Archimedes Notebook

Wednesday, November 27, 2024

Explore Outdoors ~ the light we see

Most of the leaves are gone, allowing us to see more sunlight filtering through the trees. It also means we can see how low in the sky the sun is in mid-afternoon!

By now, some animals have migrated to warmer, sunnier places. Others have burrowed into the mud or found a cozy hole in a tree for napping away the winter.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I say let's stuff ourselves with turkey and pie, grab a good book, and find a cozy place to hibernate for the next month or so. Who's with me?

Archimedes Notebook will be taking a winter break.

See you in 2025!

Friday, November 22, 2024

What's for Dinner?

Next week is Thanksgiving, and that’s got me thinking about food! Turns out I’m not the only one thinking about food …and it also turns out that I am omnivorous! Here’s a pair of books that explore animals and their eating habits.

themes: animals, food chains, nonfiction

This is Not My Lunchbox

by Jennifer Dupuis; illus. by Carol Schwartz

32 pages; ages 4-8

Tilbury House Publishers, 2024

The book opens with a child camping in the forest. The tent is up, and he’s searching in his backpack for something.

Time to eat. Here is my red lunch box. What have you packed for me today?

Carpenter ants? Beetles? Spiders? Not MY lunch! But it’s the perfect lunch for a downy woodpecker. In each spread, the boy opens a lunchbox to discover all kinds of things that he Absolutely, Positively Would NOT eat! But the animals in the forest – from mouse to mantid to moose – would, because that’s what they normally eat. Finally, FINALLY!, he opens a lunchbox with yummy people food.

What I like about this book: I love the way this book introduces animals and their diets. I love that each lunchbox is a different color. And I really love that a diversity of animals are invited to the table, from bugs to birds, foxes and frogs. Back matter challenges kids to match pictures of the animals with their eating habits: herbivore, carnivore, omnivore.

Menus for Meerkats and Other Hungry Animals

by Ben Hoare; illus by Hui Skipp

48 pages; ages 6-10

‎Kane Miller, 2024

Every animal has to eat … But what is food, exactly?

The first page introduces readers to the importance of food: animals need to eat to keep their bodies working, to grow, to look after their young. There’s a quick explanation of what herbivores are, and carnivores, and omnivores – and even a brief mention that some animals are Very Fussy eaters! And then an invitation to see what’s on the menu for a ten wild creatures.

What I like about this book: I like how the book is structured, introducing each animal with a menu page. Each menu comes with a note; for meerkats it includes a warning that some of their food fights back. The menu is arranged with Main Course on the left page (insects, grubs, scorpions, spiders) and Sides and Drinks on the right. There’s also a map showing where the animal lives. The spread following the menu tells more about the animal and its place in the food web: what it eats – and what eats them! In addition to meerkats, there are macaws, grizzly bears, white sharks, koalas, dung beetles, orangutans, Indian cobras, blue whales, and lions. A table of contents, glossary, and index help make this a useful reference book.

Beyond the Books:

What’s your favorite animal? It could be a bird, mammal, insect, amphibian, reptile, or fish. Make a list of all the things it eats. Draw a menu or a lunchbox for that animal and put in its favorite foods.

How does your favorite animal fit into the food web? Do any animals eat it? Make a chart or drawing to show what you learn.

What's in YOUR lunchbox? If you’re like me, you might be thinking about Thanksgiving right now… draw a menu for your feast. Or, draw a lunchbox showing what you usually eat for lunch.

Ask an adult to help you make something that you like to eat. Maybe it’s a cheese and pickle sandwich, or maybe it’s pancakes.

Today we’re joining Perfect Picture Book Friday. It’s a wonderful gathering where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Review copies provided by the publishers.

Wednesday, November 20, 2024

Explore Outdoors ~ Funky Fungi in the Garden!

Just last week or so I was clearing a patch of garden so I could plant garlic, when what should I spy - but these cool and funky fungi!

These are cup fungi - and they look just like cups, don't they!

What cool discoveries will you make this week?

Friday, November 15, 2024

Getting to Know Crows

This is the time of year when I see crows – lots of crows – gleaning grains from the cornfields and gathering in trees. I hear their caws in the morning, sometimes a single bird and sometimes a ruckus of noise. Crows are brilliant and brainy and worth getting to know. Here are two recently published books to help get your crow study started.

theme: birds, animal behavior, nonfiction

Crick, Crack, Crow!

by Janet Lord; illus. by Julie Paschkis

32 pages; ages 4-8

Margaret Quinlin Books/Peachtree, 2024

Crow lives with his noisy family high in a treetop.

He is curious and loves to have fun … but mostly Crow likes to stir up trouble! He gets into some thieving trouble, some tricky trouble, and some trapped-in-the-dark trouble. With his ability to use tools and solve problems, Crow can usually get out of trouble. Until he finds trouble too big for one bird…

What I like about this book: I love the couplets of “Crick, crack, crow! Ready to go!” The words change throughout the book, depending on the situation, and kids will love anticipating the repetition. I appreciate the accuracy of how the author and illustrator depict crow behavior on the page. And I love the back matter, “Crick, Crack, Crow! So much to know!” Lots of great crow facts and resources for expanding the story and learning more about these brainy birds.

How to Know a Crow: The Biography of a Brainy Bird

by Candace Savage; illus by Rachel Hudson

120 pages; ages 9-12

Greystone Kids, 2024

This book takes you into the world of the American crow, starting in a crow’s nest … where, with a tap-tap crunch, one tiny bird breaks free from the egg. Readers will get an inside look at the family life of crows. It’s not just mama and papa bird, but brothers and sisters from previous years help take care of the babies. Good thing, too, because there are SO many jobs to do! There’s feeding, and nest maintenance, and taking out the trash, and protecting the nest. Plus, there’s an up-close look at the life of a teen-aged crow!

What I like about this book: So Many Things! There’s the pie chart showing the kinds of things crows eat, and the relative quantities thereof. There are “Crow Lab” sidebars with activities, such as a check list to determine whether your bird is crow or not-crow, and an experiment involving a nut and a string. There are mini-features, which focus on a particular aspect of crow life. For example, “Cawing 101” is all about how to understand crow language. There’s a list of ways you can help crows (and other birds) stay healthy. There’s a great book turn so you get a vertical page showing “high rise living” crow style. And throughout, the author raises intriguing questions, like: do crows have “culture?” Oh yeah, there’s an entire chapter devoted to “bird braininess.” Organizational features include a table of contents, a glossary, resources for curious kids (and adults), and an index. I give this book 5 feathers!

Beyond the Books:

Play a game of “I Spy a Crow” – keep track of where you see crows, and how many different kinds of behaviors you see them doing. You might see a group of them chasing a hawk, or a single crow on a telephone pole acting as lookout. Or, as in our neighborhood, a flock walking across harvested fields looking for leftovers.

Fold an origami crow. All you need is some black paper. It's not too hard - you can follow the video here.

Think about your neighborhood – or your yard – from a crow’s point of view. Draw a map showing large trees that might provide nesting spots, lawn or gardens for foraging, and snacking opportunities (pet food, compost bin). Here’s more info about crows from Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Learn how to speak in Crow. Check out these recordings from CLO and see if you can make crow sounds.

Today we’re joining Perfect Picture Book Friday. It’s a wonderful gathering where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Review copies provided by the publishers. And on Monday we'll be hanging out at Marvelous Middle Grade Monday with other bloggers. It's over at Greg Pattridge's blog, Always in the Middle, so hop over to see what other people are reading. Review copies provided by the publishers.

Wednesday, November 13, 2024

Explore Outdoors ~ I thought this was a Desert Plant!

Last fall I discovered some yucca plants growing in one of the yards down in the village. It surprised me because I think of yucca as a desert plant, not one found in northeast gardens! But they have a wide distribution across the US and even up into the southern Atlantic states.

The cool thing about yucca plants is that their leaves have lots of fibers curling off - I wrote about them in a previous post.

Those fibers look fragile, but if you spin them together they can make a pretty sturdy string.

As fascinated as I am about yucca fibers (and I am, because I enjoy twining and spinning anything from milkweed to grasses), I found their seedpods even more interesting.

The seeds themselves are flat, round-ended triangles, and thinner than I expected. I planted a bunch this spring and managed to get half-a-dozen seedlings (about 50% germination). The seeds took a long time to germinate, and the seedlings are slow-growing. On the plus-side, they seem to tolerate benign neglect.

Though I may have to bring them inside for winter ...

Friday, November 8, 2024

Meet a Unicorn! OK - a Whale with a Tusk...

Narwhal: Unicorn of the Arctic

by Candace Fleming; illus by Deena So’Oteh

‎48 pages; ages 4-8

Anne Schwartz Books, 2024

theme: ocean, whales, ecology

You are a narwhal – shy, swift, small (for a whale).

Your ivory tusk sprouts from your upper left jaw, “thick as a lamppost, taller than a man.” Which is okay because, now that you’re full grown, you’re at least 16 feet long. I hope you’ve got a good layer of blubber, because you’re living in the Arctic! On this winter day, when you poke your head through the ice, you spot another male. And so you do what guy narwhals do: you cross tusks. Clackety-clack! They sound like wooden sticks smacking each other.

Are you playing?

Fighting?

Showing off for a female?

What I like about this book: Through lyrical language and luscious art we come to inhabit the world of the narwhal, and meet other arctic creatures – some prey, one predator. When the narwhal dives deep, nearly a mile into the blackness of the ocean, we go too, relying on echolocation to find food. I like how Candace Fleming adds sounds: the clacking of tusks, the ticking of whale sonar. I love that there’s a gate fold that, when you turn the book, you get a very long illustration of the very deep dive to go hunting. I like that the book spans a year in the life of a narwhal, and the way the second-person point of view pulls the reader into the experience. And, of course there is Back Matter! Because we want to know more about the research and the lives of these secretive mammals.

Beyond the Books:

Learn more about narwhals and check out a video at National Geographic and more facts at the World Wildlife Fund.

Compare yourself to a narwhal. Grab a tape measure and some chalk and head out to the nearest sidewalk or driveway. Measure out a 15 or 20-foot-long Narwhal with a tape measure and chalk. If you want to include it’s horn, you’ll need to add another 10 feet! Now lay down at one end of the narwhal and have a friend or parent mark your body length. How many of your body lengths it would take to equal the length of a Narwhal?

Make a chart to compare narwhals and unicorns. How are they alike? How they are different? For example, they both have horns. But where is the unicorn’s horn, and where is the narwhal’s?

Today we’re joining Perfect Picture Book Friday. It’s a wonderful gathering where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Review copy provided by Blue Slip Media

Wednesday, November 6, 2024

Explore Outdoors ~ Texture

One of the reasons I find dead-on-the-stem flowers so interesting is their textures, and the contrast between them and the blooming flowers next to them. Though, given the lateness of the season, most of my flowers are naught but papery petals and seed heads at this point. And if I want to collect a few seeds to sow next year, I'd better be quick or the birds and squirrels will beat me to it.

This week enjoy the textures of the flowers

you find around your neighborhood

Friday, November 1, 2024

Never too late for Ocean Science

If you missed your ocean-side vacation this summer, don’t despair. Today I’m sharing books and activities that will provide a perfect beach week feel! If you want to hear the gentle sound of waves on a beach while you read this post, click here.

Theme: oceans, animals, ecology

The Ocean Blue and You

by Suzanne Slade; illus. by Stephanie Fizer Coleman

32 pages; ages 5-8

Sleeping Bear Press, 2024

Drip, drop raindrops plop. You’re cozy and snug inside Mama’s warm hug.

Sitting beneath an umbrella on a sandy shore, you listen to ocean waves swish and swoosh. And while you sleep, the creatures of the ocean are busy beneath the waves. Hungry sharks, elusive eels, stealthy stingrays go about their lives.

What I like about this book: The language is gentle and lyrical – so lyrical that it lulls you into exploring the underwater world before you realize that SCIENCE is happening! Readers visit deep waters, colorful coral reefs, and tidepools, meeting the plants and animals that live there. Tuck this book into your beach tote next time you go to the shore. And until then, why not think of it as a bath time read? Toss in a few plastic sea creatures, turn up the ocean sounds and take an indoor beach day. Oh, and I almost forgot: there is Back Matter! One last spread devoted to why exploring the ocean is so important.

Super Ocean Weekend: The Ultimate Underwater Adventure

Written & illustrated by Gaëlle Alméras; translated by David Warriner

172 pages; ages 7-12

Greystone Kids, 2024

This is the second book in the Science Adventure Club series, nonfiction books presented in “graphic novel” style. Friends, Castor and Squeak (a beaver and a rat) are camping on an island with Orni (platypus) and her cousin Echid (echidna). Fortunately, there’s a character introduction opposite the title page – and a table of contents so readers have a “map” of where they’re headed on this adventure.

There’s a lot of ocean science mixed throughout the adventures – and misadventures of island camping. Here are just a few of the things I like about this book: the plankton party; the tidepool discoveries; an entire chapter devoted to buoyancy; introductions to jellyfish, whales, and other creatures; and an adventure to the bottom of the ocean printed on dark pages and requiring the reader to turn the book for a long, vertical page for the deep, deep dive to the bottom of the sea! Back matter includes a quick guide to ocean creatures and shows four ways kids can be an ocean superhero.

Beyond the Books:

Grab a beach towel and lay it down in a sunny spot on the floor. Listen to ocean waves (here's another recording) while you try some ocean-inspired yoga poses. Be a whale! Or a jellyfish... you can find some poses on this page.

Draw a picture of your favorite ocean animal or plant. Yes, seaweed counts.

Try one of the ocean activities presented here.

Today we’re joining Perfect Picture Book Friday. It’s a wonderful gathering where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. On Monday we'll be hanging out at Marvelous Middle Grade Monday with other bloggers. It's over at Greg Pattridge's blog, Always in the Middle, so hop over to see what other people are reading. Review copies provided by the publishers.

Wednesday, October 30, 2024

Explore Outdoors ~ Three Ways of Looking at a Dahlia

There are so many ways to look at things: from the front, from above, from below. I happened to be visiting a friend who was trimming her dahlias earlier this month - so I got to look at the flowers close-up-and-personal.

This week, take some time to look at flowers

or trees, leaves, lichens

from different points of view.

Friday, October 25, 2024

Look Up - Stars Are Falling!

The annual Orionids meteor shower has been happening this week, and is predicted to peak this weekend. Just how many meteors are we talking about? According to the Washington Post, meteorologists are expecting about 23 meteors to shoot across the sky every hour. I can't think of a better time to check out this book!

The Meteor Shower: Kaleidoscope Club

by Marie Mazas; illus by Joëlle Passeron

128 pages; ages 7-10

‎Blue Dot Kids Press, 2024

This is book two in this fun, STEAM adventure series and Nour and August, best friends and tree-house engineers, are at it again. This time they are drawing up plans to build something cool for watching the meteor shower. But first, they need to convince the Mayor to turn off the lights so they can have a dark-sky night. There’s already a law on the books that requires public lighting – street lights, public buildings, monuments – to be off between 1 and 7 am in an effort to reduce energy consumption. But nobody is enforcing the law, and the Mayor isn’t interested in pushing the issue.

So Nour and August engage in a flyer campaign: Keep the Stars Bright! Turn off Your Lights! This is a bold initiative for August, who is afraid of the dark.

Just as the community seems to rally around the Dark Night idea, a fair moves into town. People have been waiting for the carnival rides and the games for a whole year – but the carnival lights threaten Nour and August’s efforts for stargazing. And an unlikely friendship threatens the Kaleidoscope Club.

What I like about the book is that it focuses on problem-solving and includes lots of STEM stuff:

designing and building a model space capsule using recycled materials (engineering, art);
migration and light pollution (biology, conservation science);
meteors and constellations (astronomy); and
kitchen chemistry

I also like the back matter, which discusses in more depth how light pollution disrupts animal ecosystems, wastes energy, and even affects human health. And there’s a list of “what you can do” about it.

Thanks for dropping by today – and remember to watch for the meteor shower this weekend!. On Monday we'll be hanging out at Marvelous Middle Grade Monday with other bloggers. It's over at Greg Pattridge's blog, Always in the Middle, so hop over to see what other people are reading. Review copy provided by the publisher.

Wednesday, October 23, 2024

Explore Outdoors ~ letting go of color

As we move toward winter, I watch the changing season reflected in my garden. Flowers go to seed, blooms fade, leaves turn color or dry and fall...

How do your plants reflect the changing season?

Friday, October 18, 2024

Very Bouncy Science - and History

Bounce! A Scientific History of Rubber

by Sarah Albee; illus. by Eileen Ryan Ewen

48 pages; ages 6-9

‎Charlesbridge, 2024

themes: rubber, science, invention

It can bounce, bounce, bounce!

Rubber has been around for thousands of years, and chances are that you’ve got some in your dresser drawer or maybe even your pocket. Where that rubber came from, what makes it so stretchy, and how it’s been used throughout history is the meat of this book.

What I like about this book: Sarah begins with how Indigenous people living near rainforests in Mexico and Central America created and used rubber.

She explains how European explorers took rubber back with them – along with the gold and riches they stole – and how rubber became part of our lives. Sprinkled throughout are spreads labeled “The Science” where she explains bounce, polymer chains, and why pure rubber fails in heat and cold.

I also like the illustrations – they add a touch of fun to this bouncy history. And there is Back Matter! Sarah discusses names of the Indigenous people, and shares some of the troubling details about the sometimes violent history of the rubber industry and some of the environmental issues. She also includes a timeline of the last 3,500 years of rubber history.

Bouncy Science Beyond the Books:

Compare bounciness of a variety of balls. You’ll need a hard surface for your bounce test and a way to measure height - you can tape a couple yard-sticks or tape measure against a fence, wall, or tree. Drop each kind of ball from as high as you can reach and write down how high it bounces.

Measure stretchiness of a rubber band. First, measure the width (how “fat” the rubber band is) and the loop-length (how long it is before you stretch it). Now hook one end of the rubber band over the end of a ruler and gently stretch the rubber band. How far can you go? If you’re outside, you can let go and see how far your rubber band flies. Try different rubber bands – and remember to pick them up when you’re finished.

Make your own rubber from plants in your yard. Caution: don’t do this if you are allergic to latex! Break open the stem of a milkweed or dandelion and collect the latex in a spoon. Cover the end of your finger with the sap, all the way to the first knuckle-bend and let the sap dry. After 10 to 15 minutes, roll the dried sap off your finger. It will make a slightly stretchy band. To make a “rubber” ball, put a half a teaspoon of sap into 1/4 cup of water and stir with a straw. Slowly add a little bit of vinegar. The acid in the vinegar will make the latex stick to the straw. Gather the latex into a ball, squeeze out the water, and give it a bounce.

Sarah Albee is a member of #STEAMTeam2024. You can find out more about her at her website.

Wednesday, October 16, 2024

Explore Outdoors ~ a very hairy snail!

A few weeks ago I noticed an interesting snail clinging to the underside of a red lettuce leaf. Interesting because usually I only find slugs in my garden ... and also because this snail had a hairy shell!

"Is there such a thing as a hairy snail?" I asked my friend and snail expert, Marla Coppolino.

"Yes," she said. "It's called the hairy snail." Unfortunately it is not native to our area.

I watched it for a bit and here's what I learned: a snail's pace isn't as slow as we think. At least not for this snail. It speedily moved up the leaf, searching for a tender spot to begin scraping away with its sharp, spiny mouthparts.

What sort of snails have you seen?

Friday, October 11, 2024

Books to Celebrate Dinosaur Month

October is National Dinosaur Month and I’ve got three great books that are perfect for young paleontologists!

Themes: dinosaurs, nonfiction, biography

Dinosaurs Can Be Small

by Darrin Lunde; illus. by Ariel Landy

32 pages; ages 3-7

Charlesbridge, 2024

A Brontosaurus raises its head above a ginkgo tree. It is a long-necked dinosaur. But not all long-necked dinosaurs are big.

Many dinosaurs, it turns out, were small. Some as tall as you, others no taller than a Barbie doll. And that’s okay, because sometimes smaller is better. Smaller dinos needed less food to fill their bellies. They could survive eating insects. They could climb trees. And when the large dinosaurs were wiped out by a giant meteor, it was the small dinos that survive.

What I like about this book: I like the compare and contrast structure. On one spread Darrin Lunde introduces a large dinosaur – Tyrannosaurus, Tricerotops, Pterodactyl (not really a dinosaur but a close relative). The next spread highlights a tiny dino-relative. Back matter shows each dino with an explanation about their name.

She Sells Seashells: Mary Anning, an Unlikely Paleontologist

by Heidi E. Y. Stemple; illus. by Emily Paik

40 pages; ages 5-9

Charlesbridge, 2024

Mary Anning was an unlikely paleontologist. Especially unlikely for England in the early 1800s.

Because she wasn’t really a paleontologist at all. She was just a girl who collected fossilized seashells to sell in her family’s seaside shop. Back then, girls could collect things – they just couldn’t study them. Girls didn’t go to school, and they certainly didn’t become scientists. But Mary did.

What I like about this book: I like how Heidi Stemple shows the patience and persistence of Mary Anning as she chipped and dug fossils and bones from cliffs and stones. I like the use of repetition of some phrases such as, “Chip! Scrape! Chip!” I particularly like how she portrays Mary: unconcerned about those “rich boys” and “educated men” because she had fossils to find, and was too busy educating herself. Back matter dives a bit deeper into Mary’s life and the fossils she discovered. Plus, we learn about another Mary who lived just 150 miles away who was also digging up fossils! (And who, like Mary Anning, never got the credit for her discoveries.)

Mary Anning and Paleontology for Kids: Her Life and Discoveries, with 21 Activities

by Stephanie Bearce

134 pages; ages 8-12

‎Chicago Review Press, 2024

It is only fitting that Stephanie Bearce, a fossil-collecting, award-winning author, write about a girl who loved fossils. She begins with Mary Anning’s early life, fossil-hunting with her father, to Mary’s discovery of her first skeleton. Stephanie shows hoe Mary painstakingly removed the fossilized bones from the shale and how those bones, bought by a wealthy man, wound up in a museum. Mary did more than dig up bones, though. She cleaned them, figured out how to put them together in a complete skeleton, and creates detailed scientific illustrations about her finds.

What I like about this book: Scattered throughout the book are sidebars that dive into details about aspects of life in the 1800s as well as the hands-on activities. Young readers can try their hand at making a fossil imprint, creating their own scientific illustration, and doing their own fossil extraction. I especially like that there’s an entire chapter devoted to female fossil finders and one on modern paleontology.

Beyond the Books:

Make some dinosaur footprint cookies. You’ll need a plastic dinosaur or two… here’s the recipe.

Make a paper bag dinosaur puppet. All you need is a paper lunch bag, some construction paper, scissors, glue, and imagination. But here’s how one person made their puppets.

What kind of dinosaur are you? Gentle giant or fierce meat-eater? Here’s a quiz from the London Museum of Natural History that will reveal your true dino-heart.

Check out TrowelBlazers, a site that highlights the contributions of women in the ‘digging’ sciences: archaeology, geology, and palaeontology.

Today we’re joining Perfect Picture Book Friday. It’s a wonderful gathering where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website.

On Monday we'll be hanging out at Marvelous Middle Grade Monday with other bloggers. It's over at Greg Pattridge's blog, Always in the Middle, so hop over to see what other people are reading.

Review copies provided by the publishers.

Wednesday, October 9, 2024

Explore Outdoors ~ Asters and Goldenrod

Fall is a season of colors. Leaves turning red, orange, gold... even the wildflowers are getting in on the act. You can tell it's fall in the northeast by the yellows and purples of goldenrod and asters growing in fields and along roadsides. Their beauty is eye-catching, both for people and the pollinators collecting nectar and pollen before winter settles in.

Goldenrod and asters create a community, says Rhonda Fleming Haye. "Beyond the bees and butterflies you’ll find syrphid flies, beetles and many other insects. Goldfinches, tree sparrows, prairie chickens and wild turkeys eat the seeds, while rabbits and deer will browse the foliage," she writes for Northern Gardener.

If you can, find a patch of asters and goldenrod to watch!

Friday, October 4, 2024

Sounds of the Night

I love to leave my window open at night – even if just a tiny bit – to let the night sounds in. Some nights I hear owls hooting and coyotes singing. Some nights I hear the distant sound of a train’s whistle. So I eagerly anticipated these two books hitting the shelves this fall!

themes: nighttime, nature, sounds

Starlight Symphony

by Buffy Silverman

32 pages; ages 4-9

‎ Millbrook Press, 2024

The lighting dims.

The curtain lifts.

Musicians gather.

Spotlight shifts.

Settle in and get ready for a symphony of a different sort. Tonight’s program features the song of the wood thrush, the whistle of a screech owl, the slap of a beaver’s tail. Each animal adds their music to the symphony.

What I like about this book: Buffy highlights the bird calls and other animal sounds we might hear in nature at night while at the same time introducing sections of an orchestra. A beaver’s tail slapping the water – that’s percussion. I like the arc of the book, from dusk to dawn. And the back matter is really fun. In “Meet the Musicians” you learn more about each featured animal. “Meet the Musical Instruments” is all about the instruments, from wind to strings, grass to percussion.

A couple weeks ago I asked Buffy what inspired her to write Starlight Symphony.

Buffy: We live at the marshy end of a small lake, and across the street from an even smaller pond. Starting with the spring peepers in March, and continuing through spring and summer, we enjoy a nightly (and loud!) chorus of frogs, insects, birds, and mammals. The book is my tribute to all those songsters that I have enjoyed listening to for many years.

Buffy Silverman is a member of #STEAMTeam2024. You can find out more about her at her website.

Goodnight Sounds

by Debbie S. Miller; illus. by Michelle Jing Chan

32 pages; ages 2-5

Bloomsbury Children’s Books, 2024

In the cool, quiet night, fingers of fog spill over the hills, up the channel, and under the Golden Gate Bridge. I listen and wait for the sound…

The child in this book waits for the sound of foghorns bellowing their deep song. For her, it’s the sound of a lullaby. In other places the song that sings you to sleep might be the hooting of an owl, the trilling of crickets, or the clickety-clack, rick-rack of train wheels rolling down the track (which, if you are used to them, make a comforting and rhythmic sound).

What I like about this book: This is a sweet bedtime book, filled with the sorts of sounds a kid living anywhere might hear – whether they’re in a city or in the country, camping beside a stream or falling asleep by a campfire. The sounds might be distant, like a foghorn, or right next to you, like the purring of your cat curled up beside you.

Beyond the Books:

Open the window tonight. What sounds do you hear? Instead of thinking about what’s making the sound, just listen. And then try to write down what you hear.

What are your favorite nighttime noises? Why do you like them? And what night sounds do you dislike?

Make a sound map. You should be outside to do this, so you can hear sounds coming from all directions. When you hear a sound, write it down on your map, like shown in this post from a couple years ago.

Today we’re joining Perfect Picture Book Friday. It’s a wonderful gathering where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Review copies provided by the publishers.

Wednesday, October 2, 2024

Explore Outdoors ~sitting with nature

Sometimes taking a five-minute nature break turns into ten minutes... as I sit and notice the things around me. A couple weeks ago I noticed this tiny spider clinging to a seed head of grass. So I got up closer to take a look. The foxtail has a fuzzy head which, when you get a closer look they seem like needle-thin spines. And if you're that close, you might notice that the spider has spines on its legs.

What do you notice

when you sit with nature for a few minutes?

Friday, September 27, 2024

Oddball Armadillos

The Oddball Book of Armadillos

by Elizabeth Shreeve ; illus. by Isabella Grott

40 pages; ages 7-10

Norton Young Readers, 2024

theme: armadillos, evolution, nonfiction

Are they giant roly-poly bugs? Time-traveling dinosaurs? Crazy mixed-up turtle-rabbits? No! They’re armadillos…

… small mammals with tough, scaly armor. Modern armadillos may be as small as 6-inches, but some of their prehistoric ancestors were as big as cars! In this book, Elizabeth Shreeve introduces readers to a variety of armadillos found around the world: pink fairy armadillos, nine-banded armadillos, the screaming hairy armadillo, and more. She discusses armadillo adaptations, behavior, and migration for modern and prehistoric animals.

What I like about this book: As with The Upside-Down Book of Sloths, Elizabeth Shreeve presents information about armadillos in layers. Some pages feature large text with conversational language, while others have smaller text with sidebars providing more details. That makes this book perfect to read as a picture book to younger kids (6-7) and as an informational book for the 7-10 year old crowd. Some of those sidebars highlight cool stuff, like how armadillos walk under water and how artists have been portraying armadillos for the past thousand years or so.

Armadillos are odder than I expected! So I knew I had to ask Elizabeth One Question: What inspired you to write a book about ancient armadillos?

Elizabeth: Great question! Armadillos are related to sloths, a topic that I explored in The Upside-Down Book of Sloths (Norton Young Readers, 2023). My editor was all-in for a companion title about the “little armored ones” and their prehistoric kin. Armadillos, both living and extinct, help us understand the natural history of the Americas, a topic with special meaning for many students. Plus who doesn’t love an oddball? By celebrating life-forms that are less familiar, we can send a message about embracing differences and finding connections. Let’s appreciate all of Earth’s creatures!

Thanks, Elizabeth. And with that, let’s go have some Beyond-the-Books fun!

Learn more about armadillos at the San Diego Zoo website

Armadillos can roll up into a ball. Can you? What other animals roll up in a ball to protect themselves?

For older kids: Check out the Adaptation Game in the teacher’s guide at Elizabeth’s website. It’s a card game developed specifically for the book, and shows how the traits of animal populations help them survive in the environments they live in.

Elizabeth is a member of #STEAMTeam2024. You can find out more about her at her website.

Wednesday, September 25, 2024

Explore Outdoors ~ honeybee in flight

Every now and then I capture a bug commuting to work....

Holladay, UT /August 2024

Friday, September 20, 2024

Small Science Expeditions

The Observologist: A Handbook for Mounting Very Small Scientific Expeditions

by Giselle Clarkson
120 pages; ages 8-13
Gecko Press (Lerner), 2024

“An observologist is someone who makes scientific expeditions every day, albeit very small ones.” With that introduction you know this will be the perfect book to inspire a backyard study of small things: earthworms, caterpillars, fungi, slug eggs….

There are only two things you need to know if you’re going to be an observologist:

You’ll spend a lot of time looking at the ground (which is closer to you if you’re between the ages of 8-13 than if you’re an adult).
You need to be curious. Because being an observologist is like being a detective… looking for clues that lead to something cool and interesting.

After introducing the whats, hows, and whys of Observology the remainder of the book presents four potential expedition sites – and the sorts of things one might study/observe/examine while there. These are places accessible to any kid: a damp corner (perfect site for discovering more about centipedes and fungi); pavement (great habitat for ants and worms); weedy patches (insects galore!); and around the house.

What I ~~like~~ love about this book: I love the introductory section where Giselle Clarkson lays out such things as “principles of observology,” the reasons for scientific names, and the importance of drawing what you discover. I love the table of contents that exudes the feeling of being a field guide to adventure. Each section – er, expedition site – includes one to three spreads filled with details about the organisms one might discover. There’s even a spread devoted to “aural observology” for those who want to recognize insects by the sounds they make.

“Not all buzzes are alike,” Giselle writes, “and you have to have very clever ears.”

For those using this book as a text, there is a final exam and a certificate at the back – plus a great index for quick reference to the organisms. Best of all, this book is suitable for parents, teachers, homeschoolers, grandparents, and scientifically minded extraterrestrials desiring to learn more about this planet.

Thanks for dropping by today. On Monday we'll be hanging out at Marvelous Middle Grade Monday with other bloggers. It's over at Greg Pattridge's blog, Always in the Middle, so hop over to see what other people are reading. Review copy provided by the publisher.

Pages

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