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Pets in a Jar: Collecting and Caring for Small Wild Animals
Describes the behavior and physical and biological characteristics of various small, easily cared for land and marine animals and explains how to create an appropriate environment for each
96 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1975
4 people are currently reading
59 people want to read
About the author
Seymour Simon
320 books128 followersSeymour Simon, whom the NY Times called "the dean of [children's science:] writers," is the author of more than 250 highly acclaimed science books (many of which have been named Outstanding Science Trade Books for Children by the National Science Teachers Association).
Seymour Simon uses his website, SeymourSimon.com, to provide free downloads of a wealth of materials for educators, homeschoolers and parents to use with his books, including 4-page Teacher Guides for all 26 of his Collins/Smithsonian photo essay books. The site provides multiple resources for kids writing book reports or wanting to explore the online Science Dictionary, and also features the Seymour Science blog highlighting current science news. Educators and families are encouraged to sign up to receive the monthly newsletter from SeymourSimon.com to stay abreast of the latest materials that Seymour Simon is introducing to enrich the reading experience.
He taught science and creative writing in elementary and secondary schools and was chair of the science department at a junior high school in the New York City public school system before leaving to become a full-time writer. "I haven't really given up teaching," he says, "and I suppose I never will, not as long as I keep writing and talking to kids around the country and the world."
Seymour Simon is also a creator and the author of a series of 3D books and a series of Glow-in-the-Dark Books for Scholastic Book Clubs, a series of leveled SEEMORE READERS for Chronicle Books, and the EINSTEIN ANDERSON, SCIENCE DETECTIVE series of fiction books. His books encourage children to enjoy the world around them through learning and discovery, and by making science fun. He has introduced tens of millions of children to a staggering array of subjects; one prominent science education specialist described Simon's books as "extraordinary examples of expository prose."
Seymour Simon has been honored with many awards for his work, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science/Subaru Lifetime Achievement Award for his lasting contribution to children's science literature; the New York State Knickerbocker Award for Juvenile Literature; the Hope S. Dean Memorial Award from the Boston Public Library for his contribution to children's science literature; The Washington Post/Children's Book Guild Award for Non-fiction; the Jeremiah Ludington Award for his outstanding contribution to children's nonfiction; the Empire State Award for excellence in literature for young people; and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Forum on Children's Science Books.
In a recent interview Simon was asked if he ever thinks of retiring. "I seem to be working faster and harder than ever. I absolutely don't feel any urge to sit back and look at what I've done. The only things that I'm thinking about are things I'd like to do in the future. I'm planning and doing and continuing to write. It's what I love to do. I remember a story about an anthropologist going to talk to a tribe and he asked them what was their word for "work." Their response was they have no word for work. Everybody does the things that they do in their life. I love that response. I don't differentiate between work and play. Everything I do is something that I enjoy doing - the writing, the research and everything else."
Seymour Simon writes and photographs nature from his hilltop home in Columbia County in upstate New York, where he lives with his wife Liz Nealon.
You can follow Seymour on Facebook and on Twitter, as well as on his website, which offers free, downloadable Teacher Guides to his books for educators, parents and homeschoolers, as well as the popular Seymour Science Daily Blo
Seymour Simon uses his website, SeymourSimon.com, to provide free downloads of a wealth of materials for educators, homeschoolers and parents to use with his books, including 4-page Teacher Guides for all 26 of his Collins/Smithsonian photo essay books. The site provides multiple resources for kids writing book reports or wanting to explore the online Science Dictionary, and also features the Seymour Science blog highlighting current science news. Educators and families are encouraged to sign up to receive the monthly newsletter from SeymourSimon.com to stay abreast of the latest materials that Seymour Simon is introducing to enrich the reading experience.
He taught science and creative writing in elementary and secondary schools and was chair of the science department at a junior high school in the New York City public school system before leaving to become a full-time writer. "I haven't really given up teaching," he says, "and I suppose I never will, not as long as I keep writing and talking to kids around the country and the world."
Seymour Simon is also a creator and the author of a series of 3D books and a series of Glow-in-the-Dark Books for Scholastic Book Clubs, a series of leveled SEEMORE READERS for Chronicle Books, and the EINSTEIN ANDERSON, SCIENCE DETECTIVE series of fiction books. His books encourage children to enjoy the world around them through learning and discovery, and by making science fun. He has introduced tens of millions of children to a staggering array of subjects; one prominent science education specialist described Simon's books as "extraordinary examples of expository prose."
Seymour Simon has been honored with many awards for his work, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science/Subaru Lifetime Achievement Award for his lasting contribution to children's science literature; the New York State Knickerbocker Award for Juvenile Literature; the Hope S. Dean Memorial Award from the Boston Public Library for his contribution to children's science literature; The Washington Post/Children's Book Guild Award for Non-fiction; the Jeremiah Ludington Award for his outstanding contribution to children's nonfiction; the Empire State Award for excellence in literature for young people; and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Forum on Children's Science Books.
In a recent interview Simon was asked if he ever thinks of retiring. "I seem to be working faster and harder than ever. I absolutely don't feel any urge to sit back and look at what I've done. The only things that I'm thinking about are things I'd like to do in the future. I'm planning and doing and continuing to write. It's what I love to do. I remember a story about an anthropologist going to talk to a tribe and he asked them what was their word for "work." Their response was they have no word for work. Everybody does the things that they do in their life. I love that response. I don't differentiate between work and play. Everything I do is something that I enjoy doing - the writing, the research and everything else."
Seymour Simon writes and photographs nature from his hilltop home in Columbia County in upstate New York, where he lives with his wife Liz Nealon.
You can follow Seymour on Facebook and on Twitter, as well as on his website, which offers free, downloadable Teacher Guides to his books for educators, parents and homeschoolers, as well as the popular Seymour Science Daily Blo
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 17, 2009
I read this one with my six-year-old son, who scored six large glass jars at a yard sale for $0.30, and said, "Now can we get slugs?" I hoped to talk him into a praying mantis or maybe some tadpoles instead. This title covers fourteen different pets that can be kept in a jar, inckuding those three (and butterflies, starfish, ants...).
We took turns reading the chapters, stopping so the boy could exclaim things like, "We can cut their heads in half! And make two-headed planarian monsters!" and, "Newts are salamanders?! Cool!" and, "Wait, are we in an, um, 'Eastern forest'?"
The book is heavy on the DIY and collecting aspects of keeping pets in a jar, assuming that children will go into the woods to get their critters.
I found the simple black and white, text-heavy format very refreshing, after eight years of Dorling-Kindersley and Usborne nature books that bombard the senses and leave no room for imagination. We had to stop and imagine ourselves doing this because we could not rely on illustrations of other people doing it.
I had thought it would take a week to read this together, but we ended up reading the whole thing one Sunday afternoon. It was interesting. The more we imagined doing it, the more we wanted to know about how to do it, and soon we had abandoned our other plans for the afternoon and were planning field trips. Wemade plans to create a field kit for the boy. This blog post was helpful with that.
Humane issues are sufficiently covered in an old-fashioned Boy Scout kind of way. "No experiment that you try should result in harm to an animal in your care!" the author exclaims, with emphasis, in multiple ways and places. He also exhorts children to take good field notes about the environment they remove the animal from, so they can make the animal comfortable in their jar. The author gives children information on how to be sure they're not collecting endangered species. He explains the need to release them with environmental forethought, too.
I only have one complaint. My son kept saying, "But, there's a sign that says not to do that." I wish the book had helped me figure out what to tell (or ask) my kid to help him think through the ethical and legal repercussions of ignoring such a sign.
This is one that we need to own and keep on hand. I can't see it becoming less useful for grandchildren in a decade or two, and it's laid back, informative, understated imagine-then-do approach will surely become even more rare in non-fiction for children.
We took turns reading the chapters, stopping so the boy could exclaim things like, "We can cut their heads in half! And make two-headed planarian monsters!" and, "Newts are salamanders?! Cool!" and, "Wait, are we in an, um, 'Eastern forest'?"
The book is heavy on the DIY and collecting aspects of keeping pets in a jar, assuming that children will go into the woods to get their critters.
I found the simple black and white, text-heavy format very refreshing, after eight years of Dorling-Kindersley and Usborne nature books that bombard the senses and leave no room for imagination. We had to stop and imagine ourselves doing this because we could not rely on illustrations of other people doing it.
I had thought it would take a week to read this together, but we ended up reading the whole thing one Sunday afternoon. It was interesting. The more we imagined doing it, the more we wanted to know about how to do it, and soon we had abandoned our other plans for the afternoon and were planning field trips. Wemade plans to create a field kit for the boy. This blog post was helpful with that.
Humane issues are sufficiently covered in an old-fashioned Boy Scout kind of way. "No experiment that you try should result in harm to an animal in your care!" the author exclaims, with emphasis, in multiple ways and places. He also exhorts children to take good field notes about the environment they remove the animal from, so they can make the animal comfortable in their jar. The author gives children information on how to be sure they're not collecting endangered species. He explains the need to release them with environmental forethought, too.
I only have one complaint. My son kept saying, "But, there's a sign that says not to do that." I wish the book had helped me figure out what to tell (or ask) my kid to help him think through the ethical and legal repercussions of ignoring such a sign.
This is one that we need to own and keep on hand. I can't see it becoming less useful for grandchildren in a decade or two, and it's laid back, informative, understated imagine-then-do approach will surely become even more rare in non-fiction for children.
February 19, 2009
This book is out of date and there are ertainly better guides on the care of keeping small critters out there, BUT I still loved this one because it got me obsessed with keeping every little bug and snake and such back in the day.
August 8, 2007
Another childhood favorite.
August 30, 2009
Awesome little book that I saw on someone's blog (can't remember where) about how to take care of various insects, reptiles, amphibians--basically anything you can find on your own. I saw it for cheap on sortfloorbooks.com this summer and snatched it up, and then we pulled it out when we found a couple of caterpillars and wanted to know how to care for them. Great little find.
July 11, 2023
As an amateur entomologist and critter collector, I reference this book a lot.
It also gives adequate advice for temporary housing of larger creatures, like frogs and newts. It specifies in the book that some of these setups are only meant for temporary housing, or for short-term observation before release. I appreciate that!
It also gives adequate advice for temporary housing of larger creatures, like frogs and newts. It specifies in the book that some of these setups are only meant for temporary housing, or for short-term observation before release. I appreciate that!
September 19, 2007
This book changed the way I thought about cooking.
July 3, 2013
Not a bad book. Would be a good activity for a youth.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews