The Cockroach


Elise Gravel - 2020
    You'll bug out over this perfect pairing of humorous text and funny illustrations about this insect that's been around for over 335 million years!Fast cockroach facts: * Distinctive trait: Flat and oval-shaped body* Diet: Everything! (Especially if it's greasy and sweet . . .)* Special talent: RunningThe Cockroach covers lifestyle (cockroaches prefer the dark and only come out during the day when their colonies get big enough), anatomy (cockroaches have wings but rarely fly), habitat (they prefer heat to cold), life cycle (a female can give birth to up to 350 babies during her lifetime) and much more. Although silly and off-the-wall, The Cockroach contains factual information that will both amuse and teach at the same time.

The Wisdom of Trees: How Trees Work Together to Form a Natural Kingdom


Lita Judge - 2021
    We are like wizards.The story of a tree is a story of community, communication, and cooperation. Although trees may seem like silent, independent organisms, they form a network buzzing with life: they talk, share food, raise their young, and offer protection. Trees thrive on diversity, learn from their ancestors, and give back to their communities. Trees not only sustain life on our planet—they can also teach us important lessons about patience, survival, and teamwork.A New York Public Library Best Book of 2021A New York Public Library Top Ten Book for Kids

The Beetle Book


Steve Jenkins - 2012
    Beetles squeak and beetles glow.Beetles stink, beetles sprint, beetles walk on water.With legs, antennae, horns, beautiful shells, knobs, and other oddities—what’s notto like about beetles?The beetle world is vast: one out of every four living things on earth is a beetle.There are over 350,000 different species named so far and scientists suspect there maybe as many as a million.From the goliath beetle that weighs one fourth of a pound to the nine inch longtitan beetle, award-winning author-illustrator Steve Jenkins presents a fascinating arrayof these intriguing insects and the many amazing adaptations they have made tosurvive.

Redwoods


Jason Chin - 2009
    As he reads the information unfolds, and with each new bit of knowledge, he travels--all the way to California to climb into the Redwood canopy. Crammed with interesting and accurate information about these great natural wonders, Jason Chin's first book is innovative nonfiction set within a strong and beautiful picture storybook.

Sea Bear: A Journey for Survival


Lindsay Moore - 2019
    Your teeth are sharp. Your front paws are paddles, your back paws are rudders, and you can swim for miles.Your home has always been the sea and the ice.A sea bear, far north in the Arctic, hunts and naps and raises her young. She moves with the ice, swimming, running, stalking seals, resting. She follows the rhythm of the sea and the seasons.But what happens when those rhythms change? What happens when there is no ice?Lindsay Moore shares the story of one polar bear’s journey for survival in this stunning picture book. Imagine.

Dinosaur Lady: The Daring Discoveries of Mary Anning, the First Paleontologist


Linda Skeers - 2020
    This is the story of Dinosaur Lady.Mary Anning loved scouring the beach near her home in England for shells and fossils. She fearlessly climbed over crumbling cliffs and rocky peaks, searching for new specimens. One day, something caught Mary's eye.Bones. Dinosaur Bones.Mary's discoveries rocked the world of science and helped create a brand-new field of study: paleontology. But many people believed women couldn't be scientists, so Mary wasn't given the credit she deserved. Nevertheless, Mary kept looking and learning more, making discoveries that reshaped scientific beliefs about the natural world.Dinosaur Lady is a beautiful and brilliant picture book that will enlighten children about the discovery of the dinosaurs and the importance of female scientists. It also includes a timeline of Mary Anning's life and lots of fantastic fossil facts!

Earth Hour: A Lights-Out Event for Our Planet


Nanette Heffernan - 2020
    Unfortunately, it can also have a big impact on our planet.Earth Hour--a worldwide movement in support of energy conservation and sustainability--takes place each March and is sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF). During Earth Hour, individuals, communities, and businesses in more than 7,000 cities turn off nonessential electric lights for one hour. Across each continent--from the Eiffel Tower to the Great Wall of China to the Statue of Liberty--one small act reminds all of us of our enormous impact on planet Earth.

Dorothea Lange: The Photographer Who Found the Faces of the Depression


Carole Boston Weatherford - 2017
    A case of polio had left her with a limp and sympathetic to those less fortunate. Traveling across the United States, documenting with her camera and her fieldbook those most affected by the stock market crash, she found the face of the Great Depression. In this picture book biography, Carole Boston Weatherford with her lyrical prose captures the spirit of the influential photographer.

Water Land: Land and Water Forms Around the World


Christy Hale - 2018
    A lake is water surrounded by land.An island is land surrounded by water.With the magic of a page turn, award-winning author and artist Christy Hale creates exciting visual links between the many forms of land and water in our world.Based on Montessori teachings and filled with bold, inviting illustrations, this is a book that readers will return to again and again,

If: A Mind-Bending New Way of Looking at Big Ideas and Numbers


David J. Smith - 2014
    But what if we took these big, hard-to-imagine objects and events and compared them to things we can see, feel and touch? Instantly, we'd see our world in a whole new way." So begins this endlessly intriguing guide to better understanding all those really big ideas and numbers children come across on a regular basis. Author David J. Smith has found clever devices to scale down everything from time lines (the history of Earth compressed into one year), to quantities (all the wealth in the world divided into one hundred coins), to size differences (the planets shown as different types of balls). Accompanying each description is a kid-friendly drawing by illustrator Steve Adams that visually reinforces the concept. By simply reducing everything to human scale, Smith has made the incomprehensible easier to grasp, and therefore more meaningful. The children who just love these kinds of fact-filled, knock-your-socks-off books will want to read this one from cover to cover. It will find the most use, however, as an excellent classroom reference that can be reached for again and again when studying scale and measurement in math, and also for any number of applications in social studies, science and language arts. For those who want to delve a little deeper, Smith has included six suggestions for classroom projects. There is also a full page of resource information at the back of the book.

Pink Is for Blobfish: Discovering the World's Perfectly Pink Animals


Jess Keating - 2016
    A fluffy, sparkly, princess-y color. But it's so much more. Sure, pink is the color of princesses and bubblegum, but it's also the color of monster slugs and poisonous insects. Not to mention ultra-intelligent dolphins, naked mole rats and bizarre, bloated blobfish. Isn't it about time to rethink pink? Slip on your rose-colored glasses and take a walk on the wild side with zoologist Jess Keating, author of How to Outrun a Crocodile When Your Shoes Are Untied, and cartoonist David DeGrand. A New York Public Library Best Book for Kids, 2016 "The 2016 Ambassador to Young People's Science and Nature books is unquestionably the blobfish." --Shelftalker "Readers will never look at pink the same way." --Publishers Weekly

Once Upon a Jungle


Laura Knowles - 2017
    Step inside the wild and colourful jungle with this striking and richly illustrated book that introduces the food chain concept through simple, poetic language. Learn how the circle of life allows the jungle ecosystem to flourish, and see how many animals you can spot hiding in the leaves along the way.

The Great Stink: How Joseph Bazalgette Solved London's Poop Pollution Problem


Colleen Paeff - 2021
    What is creating this revolting smell? The answer is gross: the river is full of poop. But the smell isn’t the worst problem. Every few years, cholera breaks out, and thousands of people die. Could there be a connection between the foul water and the deadly disease? One engineer dreams of making London a cleaner, healthier place. His name is Joseph Bazalgette. His grand plan to create a new sewer system to clean the river is an engineering marvel. And his sewers will save lives. Nothing stinky about that.

The Vast Wonder of the World: Biologist Ernest Everett Just


Mélina Mangal - 2018
    He saw the whole, where others saw only parts. And he noticed details others failed to see. Through stunning illustrations and lyrical prose, this picture book presents the life and accomplishments of Ernest Everett Just, an African American biologist who made important discoveries about the cell in the 1930s. Through his careful observations and hard work, Ernest opened up the wonder of the universe to all of us, through a tiny egg cell.

Lesser Spotted Animals


Martin Brown - 2016
    Bison? They're banned! Tigers? Taboo! Say good-bye to the gnu, cheerio to the cheetah, and peace to the panda.The world of Lesser Spotted Animals STARTS HERE!Find out all about the amazing animals you need to know but never get to see, from the numbat to the zorilla, and everything in between.