Shirley Smith Duke's Blog, page 14
August 17, 2010
Survival at 40 Below
Survival at 40 Below
By Debbie S. Miller
Illustrated by Jon Van Zyle
Walker & Company, 2010
ISBN # 9780802798169
Grades 2-5
Nonfiction
"Along the Koyukuk River, towering mountains guard the magnificent valley. Their sheer faces watch the seasons change.
Click…click…click. Snapping hooves and grumbling voices fill the autumn air. With heads held high, a herd of caribou follows the river through Gates of the Arctic National Park. These regal deer wear new coats of dense fur, with velvet...
August 10, 2010
Super Women in Science
Super Women in Science
By Kelly Di Domenico
Second Story Press, 2004 (second printing)
ISBN #1-896764-66-5
Grades 4-8
Nonfiction
"Imagine trying to be a scientist during the 19th century, when men were even trying to use science to prove that women were inferior. They said that because a woman's brain is shaped differently than a man's, she must be less intelligent. Well, Marie Curie was a scientist at that time and her work with radioactivity earned her two Nobel prizes!
The attitude t...
August 3, 2010
Arbor Day Square
Arbor Day Square
By Kathryn O. Galbraith
Illustrated by Cyd Moore
Peachtree Publishers
ISBN# 978-1-56145-517-1
Grades 2-4
Picture book
"'Hmmm." Katie takes a deep breath.
'Everything smells new,' she tells Papa.
And everything does.
Their prairie town is growing weeks by week. Now they have stores with glass windows. A church with a steeple. And a schoolhouse with desks for all seventeen students to sit in long rows."
In beautiful language, this gentle book relates a story of Arbor Day in its infancy t...
July 28, 2010
OCEAN SOUP
Ocean Soup
Tide-Pool Poems
By Stephen R. Swinburne
Illustrated by Mary Peterson
Charlesbridge, 2010
Ages: elementary grades
Poetry
The Soup That Bites
"Tide-pool soup is really good,
A most delicious snack.
But careful! When you take a bite,
This soup might bite you back.
Crabs will pinch and urchins poke,
It's rough out there—no joke!"
This book of rollicking poems presents ten tide-pool animals in witty, irreverent poems, with a section of brief facts about the animal spaced in between the bright...
July 20, 2010
Human Organs
Human Organs
By Kristi Lew
Capstone Press, 2010
Fact Finders Series
ISBN # 978-1-4296-3339-0
Grades 3-5
Nonfiction
"Lots of people work together to make life in a city possible. Some people work in bakeries and make food. Police and firefighter make sure the city is safe. And other people keep the city clean. Everyone has a job to do.
Your body is sort of like a city too. Every organ in the human body has an important job to do. Your lungs help you breathe. Your heart pumps blood through...
July 14, 2010
I Like Weird Animals!
Fainting Goats and Other Weird Mammals
By Carmen Bredeson
Enslow Publishers, 2010
I Like Weird Animals Series
ISBN# 978-0-7660-3122-7
Grades K-3
"Mammals live all over the world. People are mammals. So are dogs, elephants, and whales. Some mammals look strange. Others do strange things. Which mammal is your favorite?"
Following a table of contents and short glossary, an introduction leads to a toothy vampire bat staring out at the reader with the words, "The vampire bat is the only bat that drinks ...
July 6, 2010
31 Ways to Change the World
31 Ways to Change the World
By 4,386 children, we are what we do, and YOU!
Candlewick, 2010
Walker Books, London, 2008
ISBN #9780763645069
Ages 8-12
Nonfiction
Changing the World
"Changing the world seems like a pretty massive task. Not the sort of thing you squeeze in before breakfast or check off while you're tying your shoelaces. "Yup, done. Next job!' Right?
Wrong! It turns out that there's tons of things you can do that don't take long at all but that can really change things. Big Things."
The...
July 1, 2010
The Sun
Coming later today–I've been under the weather and will have the book and activity up later today. I hope you'll stop back by.
Shirley
June 22, 2010
More Life Size Zoo
More Life Size Zoo
By Teruyuki Komiya
ISBN-13: 978-1934734-19-3
Seven Footer Press Kids
Nonfiction
Ages 5-12
"Wolf. With sharp teeth and a powerful jaw, a wolf can pull meat right from the bone. Then it can use its long tongue to lick itself clean."
Talk about fold outs! This book outdoes the first Life Size Zoo book with three huge four page spreads to show this new set of twenty animals from the Tokyo Ueno Zoo. End pages give a thumbnail photo of the animal and some quick statistics. Inside, the ...
June 15, 2010
Claws, Coats, and Camouflage
Claws, Coats, and Camouflage
The Ways animals Fit into Their World
By Susan E. Goodman
Photographs by Michael J. Doolittle
Millbrook Press, 2010
ISBN #978-0-7613-1865-1
Nonfiction
Grades 2-4
What would happen if you pulled a goldfish out of it bowl to play videogames? It would be in big trouble. Then again, you would be too if you went underwater without bring any air along.
Animals live in all sorts of habitats, or environments. Some live in forests. Others live on mountains or in oceans...
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