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Elephant Families
This book focuses on elephant's care for and interaction with each other with a significant emphasis on elephants being killed by poachers.
Unlike the interesting scientific information designed to impart facts and help children develop an interest in science (as I've come to expect from the Let's Read-and-Find-Out Science Series) this book gets lost in the mediocrity of environmentalism by giving children a sort of emotional attachment to elephants (by over-emphasizing their slight similarities with people) and shocking them with details about how and why people kill elephants and a somewhat gruesome (relative to the age-level) picture of a truck filled with blood-stained elephant tusks. Rather disappointing altogether.
Animals in Winter
A beautifully illustrated look at where various animals go when it snows and how they prepare for winter. We learn details of the migration of various animals (such as birds, butterflies and bats), animals that hibernate, animals that store up food for the winter and animals that have to find their food throughout the winter. Includes instructions for feeding birds and other wild animals in your own backyard.
How a Seed Grows
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.
What Lives in a Shell?
This beautifully illustrated book, designed for preschool and kindergarten, explains different kinds of shells and the creatures that inhabit them. The shells are compared to the shelter occupied by people and by other animals. We learn that some shells do grow larger along with certain animals while other animals must shed their out-grown shell in favor of a new one. Many shells are beautifully depicted and identified and the story-format of the text is very easy and interesting for young children to follow.
Falcons Nest on Skyscrapers
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.
How do Apples Grow?
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.
How do Birds Find Their Way?
A nicely illustrated and interesting look at the amazing phenomenon of bird migration, what we know about how migration works and some various theories about details that are still being studied. Includes a chart of how high various birds fly.
Who Eats What? Food Chains and Food Webs
This book explores the notion of various plants and animals that are linked together based on "who eats what." Children will learn about some simple food chains such as – leaf, caterpillar, wren and hawk. They also see how one plant or animal can belong to several food chains and that members or these related food chains (food webs) have a certain amount of dependence on each other. The text goes on to explain, through an example of a problem with over-hunted otters around the turn of the century, that when part of a food chain is disturbed, the other members will also be affected. There are some mild "environmental" messages in this text which our family used as an opportunity to discuss good stewardship of what God has given us.
Why Do Leaves Change Color?
Our family has really enjoyed this book which explains why leave fall off the trees before winter, where the different colors come from, how weather affects the brilliancy of the colors and lots more. It's written in a very simple manner, so that it's quite understandable even for preschoolers or kindergarteners, and yet it contains substantial information so that even moms (like me) realize that they don't know everything : ) You'll also find labeled pictures of the leaves from different kinds of trees, a cross section of a leaf, an explanation of how trees make food, and how to make leaf rubbings and preserve leaves by ironing them between sheets of waxed paper.