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Category: Book Review (Page 26 of 63)

Bug of the Week #kidlit: The Monarchs are Missing

October 31, 2018 / / 2 Comments

Bug of the Week is a bit late for a good reason. I had a post all queued up and then a monarch butterfly flew by.

Not just any monarch butterfly. Do you notice anything unusual about it?

What about now?

This monarch is extremely skittish. It won’t let me close. See it yet?

This is the best I could do before it flew away. On it’s hind wing is a circular paper tag. This is a tagged monarch!

Why is it tagged? People have been tagging monarchs to learn more about the their migration. You can learn more about the tagging program at Monarch Watch.

Wish I could have read the number and found out where it was from.

~~~~~

Want to discover more about monarchs and their migrations? Check out the new middle grade book The Monarchs Are Missing: A Butterfly Mystery by Rebecca E. Hirsch. It was nominated for a 2018 Cybils Award.

Illustrated with large color photographs and clever illustrations, this book delves into all the reasons that monarch butterfly populations have been on the decline. Hirsch goes beyond the loss of habitat in the monarchs’ overwintering sites in Mexico, and examines other factors such as:

  • Increase in herbicide use killing their milkweed food plants.
  • Decrease in fall wildflowers that supply food for their long migration flights.
  • Planting tropical milkweeds, which encourages the monarchs to overwinter in Southern states, and thus increases the spread of a disease.
  • Changes in weather conditions in Texas in the spring.

To counteract the bad news, Hirsch also suggests some small changes that could make a big difference, like planting native milkweeds and avoiding pesticide use. She also encourages kids to participate in any one of a number of different citizen scientist projects for monarchs.

The Monarchs are Missing is part scientific mystery and part tribute to an amazing insect. It is a great choice for kids interested in nature and particularly in butterflies.

Age Range: 8 – 12 years
Publisher: Millbrook Pr (January 1, 2018)
ISBN-10: 1512452505
ISBN-13: 978-1512452501

It will soon be part of our growing list of children’s books about butterflies and moths at Science Books for Kids.

Disclosure: This book was provided by our local library. Also, I am an affiliate with Amazon so I can provide you with cover images and links to more information about books and products. As you probably are aware, if you click through the highlighted title link and purchase a product, I will receive a very small commission, at no extra cost to you. Any proceeds help defray the costs of hosting and maintaining this website.

The Acadia Files: Book Two, Autumn Science

October 29, 2018 / / 1 Comment

As a follow up to The Acadia Files:  Book One, Summer Science, today we have The Acadia Files: Book Two, Autumn Science by Katie Coppens and illustrated by Holly Hatam.

The books in The Acadia Files series are hybrids between chapter books and laboratory notebooks. The chapters start off with a story, complete with characters and dialogue. The story reveals detailed scientific information.

For example when Acadia Greene, who is a curious ten-year-old girl, and her friend Joshua rake leaves, Acadia questions whether the season is called fall because of all the falling leaves. Joshua asks why the leaves fall and Acadia explains:

“Trees kind of take a little nap when it’s cold. Without leaves, it’s easier for them to survive the winter. Trees with broad leaves, like maple or oak, are called deciduous trees…”

After the story, each chapter has a few pages of illustrations and text formatted like a laboratory notebook. For the autumn leaf chapter, there’s a page of colorful leaves and drawings of Acadia’s favorite trees, a glossary page of the new science words she learned (with drawings), and the chapter ends with a question she still wonders about. The illustrations are delightful and really make the book. Educators will appreciate this section as a jumping off place for related activities.

Every chapter covers a different topic. When Acadia visits a frog pond, she notices litter in and around the water and decides to do something about it. Later on she investigates the water cycle, time zones, and the immune system. Most of the topics may loosely tie to the season, but could be relevant all year around.

The bottom line: The Acadia Files: Book Two, Autumn Science is an appealing way to introduce science to kids who might be put off by more traditional informational text. Why not give it a try?

Activity suggestions to accompany the book:

Grade Level: 4 – 7
Publisher: Tilbury House Publishers; 1 edition (September 18, 2018)
ISBN-10: 0884486044
ISBN-13: 978-0884486046

Disclosure: The book was provided for review purposes. Also, I am an affiliate with Amazon so I can provide you with cover images and links to more information about books and products. As you probably are aware, if you click through the highlighted title link and purchase a product, I will receive a very small commission, at no extra cost to you. Any proceeds help defray the costs of hosting and maintaining this website.

#NationalChemistryWeek #kidlit Marie Curie Picture Book

October 26, 2018 / / 0 Comments

Recently, Donna Strickland won the Nobel Prize in Physics. It turned out she was only the third woman to win the prize in 117 years. Who was the first? It was Marie Curie, who also later won a Nobel Prize in Chemistry. That is an incredible achievement.

Let’s celebrate women scientists in the fields of physics and chemistry with the picture book biography Marie Curie by Demi.

Marie Curie was a pioneer as well as an amazing scientist. As discussed above, in addition to being the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, she also was the first person to win a second Nobel prize. She discovered not only one, but two elements, plus coined the term “radioactive.” Although we don’t hear as much about her, Marie Curie’s daughter Irène Joliot-Curie was also a scientist and won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1935, the year after her brilliant mother died of leukemia.

Demi is both an illustrator and an author. Her multimedia and watercolor illustrations have a glowing quality that is so appropriate for the biography of the scientist who is known for having purified radium, an element which glows. The gold lettering of the title on the cover adds to the luminescent effect. Note:  One scene includes a stylized depiction of Curie’s husband’s death (he was run over by a horse and carriage in the street.) It might be disturbing to some sensitive younger readers.

The no-nonsense text reveals many details of Curie’s life. The vocabulary level and subject matter pushes this to the older range of picture book readers (7-8 years.) The back matter includes a timeline and glossary.

Marie Curie is a wonderful resource for young people who enjoy reading about history and science. Share a copy today and see a child’s face light up.

Be sure to pair the book with some fun hands-on science.

Suggestions for Related Activities:

This title was nominated for a 2018 Cybils award in the Elementary and Middle Grade Nonfiction category.

Age Range: 4 – 8 years (see review)
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR) (February 20, 2018)
ISBN-10: 1627793895
ISBN-13: 978-1627793896

Disclosure: This book was provided by our local library. Also, I am an affiliate with Amazon so I can provide you with cover images and links to more information about books and products. As you probably are aware, if you click through the highlighted title link and purchase a product, I will receive a very small commission, at no extra cost to you. Any proceeds help defray the costs of hosting and maintaining this website.

Come visit the STEM Friday blog each week to find more great Science, Technology, Engineering and Math books. Note: this is a new link as of 10/2018.

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