*Picture book about volcanoes–found in non-fiction section–told in poem form *Subject matter: A volcano erupting and how it affects life around it *Rating: Volcano Wakes Up! is a wonderful book to teach kids about volcanoes and the life around them. Love it! Short, short summary: In Volcano Wakes Up!, Lisa Westburg Peters uses poetry to [...]

Seeds of Change written by Jen Cullerton Johnson and illustrated by Sonia Lynn Sadler is a terrific and beautiful biography picture book about Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize winner and environmentalist Wangari Maathai. I am giving away one copy of this book that I received from Lee and Low for review. Simply leave a comment or [...]

photo by digipam www.flickr.com On Saturday, I was at a nature writing workshop presented by Jen Cullerton Johnson, who is the author of the upcoming book, Seeds of Change, a picture book about Wangari Maathai. I don’t want to tell you too much about this book because I hope to review it on here soon [...]

zebra in Tanzania by wwarby www.flickr.com *picture book, contemporary realistic fiction for preschoolers through third graders *two adolescent boys as main characters *Rating: Books like First Come the Zebra by Lynne Barasch are why I love to blog about children’s books. This book is beautifully done with a wonderful message and sharing an interesting place [...]

Florida Swamp photo by Peter Long www.flickr.com *Middle-grade to tween (there’s some language in here–FYI ) contemporary fiction novel *Middle-grade students Nick and Marta as main characters *Rating: A good eco-mystery for kids with a quirky cast of characters, similar to Hoot and Flush by Carl Hiaasen. Short, short summary: Scat has a main plot [...]

photo by >>>WonderMike

photo by Southern Foodways Alliance www.flickr.com *Picture book for preschoolers through second graders *Strega Nona as the main character *Rating: Another clever Strega Nona book by Tomie dePaola, perfect for plant lesson plans Short, short summary: Strega Nona, Big Anthony, and Bambolona are planting seeds with Strega Nona’s direction in the latest installment by Tomie [...]

photo by jimbowen0306 www.flickr.com *Picture book for kindergarten students through third graders *Groundhog teacher as main character *Rating: A perfect picture book to celebrate Groundhog’s Day or to supplement a weather unit in science! Short, short summary: Rabbit (and a few other animals) write to Professor W. Groundhog about his weather forecast on Feb. 2. [...]

photo by edenpictures www.flickr.com Teaching kids about the weather may seem like an odd topic two days before Christmas; but weather is on my mind, and I don’t even live in the Northeast. I think it’s because as far back as I can remember, winter weather has messed up my plans in the Midwest. I [...]

by GraceFamily www.flickr.com Teaching habitats or teaching Christmas can easily be done with this remarkably clever and cute picture book: Who Would Like a Christmas Tree? *Picture book for preschoolers through second graders *Animals on a Christmas Tree Farm as main characters *Rating: Who Would Like a Christmas Tree? is one of those children’s Christmas [...]