Shirley Smith Duke's Blog, page 16
April 13, 2010
A COMPOST STORY
Garbage Helps Our Garden Grow
A Compost Story
By Linda Glaser
Photos by Shelley Rotner
Millbrook Press (Lerner), 2010
ISBN # 978-0-7613-4911-2
Nonfiction
Ages 5-8
"At our house, we grow lettuce and tomatoes, pumpkins and potatoes, strawberries, sunflowers, cucumbers, and cauliflowers. And we use garbage to do it. This is where it starts—in our compost bin. It's just a big box. But amazing things happen here.
Making a compost bin is a great way to recycle organic matter into soil and this simple book e...
April 6, 2010
BACTERIA–IT'S EVERYWHERE
Cocci, Spirilla & Other Bacteria
by Steve Parker
Compass Points Books, 2010
Kingdom Classification Series
Grades 4-6
"It's all around us—in the air, soil, and water, in our homes and buildings, in cars, trains, ships, and planes, and in every dark corner you can imagine. Yet we cannot see it. The microscopic world is everywhere, but it is strange and unfamiliar. It's home to living things that are so unusual and different from bigger animals and plants that they could be mistaken for aliens...
March 30, 2010
Planet Hunter–Out of this World!
Planet Hunter
Geoff Marcy and the Search for Other Earths
By Vicki Oransky Wittenstein
Boyds Mills Press, 2010
ISBN# 978-1590785928
Grades 5-8
Nonfiction
"As the sun sets on the summit of Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii, golden light bathes the huge domes anchoring each end of a narrow white building. A halo of orange, pink, and magenta swirls overhead, while below, waves of clouds form a blanket so thick and wide that it looks like an ocean."
At the first glance, this...
March 24, 2010
BUGS and BUGSICLES
Bugs and Bugsicles
Insects in the Winter
Illustrated by Robert C. Kray
Boyds Mills Press, 2010
ISBN #978-1-59078-763-2
Nonfiction
Ages 6-10
"It is late September and the sun is still warm when a Monarch Butterfly lands on a purple aster. She's grabbing a quick sip of nectar before flying south.
A Honeybee aims for a yellow marigold. She will need food to get thorough the winter.
On the grass below, five Pavement Ants hurry past, carrying seeds. They march underground, going down to...
March 17, 2010
The Grand Canyon
The Grand Canyon
By Jeffrey Zuehlke
Lerner, 2010 Lightning Bolt Books
ISBN #13: 978-0-7613-4261-8
Nonfiction
Grades K-3
Beautiful photographs highlight the text of this book and its information. It covers the erosion that formed the canyon and continues to the three major areas that make it up, and includes the U.S. park rangers as a part of the national park. It also shows the mules taking visitors to the bottom and the rapids in the river at the bottom.
A simple map of Arizona and the Grand...
March 9, 2010
MONSTER FLIERS
Monster Fliers From the Time of the Dinosaurs
By Elizabeth MacLeod
Illustrated by John Bindon
Kids Can Press, 2010
ISBN # 978-1-55453-199-8
Nonfiction
Grades 2-6
During the time when dinosaurs walked the Earth, flying birds, reptiles, and one dinosaur soared above them, filling the skies with creatures large and small. Some fur-covered, others with a thousand teeth, many with other distinct characteristics, these flying animals ranged in size from that of a crow to a wingspan of a small airplane...
March 2, 2010
Little Black Ant on Park Street
NONFICTION MONDAY
Little Black Ant on Park Street
By Janet Halfmann
Illustrated by Kathleen Rietz
Soundprints, Smithsonian's Backyard, 2009
NF information, ant point of view
Grades K-3
"Little black ant pokes her head from a tiny sandy hill dotting the lawn of the house onPark Street. It is sumertime and the anthill is a flurry of activity.
Beneath the hill lies a busy ant city, with many rooms connected by little tunnels. There are rooms for the ant queens, nurseries for...
February 23, 2010
Life-Size Zoo
By Teruyuki Komiya
ISBN #: 978-193473420-9
Seven Footer Press, 2009
Nonfiction
Ages 4-8
This oversized book won't fit on a typical library shelf, but it won't stay on the shelves anyway. Life-Size Zoo: From Tiny Rodents to Gigantic Elephants, An Actual Size Animal Encyclopedia is by Teruyuki Komiya, Kristin Earhart, and photographer Toyofumi Fukuda.
The life-sized photographs of animals from zoos in Japan fill the pages and spill over into fold-outs to fit the adult elephant, a tiger's mouth, and ...
February 14, 2010
We Have a Winner! Nonfiction Picture Book Category
The first time I saw Chris Barton's book was at the Texas Librarian's Association annual conference in 2009. I had spoken and done a signing for my book, No Bows! I was signing at Pat Anderson's booth, Overlooked Books, when Chris strolled up in a Day-Glo bright tee shirt proclaiming, "Ask me why I'm wearing this shirt."
Chris' book wasn't out to the public yet. He carried a copy around and was showing people. I took a look and at first glance knew I liked the book and wanted to blog about...
February 10, 2010
Toco Toucans Bright Enough to Disappear
Toco Toucans Bright Enough to Disappear
By Anastasia Suen
Bearport Publishing, 2010
Disappearing Acts Series
ISBN #978-1-936087-45-7
Nonfiction picture book
Grades K-3
Look Again
"In the lush tropical rain forest, brightly colored fruit can be seen growing in trees. Look closely, however. One of the pieces of fruit isn't really fruit. It's bird called a toco toucan!"
Among the many species of the toucan, the toco toucan is the most recognized, with its cartoon-like beak and coloring. But it's exactly ...
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