if you draw a line down the center the two sides will be symmetrical
• jointed appendages
• segmented bodies
• specialized appendages, like antennae

The major arthropod classes can be separated by comparing their number of body regions, legs, and antennae.

Activity 1. Compare various creatures to discover features using live arthropods to observe, pictures and rubber or plastic models to explore. Give the children free explore time at first, and then start to encourage them to observe the following features:

Arachnids are the spiders, ticks, mites, scorpions and their relatives

• Have 8 legs
• Have 2 body regions, the cephalothorax (literally head-thorax), and abdomen

Spiders have 6 or 8 eyes at the front of the cephalothorax. Spiders’ mouthparts are called chelicerae and typically end in a fang. Around the mouth are the pedipalps.

For detailed information about spider anatomy, see Invertebrate Anatomy Online, the Garden Spider.

Crustaceans

The Isopods, which are called pillbugs, roly-polies, or wood lice, and other common names, have:

• 12 legs
• 2 antennae (one pair small)

Pill bug activities for kids

Centipedes and millipedes

• Many legs per segment
• Many segments
• One pair of antennae

Millipedes have 2 pairs of legs per segment.

Centipedes have one pair of legs per segment. (Photograph from Wikimedia).

Insects have:

• Three body parts:  head, thorax and abdomen
• Six legs
• One pair antennae
• Many adults have wings, but not all

Next time we will discuss how to recognize the major groups of insects, the orders.

A World of Bugs by Charlotte Guillain

Reading level: Ages 4-8
Paperback: 24 pages
Publisher: Heinemann-Raintree (August 1, 2011)
ISBN-10: 1432955063
ISBN-13: 978-1432955069

Book was provided by publisher for review purposes.

Are you looking for Science, Technology, Engineering or Math children’s books? Then you’ve come to the right place. We’ve gathered some of our favorites here today.

My submission today is the wonderful new book that is coming out next week, Coral Reefs by Jason Chin.

Have you ever been so immersed in a really good book that you felt like you entered a new world? In Coral Reefs, Jason Chin’s illustrations show a young reader experiencing just that when she picks up a book about coral reefs and enters a glorious underwater world of corals, fish and sea turtles. 

If you saw Jason Chin’s previous book, Redwoods, you will know what an interesting mix of highly imaginative watercolor illustrations (fictional) and straight nonfiction informational text to expect. This time the reader picks up a book at a city library and is swept into what the author calls the “cities of the sea,” the coral reef community. The reader floats through every underwater scene, carrying her (magically intact) book with her.

Having the child reader in every illustration gives interesting advantages. It gives a clear sense of scale. It also draws the real reader into each scene, giving him or her more of a sense of participation. Finally, each illustration is so different from what is typical of a nonfiction book that it really takes time to study and absorb all the nuances. Clearly, capturing the child’s imagination has a potential to lead to greater understanding of the topic.

Jason Chin thoroughly researched his book, including a visit to the coral reef off the coast of Belize. His personal experiences give to real “depth” (sorry) to the book. Did you know that some sea turtles graze on the sea grasses that grow in lagoons that form behind coral reefs? Or that the biggest fish in the world, whale sharks, visit the reef in Belize each spring to feed on eggs of spawning fish? Coral reefs are dramatically important sources of food for ocean dwellers.

In the backmatter, Chin has included a page about how coral reefs are threatened and some straightforward ways to help prevent further loss. He also shows a cross section of the structure of a typical coral reef and more information about the symbiotic relationship between the coral organisms and algae that live inside them.

Even the endpapers are informative, showing soft pencil sketches of various sea creatures with their names and size ranges underneath. It gives the feel of sketches in a nature journal.

This book would be a fabulous addition to a unit on marine habitats or to tuck into the bag for a read at the beach. Follow up with a visit to your local aquarium or even better, a snorkeling trip to a real coral reef.

Reading level: Ages 4-8
Hardcover: 40 pages
Publisher: Flash Point (October 25, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1596435631
ISBN-13: 978-1596435636

	Secret of the Sleepless Whales…and More! by Ana Maria Rodriguez at Ana’s Nonfiction Blog
	My Friend the Box Turtle by Joanne Randolph At NC Teacher Stuff
	Tracks in the Sand by Loreen Leedy is now out of print, but is available as an iBook at Loreen Leedy Books
	How They Croaked: The Awful Ends of the Awfully Famous By Georgia Bragg Illustrated by Kevin O’Malley at Simply Science
	Explore Simple Machines!: 25 Great Projects, Activities, Experiments (Explore Your World series) By Anita Yasuda at Nomad Press
	Garbage: Investigate What Happens When You Throw It Out with 25 Projects (Build It Yourself series) by Donna Latham at Wrapped in Foil
	Uninvited Guests: Invisible Creatures Lurking in Your Home (Tiny Creepy Creatures) by Jennifer Swanson at Chapter Book of the Day

If you would like to participate in STEM Friday in the future, go to the new STEM Friday blog for more information.

Book was provided by publisher for review purposes.

Do you know the differences between an octopus and a squid? What is a colossal squid? How do squid survive in the extreme pressures of  the deep ocean? This book contains the answers to all these questions and many more, such as where squid live, what they eat and what eats them.

In addition to brilliant color photographs of underwater creatures, the book also has illustrations to clarify key concepts. One illustration shows the zones of the ocean. Another shows the size of a sperm whale and different species of squid compared to a semi-trailer truck.

If you aren’t sure how interesting squid can be, take a look at this video (particularly good for relaxing on a stressful day). Notice the fins on the sides of their bodies. The presence of a fin is one way to tell a squid from an octopus.

Glass Squid and Other Spectacular Squid is a wonderful nonfiction picture book for learning more about squid, curious creatures from deep in the water that we know very little about.

Reading level: Reading level R, gr 3-5
Paperback: 32 pages
Publisher: Heinemann-Raintree (August 1, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1410942015
ISBN-13: 978-1410942012

Book was supplied by publisher for review purposes.

If you would like to try to win a copy of Fireflies, leave a comment on this post before next Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at 12:00 noon Mountain Standard Time. For a second entry in the contest, like the Growing With Science Facebook page (see right sidebar). Please leave a comment on this post first, however, with a valid email address so that I can contact you if you are the winner. The winner will be selected at random. The easiest way to leave a comment is to click on the title of the post to send it to a separate page and then scroll to the bottom.

The contest is now closed.

Do you see fireflies glowing at night where you live?

For more information, try this previous Bug of the Week post about fireflies.

Fireflies by Mary Rose Dunn

Reading level: Ages 4-8
Paperback: 24 pages
Publisher: Capstone Press (August 1, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1429671203
ISBN-13: 978-1429671200

Both of these book caught our eye because of the brilliant monarch butterflies on the cover. Right now the monarchs are migrating, and what better way to learn about it than reading a good book? Monarch Butterfly’s Journey starts out with the life cycle of the monarch butterfly, chronicling the stages of metamorphosis. Once the adult butterfly emerges from the chrysalis, it feeds on nectar to get ready for the long journey ahead. Soon fall arrives and the monarchs head off on their long migration to Mexico. In the spring, the butterflies head north again. In the backmatter is a one page summary of the journey.

The illustrations are bright mixed-media collages by Susan Swan. I am not a huge fan of collage art in children’s books that tries for ultra-realism, but Swan’s butterflies are an example of how it should be done. They are fascinating and fun, with a high level of energy. I love the humorous side comments of the insects which make comments in their own cartoon bubbles. One butterfly asks, “Are we there yet?”

Grow Your Own Butterfly Farm by John Malam takes another tack, presenting the butterflies with food in the form of flowering plants so you can enjoy them in your own yard. This book starts with some facts, such as what butterflies are, what wildflowers are, and why we need butterflies. There are simple instructions for planting wildflowers and starting a garden to attract butterflies. (Oddly, on pages 16 and 17, there’s a section about how cats and birds do damage to newly planted gardens and how to keep them out of your seed beds. Because any animal can do damage to a garden, including dogs, goats and chickens, I’m wondering why cats were singled out?) At the end, the author suggests letting the plants go to seed for next year’s crop.

This book is illustrated with large color photographs with a lot of pretty butterflies and flowers. It is designed to be read by the child, so the sentences are short and it has simple vocabulary words with a glossary. It is a cute book to inspire youngsters to become butterfly gardeners.

If you have a young child interested in insects or if you are doing a unit on butterflies, you should take a look at these books.

Grow Your Own Butterfly Farm by John Malam

Reading level: Ages 4-8
Paperback: 32 pages
Publisher: Heinemann-Raintree (August 1, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1432951165
ISBN-13: 978-1432951160

Monarch Butterfly’s Journey by Suzanne Buckingham Slade and illustrated by Susan Swan

Reading level: Ages 4-8
Paperback: 24 pages
Publisher: Picture Window Books (August 1, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1404870296
ISBN-13: 978-1404870291

These books were provided by the publisher for review purposes.

Aston and Long have collaborated on two other wonderful books, A Egg is Quiet and A Seed is Sleepy. If you are familiar with those books, you will know to expect extraordinary illustrations and accurate, age-appropriate information written in lyrical text. In this book all about butterflies, they have outdone even themselves. A Butterfly Is Patient is definitely inspiring!

Activities to learn more about butterflies:

1. Study Caterpillar and Butterfly Anatomy

Have you ever spent time actually studying the parts of a caterpillar or butterfly? I know, it may be hard to look past the bright colors and beauty, but studying how these animals go together helps you appreciate them in a different way.

Try to find a smooth caterpillar like this tobacco hornworm (some of the fuzzy or spiky ones have stinging hairs, so don’t pick up those.) Gently coax it onto a leaf or stem where you can observe it with a hand lens. See if you can find the following organs and structures.

In this side view of a moth caterpillar, we can see the thorax (the three segments right behind the head), and the abdomen quite clearly. The thorax is where we find the six true legs, which are the identifying characteristics of insects. What are those fleshy appendages on the abdomen, aren’t those legs? From a scientific perspective, those are not true legs, but are called prolegs. They are used for walking and clinging to leaves just like legs, but they lack the joints of a true leg.  As you will see, the adult will have only the true legs.

The small circles on the sides of the caterpillar are spiracles, the openings through the insect’s exoskeleton that allow it to take in air.

In this view, we can see the caterpillar’s head. At the bottom of the head are the mandibles, the pruning scissor-like jaws that it uses to cut food. Slightly above and to the side of the jaws are the ocelli, which are simple eye spots. The caterpillar probably doesn’t see much with those tiny spots, maybe only whether it is light or dark out. This photograph shows a better view of the jointed legs.

After the caterpillar transforms into a pupa and then a butterfly, we see different structures.

What a transformation!

Instead of tiny ocelli on its head, the butterfly has large compound eyes. The mouth has become a long tube for sucking nectar from flowers (some butterflies actually lack a mouth altogether). There were antennal buds on the head of the caterpillar, but now the butterfly has full blown antennae.

The true legs are long and delicate and the prolegs are gone. Attached to the thorax are the wings. If you read a book about how to identify butterflies, it will probably describe markings on the upper or forewings, or the lower hind wings. The raised structures in the wings, called wing veins, are also important for identification.

Can you find the mouthparts and the spiracles on this giant swallowtail butterfly?

Activity 2. Butterfly Life Cycle

Butterflies go through a complex series of changes during the life cycle, a process called complete metamorphosis.

Let’s explore the life cycle of the queen butterfly, and then make a poster.

The queen butterfly starts out life as an egg laid by the female butterfly on a milkweed plant.

A caterpillar emerges from the egg, and begins to feed on the plant.

When it has reached its full size, the caterpillar transforms into a chrysalis.

After a week or so, out comes the adult butterfly.

Use this information to prepare a butterfly life cycle poster, perhaps like this one from Enchanted Learning.

For more photographs, try these related posts:

• Butterfly eggs
• Butterfly larvae or caterpillars
• Chrysalises
• The Queen butterfly emerges

Activity 3. Raise a butterfly or moth

At some point in their childhood, most budding scientists raise a caterpillar to find out what it turns out to be.

• You might want to start with silkworms, which can be raised on an artificial diet or mulberry leaves.
• Learn the ins and outs of raising caterpillars.

Activity 4. Make a colorful coffee filter butterfly craft here at Growing With Science

Activity 5. Butterfly gardening

It is amazing that you can bring butterflies into your yard by planting a few special plants. You can then watch the life cycles in a more natural setting.

Some butterfly favorite plants are:

• milkweeds (monarchs, queens)
• lantana
• butterfly bush
• ageratum (attracts male queen butterflies)
• dill, fennel or parsley (swallowtails)
• hollyhocks (painted lady)
• passion flower (fritillaries)

For more ideas, see our  butterfly gardening post.

Monarch Watch has lesson plans, a ton of information about monarchs, and ideas for more activities.

And don’t forget to read some books about butterflies, including A Butterfly Is Patient by Dianna Hutts Aston

A Seed Is Sleepy

An Egg Is Quiet

This book was provided for review purposes.

Mike Rigsby is a professional electrical engineer and he has a noble cause for writing this book. He has come up with projects to investigate various forms of renewable energy in the hope at least one of them will spark a young person to discover something that will change the world. His projects include making engines that use heat as a source of energy (including one with nitinol springs), solar energy, wind energy and wave energy. Each project is explained clearly, with a detailed list of supplies and numerous black and white photographs showing the assembly, as well as the finished project.

Before we get too excited, though, let’s do the reality check. Safety is one concern. Some of these projects have steps that could potentially cause injuries, especially those that involve cutting. Unlike many of the activities found in children’s science books, some of these projects are not made from items lying around the house. Many will require the purchase of specialized pieces of equipment or supplies from science and technology suppliers. For example, the nitinol springs are available from Jameco Electronics, part number 357835. As of today, they cost $45.95 for a 4 pack. The bottom line is that this book is for serious older children or young adults who enjoy engineering and inventing, and who preferably have an experienced adult mentor.

That said, do you have a science fair coming up soon? Doable Renewables: 16 Alternative Energy Projects for Young Scientists is a wonderful resource sure to generate innovative science fair projects.

In fact, the book inspired us to do some of our own investigations:

1. Stirling tin can engine

In chapter 4, Mike Rigsby suggests purchasing a Stirling engine to explore this technology investigated by Reverend Dr. Robert Stirling way back in 1816 (see our Amazon suggestions below). The Stirling engine uses heat to do work, and is known to be very quiet in comparison to the internal combustion engine.

Rigsby also mentions that there are instructions for building your own on the Internet, so of course we had to look. We found quite a few examples of Stirling engines you can make at home plus numerous videos of the engines in action. Here is one example of a fan Stirling engine (note: there is a pop-up ad).

The instructions can be found at Easy to build Stirling engine

There is more about how Stirling engines work at How Stuff Works.

2. Radiometer

We already had a radiometer, so we dusted it off and tried it out. A radiometer is a glass bulb that looks like a light bulb. Inside are 4 tabs suspended from wires. Those tabs are reflective on one side and black on the other. When placed in sunlight, the tabs rotate like crazy.

The Crookes radiometer caused quite a stir in its time, because no one was quite sure how it worked. Several hypotheses were proposed and shot down. Eventually the idea of thermal transpiration was found to be the one most generally accepted. It involves the movement of gases from the warmer side of the tab (the black side) to the cooler, reflective side. In any case, the only energy supplied is that from the sun.

3. We have a previous post on Windmills and wind power that also relates to this topic.

We hope this inspires you to try a few new projects with renewable energy. Be sure to let us know how they turn out.

Reading level: Ages 9-12 (Amazon)
Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Chicago Review Press; Original edition (October 1, 2010)
ISBN-10: 1569763437
ISBN-13: 978-1569763438

This book was provided for review.

Stirling Engines at Amazon

Other scientific supplies suggested in the book:

Although the covers and titles may look a bit scary, the mysteries themselves are pretty straightforward.

	In The Case of the Barfy Birthday, the detectives Doyle and Fossey investigate whether their client accidentally poisoned her sister, help save some birds, do a bit of ghost busting, and figure out how to get a pig out of a pit. Note to the squeamish: The first case does involve vomit.
	The Case of the Gasping Garbage sends the detectives to the laboratory to find out why the garbage can is making odd noises, has them figuring out a way to help frogs, investigating the case of a stuck truck, and using chromatography to identify who wrote a love letter.
	Will The Case of the Mossy Lake Monster be their last? After taming the monster, Doyle and Fossey discover why a cat won’t eat, find a way to help penguins covered with oil (a story straight out of the news), and reveal a political prankster.
	The Case of the Crooked Carnival actually starts with the detectives looking into a report of ghosts in an old house. After they stop an alein invasion (of plants), Doyle and Fossey solve the mystery of a carnival game, and discover a problem with the town bridge.
	In The Case of the Graveyard Ghost, Doyle and Fossey have to get their client out of a laundry chute, solve the mystery of some wrecked roses, reveal yet another ghost, and investigate a case of a rare bird.

The mysteries in these books are fast-paced and interesting. Doyle and Fossey are a bit over the top, but definitely likable characters. The activities and experiments are kid friendly. (You know how much I love when books provide hands-on activities to reinforce learning.)

I did find a few minor flaws in some of the books. For example, although billed as a microbiologist, the author states that yeasts are plants in The Case of the Gasping Garbage. Modern classification schemes group yeasts with the fungi.

I also wondered why in The Case of the Crooked Carnival, the alien plants are called “purple loosegoose.” In the back the author identifies a true weed, purple loosestrife. I guess the funny name injects a bit of levity?

In any case, if your children are interested in fiction and mysteries, these books might just entice them to try a bit of science as well.

The books were provided for review.

Astro, who was orphaned at birth and raised by humans, has become an ambassador for his species. If we could interview Astro, here’s what he might have to say:

Interviewer (from now on in bold): Can you start by you telling our audience what kind of animal you are?

Astro (plain text):  I am a Steller sea lion.

Does that mean you are stellar, like a star?

No, my species is named for Mr. George Wilhelm Steller, a famous explorer and naturalist who discovered us in Alaska in 1741.

I have been to California and seen California sea lions, are you one of those?

No, my species tends to be larger and lighter colored. We are also much less common. In fact, those of us that live along the eastern Pacific coasts are threatened, and those along the western Pacific coasts are endangered.

What does that mean?

It means that if people aren’t careful we could go the way of the Steller’s sea cow.

What is a Steller’s sea cow? I’ve never heard of it.

The Steller’s sea cow was another sea mammal named by Mr. Steller in 1741. They looked sort of like the manatees now found in Florida. They were gentle plant-eating giants. Because the sea cows were good to eat, they were extinct only 27 years after Mr. Steller found them.

Yikes, that is sad. Hope that doesn’t happen to your species.

With luck, this new book will help inform many people about us.

Tell me about “your” new book.

Jeanne Walker Harvey has written the story of my life up to now. She explains how I was orphaned at birth on an island off the coast of California. A scientist found me and took me to the Marine Mammal  Center. The humans took really good care of me. In fact, whenever they tried to send me back to the wild, I just kept coming back to them. Finally, they found a home for me at the Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut, where I live now.

And you know the best part?

What’s that?

Jeanne is donating a percentage of the royalties from the book to both the Marine Mammal Center and to Mystic Aquarium.  Think of all the sea creatures like me that will help.

Anything else about the book?

What I want to know is how Shennen Bersani did those fantastic illustrations. She always shows my best side.

Hey, I thought I was asking the questions.

Didn’t you write to her?

Yes, I asked her how she made the illustrations and here’s what she said:

“I’ve been using colored pencils for a long time, I’ve even taught classes and workshops on their use… so most of what you see in Astro is colored pencil on Arches watercolor paper, with a splash of acrylic paint.”

How are the colored pencils so rich? They look like photographs, only much more luminescent.

“Layers!  Layer upon layer of pencil is used with a ‘toothy’ paper.  Layers are the best way to explain it.  Does that explanation help?  I use a graphite pencil, nothing fancy there, to draw out the image on the Arches.  (You can see some of my actual sketches turned into coloring pages on the Sylvan Dell website under Astro Teaching Activities.)  Then I color them in with the colored pencils, and highlight some areas with acrylic paint.”

Many of the people look like my real friends. How did she do that?

About the models, Shennen Bersani said:

“I traveled cross-country to step in Astro’s, umm flippers.  I met with some of the actual people who worked with Astro – and included likenesses of them when possible. I also had fun including my family members, friends, neighbors, and myself.”

Isn’t that fun? We should tell the children in the audience to check out Shennen Bersani’s picture in the back of the book and on her website, and then look for her in the illustrations. It will be our little secret.

Would you tell her that I appreciate all her hard work?

I think she knows. So, Astro, do you think there will be a sequel to your book?

Actually, I was thinking I’d make a great movie star!

If you are interested in using this book as a teaching tool, visit Sylvan Dell Publishing’s Astro page for Teaching Activities in the form of a .pdf booklet.

Check out how you can use zoo or aquarium observations as a science project at Dragonfly TV.

The Sea World Education Department has downloadable .pdf teacher’s guides on Seals, Sea Lions, and Walruses (scroll down page for links), as well as other ocean-related topics.

Have you ever seen the California sea lions at Pier 39 in San Francisco, California?

The California Academy of Sciences has a video that explains why their numbers have recently decreased and also why tagging certain individuals gives us useful information.

And here’s a video of Astro in action. I think he’s right, he would make a great movie star.

The book was provided for review.