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The Acadia Files #4
The Acadia Files: Spring Science
Acadia Greene has done science in summer, autumn, and winter. In the fourth and final book of this series, she carries her search for answers into the spring, investigating meteors and mass extinctions; germination and pollinators; parasites, ticks, and Lyme disease; and pesticides and malaria. Finally, looking back through her notebooks, she puts together her scientific inquiries from all four seasons into a holistic understanding of the natural world. Acadia is curious, determined, bold, and bright—a wonderful STEAM ambassador!
Lexile 750
Lexile 750
- GenresNonfiction
88 pages, Paperback
First published March 31, 2020
23 people want to read
About the author
Katie Coppens
11 books8 followersKatie Coppens is a middle school English and science teacher. She writes fiction and nonfiction books that integrate science. Katie can be reached at contactkatiecoppens@gmail.com.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 14, 2020
This is a delightful series of books for inquisitive readers. My granddaughter simply loves the earlier books in the series and I know she will love this Spring Science book as well.
Acadia is an inquisitive child that simply absorbs information and turns it around in her mind to comprehend what she is learning. As each of the chapters closes, Acadia has experiments and conclusions of her own. She records her thoughts and how she derives the conclusions. Then she poses a question or so that presents "What if's?" to contemplate.
The Signs of Spring chapter is beautifully written and illustrated. Acadia tells her friends about triggers for the Spring awakening of flowers, trees, frogs. And then the chapter on Ticks is informative presenting what ticks are, how to find and identify them, and the danger they present to people.
The dangers of DDT are also covered in a different chapter and this provides information on how to care for our planet and the dangers that toxic chemicals are to the environment and to people.
A must have series for homes with precocious readers.
DISCLOSURE: I received a complimentary copy to facilitate a review. Opinions are mine, alone and are freely given.
Acadia is an inquisitive child that simply absorbs information and turns it around in her mind to comprehend what she is learning. As each of the chapters closes, Acadia has experiments and conclusions of her own. She records her thoughts and how she derives the conclusions. Then she poses a question or so that presents "What if's?" to contemplate.
The Signs of Spring chapter is beautifully written and illustrated. Acadia tells her friends about triggers for the Spring awakening of flowers, trees, frogs. And then the chapter on Ticks is informative presenting what ticks are, how to find and identify them, and the danger they present to people.
The dangers of DDT are also covered in a different chapter and this provides information on how to care for our planet and the dangers that toxic chemicals are to the environment and to people.
A must have series for homes with precocious readers.
DISCLOSURE: I received a complimentary copy to facilitate a review. Opinions are mine, alone and are freely given.
April 22, 2020
Acadia is a kid who loves science. She’s full of questions and eager to learn their answers. She seeks answers through conversations with her scientist parents and through her own research both in the field and online. Each chapter includes a section of Acadia’s science journal with her findings from her explorations, experiments, and research, vocabulary words that relate to the chapter, and further related questions Acadia has. These sections are packed with information, charmingly illustrated, and show great examples of lab reports following the scientific method, a field journal, and ways to organize information such as a point graph and a timeline.
It’s not always a good idea to start a book series with the last book in the series. It can be confusing and sometimes annoying when the author doesn’t do a good job of explaining references from previous books, so a reader takes a risk. But this book landed in my review pile this week. It was seasonally appropriate—I read it on Earth Day, and looked appealing, so I decided to give it a go. I wasn’t disappointed by starting last. The characters are quite straightforward, as it’s primarily a book about science concepts, so there’s little catching up to do there. The references to the other books provide enough information that you could understand it’s a reference to an earlier book, and many are interesting enough to encourage readers to seek out the story behind the information referenced. That’s great, because as these books have seasonal themes, kids will probably choose to read them season by season rather than in order.
Filled with great information about meteor showers; reawakening plants and animals; ticks, mosquitoes and parasites; Earth Day and pesticides; this book will capture the attention of eager science learners. The charming illustrations make the information very accessible to late elementary school and middle school kids. It’s also easy to see this book used in the classroom or a home school environment. Acadia’s science journal provides a great model for students to use when performing their own experiments, recording their observations in the field, researching, or collecting data.
I received an electronic copy of The Acadia Files, Book Four, Spring Science in exchange for an honest review.
It’s not always a good idea to start a book series with the last book in the series. It can be confusing and sometimes annoying when the author doesn’t do a good job of explaining references from previous books, so a reader takes a risk. But this book landed in my review pile this week. It was seasonally appropriate—I read it on Earth Day, and looked appealing, so I decided to give it a go. I wasn’t disappointed by starting last. The characters are quite straightforward, as it’s primarily a book about science concepts, so there’s little catching up to do there. The references to the other books provide enough information that you could understand it’s a reference to an earlier book, and many are interesting enough to encourage readers to seek out the story behind the information referenced. That’s great, because as these books have seasonal themes, kids will probably choose to read them season by season rather than in order.
Filled with great information about meteor showers; reawakening plants and animals; ticks, mosquitoes and parasites; Earth Day and pesticides; this book will capture the attention of eager science learners. The charming illustrations make the information very accessible to late elementary school and middle school kids. It’s also easy to see this book used in the classroom or a home school environment. Acadia’s science journal provides a great model for students to use when performing their own experiments, recording their observations in the field, researching, or collecting data.
I received an electronic copy of The Acadia Files, Book Four, Spring Science in exchange for an honest review.
August 4, 2020
Mom's Review
The Acadia Files is a series of four books, one for each season. Young Acadia explores the world around her, learning about each season. We've read only the final book, Spring Science, but T wants to read the others now. At times, the content is a bit above his level, but he asks questions about vocabulary, and I have the impression that he is learning a lot. I would suggest this series for lower grades. Spring Science has five short chapters, each followed by excerpts from her science notebook. Acadia stargazes with her mother, searches for vernal pools and frogs with her friends and her dad, finds signs of spring in her neighborhood, and celebrates Earth Day.
Spring Science is what an ideal STEAM book looks like: it's scientific exploration in an artistic format. Readers learn alongside Acadia. T got wrapped up in the story, but also absorbed a lot of information (as did I). T was less interested in her notebook, which includes notes about what she's learned, a list of new words, and questions she still has; but he did really like Acadia's questions.
Science and literature converge naturally in Spring Science; a fun and relatable story inspires readers to investigate their own world. We, for one, are jumping into a frog phase.
Son's Review
(Age: 5)
It's cool how you can see her notebook. I love it. It was the greatest book I've read in my entire life. I loved the pictures. I liked the way how the drawings were drawn. [I'm glad I know] that ticks can spread Lyme disease. Now I know the extra reason we try to keep ticks off us. My favorite part is the last question. ["What will I learn next?"] I'm curious about the inside of someone's body, like what it looks like inside of someone's body.
I would want to [be friends with Acadia and] look for frogs with her. You wanna know the other things I would wanna do with her? #1 is explore our backyard woods. #2 go to the beach and look for seashells. #3 go to a swimming pool and swim. And #4 go to school.
People can expect funny business, like where they're talking about ticks. It's kinda funny 'cuz it's kinda gross; they're like little vampires. In fact, they are vampires. Anything that sucks your blood is a vampire.
At the end of the book, it shows the other book. They look cool. I want to read them.
Note: A review copy was provided in exchange for an honest review.
The Acadia Files is a series of four books, one for each season. Young Acadia explores the world around her, learning about each season. We've read only the final book, Spring Science, but T wants to read the others now. At times, the content is a bit above his level, but he asks questions about vocabulary, and I have the impression that he is learning a lot. I would suggest this series for lower grades. Spring Science has five short chapters, each followed by excerpts from her science notebook. Acadia stargazes with her mother, searches for vernal pools and frogs with her friends and her dad, finds signs of spring in her neighborhood, and celebrates Earth Day.
Spring Science is what an ideal STEAM book looks like: it's scientific exploration in an artistic format. Readers learn alongside Acadia. T got wrapped up in the story, but also absorbed a lot of information (as did I). T was less interested in her notebook, which includes notes about what she's learned, a list of new words, and questions she still has; but he did really like Acadia's questions.
Science and literature converge naturally in Spring Science; a fun and relatable story inspires readers to investigate their own world. We, for one, are jumping into a frog phase.
Son's Review
(Age: 5)
It's cool how you can see her notebook. I love it. It was the greatest book I've read in my entire life. I loved the pictures. I liked the way how the drawings were drawn. [I'm glad I know] that ticks can spread Lyme disease. Now I know the extra reason we try to keep ticks off us. My favorite part is the last question. ["What will I learn next?"] I'm curious about the inside of someone's body, like what it looks like inside of someone's body.
I would want to [be friends with Acadia and] look for frogs with her. You wanna know the other things I would wanna do with her? #1 is explore our backyard woods. #2 go to the beach and look for seashells. #3 go to a swimming pool and swim. And #4 go to school.
People can expect funny business, like where they're talking about ticks. It's kinda funny 'cuz it's kinda gross; they're like little vampires. In fact, they are vampires. Anything that sucks your blood is a vampire.
At the end of the book, it shows the other book. They look cool. I want to read them.
Note: A review copy was provided in exchange for an honest review.
April 4, 2020
I've enjoyed all four of these books about a budding scientist, Acadia Greene, who has two parents who guide her in her inquiries and encourage her to problem-solve using the scientific method. As was the case with the other three books, this one focuses on one season--in this case spring--and allows Acadia and sometimes her friends to look into meteors, mass extinctions, seasonal changes, parasites such as ticks, pollinators such as bees, and even how Rachel Carson alerted the world to the dangers of DDT in her book, Silent Spring. The various explorations are covered in an accessible fashion, complete with notes in Acadia's notebook, doodles, vocabulary words, and wonderings as she continues to ask questions about the natural world and other topics that interest her. There is also humor in the narrative since her father loves puns. This one is a fine addition to elementary classroom libraries, sure to prompt other curious souls to want to read, explore, and experiment just like Acadia.
June 4, 2020
Katie Coppens is a great author to follow for STEM reads. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) This book is the first I have read of her Acadia Files series and I will definitely have to check out the previous books. Here are some of my favorite parts of this short chapter book:
The importance of questioning-one question, leads to another, leads to another, and so on. Coppens shows that curiosity is powerful and important. I loved the ending “What will I learn next?”
Her journal full of graphics, including one of the Scientific Method and some diagrams to show what she was learning.
“How do we balance helping people with helping nature?”
This is a great book for emerging readers and could be used in the science classroom to show how our world is connected. It also shows how we can understand more by asking questions and researching.
Thank you Media Masters Publicity for sharing this book with me.
The importance of questioning-one question, leads to another, leads to another, and so on. Coppens shows that curiosity is powerful and important. I loved the ending “What will I learn next?”
Her journal full of graphics, including one of the Scientific Method and some diagrams to show what she was learning.
“How do we balance helping people with helping nature?”
This is a great book for emerging readers and could be used in the science classroom to show how our world is connected. It also shows how we can understand more by asking questions and researching.
Thank you Media Masters Publicity for sharing this book with me.
May 5, 2020
Spring is a favorite time of the year for Acadia, because she can spend some time star gazing. After a conversation with her mom regarding asteroids and the extinction of dinosaurs, she comes up with an idea for an experiment. Her experiment will make a determination as to whether or not the size and weight of a meteor impact dtermines the size of the crater after impact. Acadia creates lists with materials, her hypothesis, pictures and she has a log for her data. After her experiment was concluded she even had things she still wondered about.
Acadia spends time investigating how seeds grow, the purpose of ticks, Rachel Carson and malaria and so much more. Parents and teachers will want to share the sciency read with their young learners who are a fan of science and experiments. There are plenty of resources for more learning and research on the back pages.
Acadia spends time investigating how seeds grow, the purpose of ticks, Rachel Carson and malaria and so much more. Parents and teachers will want to share the sciency read with their young learners who are a fan of science and experiments. There are plenty of resources for more learning and research on the back pages.
April 8, 2020
This wraps the whole series up! I like how you can see Acadia grow from book one to four and that I final question Acadia asks is, "What will I learn next?" Acadia is like an ambassador of curiosity.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews