A very simple, charming book that explains to young children what seeds are and takes them through the development of some bean seeds. The growth present each day is illustrated in the book and the child is invited to try grow the beans themselves and watch the progress in real life. The book also introduces children to different kinds of seeds (for trees, flowers, vegetables, etc.), and how each seed will grow into the same kind of plant that it came from, and the basic things necessary to make a plant grow.

This is a very interesting book (with excellent illustrations) that introduces young children to various falcons living in the United States, some of their remarkable abilities and the story of how some scientists were successful in re-introducing the peregrine falcon in the Eastern United States after they nearly became extinct because of an insect spray called DDT which was overused earlier in the twentieth century. The story focuses on Scarlett, a peregrine falcon who was born in captivity, released, and discovered building a nest thirty-three stories up on the ledge of a skyscraper in Baltimore. This location made observation ideal and we learn that she managed to find a wild falcon for a mate and that their offspring have helped significantly in restoring the falcon population.

The development of apples is presented, from leaf and flower buds in the winter, thru blossoms in the spring, pollination and the actual growth of the apple. In addition to beautiful scenic pictures of trees in blossom and bees pollinating the trees, there are more technical drawings which illustrate the parts of a flower, show flowers in the different stages of development and show the connections between the original blossom and the ripe apple. The text also introduces some important terminology that will be useful in later science studies (pollen, stamen, pistil, etc.). Overall, a very nice and useful book.

"Sunshine warms the earth. If the sun stopped shining, the earth would get colder and colder..." It is important for children to consider the importance of the sun in our lives. In Sunshine Makes the Seasons, children are introduced to the sun's role and in particular how the seasons change because of the earth's rotation around the sun and the tilt of the earth.

In a fashion similar to The Moon Seems to Change, an experiment involving an orange stuck into a pencil (again a styrofoam ball and a chopstick or pencil will work just as well) helps to illustrate the various points that are explained. First the child uses a flashlight with the "axis" of the earth pointed straight up and down to show how the seasons would always be the same in that scenario. Then we are shown that by tilting the earth, the length of each day changes throughout the year. We also see how the North and South Pole are special cases where the midwinter can have several weeks of darkness and midsummer can have continuous light. We also see that the seasons change very little at the equator and that the Northern and Southern hemispheres have opposite seasons from each other. Again, this book covers substantial information in a very simple way and will be very useful and straightforward for early science lessons.