Flying Deep: Climb Inside Deep-Sea Submersible Alvin


Michelle Cusolito - 2018
    Along the way, discover what one wears, eats, and talks about during a typical eight-hour trip in a underwater craft and find out more about the animals that live deep in our oceans. Extensive back matter explains how Alvin works, describes the author's research, and includes a glossary and further reading."An appealing, exhilarating, and informative vicarious journey of discovery" --Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW"Wong's detailed illustrations add an exciting immediacy to the descent and to the glowing wonders of the deep"--Washington Post

Rise!: From Caged Bird to Poet of the People, Maya Angelou


Bethany Hegedus - 2019
    In this comprehensive picture-book biography geared towards older readers, Bethany Hegedus lyrically traces Maya's life from her early days in Stamps, Arkansas through her work as a freedom fighter to her triumphant rise as a poet of the people. A foreword by Angelou's grandson, Colin A. Johnson, describes how a love of literature and poetry helped young Maya overcome childhood trauma and turn adversity into triumph. Coupled with Tonya Engel's metaphorical and emotive illustrations, this biography beautifully conveys the heartaches and successes of this truly phenomenal woman, and is a powerful tribute to the written word.

The Camping Trip That Changed America: Theodore Roosevelt, John Muir, and Our National Parks


Barb Rosenstock - 2012
    In 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt joined naturalist John Muir on a trip to Yosemite. Camping by themselves in the uncharted woods, the two men saw sights and held discussions that would ultimately lead to the establishment of our National Parks.

Nature Play at Home: Creating Outdoor Spaces that Connect Children with the Natural World


Nancy Striniste - 2019
    But there is a solution. Unrestricted outdoor play helps reduce stress, improve health, and enhance creativity, learning, and attention span. In Nature Play at Home, Nancy Striniste gives you the tools you need to make outdoor adventures possible in your own backyard. With hundreds of inspiring ideas and illustrated, step-by-step projects, this hardworking book details how to create playspaces that use natural materials—like logs, boulders, sand, water, and plants of all kinds. Projects include hillside slides, seating circles, sand pits, and more.

What If You Had Animal Teeth!?


Sandra Markle - 2012
    If you had a beaver's, you'd have orange teeth! And if you had a naked mole rat's set of teeth, you could move each one separately, like chopsticks! The animal kingdom has lots of cool teeth, but yours are pretty awesome, too!

Can You Hear the Trees Talking?: Discovering the Hidden Life of the Forest


Peter Wohlleben - 2017
    Now, Peter shares his famous imagination and storytelling style with children, asking surprising questions about trees with exciting quizzes, photographs, and hands-on activities to help even the most reluctant learners discover the answers.Did you know that trees have parents, and tree grandparents with wrinkles? That tree kids go to school for hundreds of years? That there is such a thing as the forest internet? And that trees make us healthy and strong. Sometimes, even trees get sick, but we can help them heal.Can You Hear the Trees Talking? shares the mysteries and magic of the forest in language kids will love and understand.

Where Is the Great Barrier Reef?


Nico Medina - 2016
    The Great Barrier Reef, off the coast of Australia, is the world's largest coral reef system. Stretching more than 1,400 miles, it provides a home to a wide diversity of creatures. Designated a World Heritage Site, the reef is suffering from the effects of climate change but this fascinating book shows this spectacular part of our planet.

The Lost Words


Robert Macfarlane - 2017
    Words like Dandelion, Otter, Bramble, Acorn and Lark represent the natural world of childhood, a rich landscape of discovery and imagination that is fading from children's minds.The Lost Words stands against the disappearance of wild childhood. It is a joyful celebration of the poetry of nature words and the living glory of our distinctive, British countryside. With acrostic spell-poems by peerless wordsmith Robert Macfarlane and hand-painted illustrations by Jackie Morris, this enchanting book captures the irreplaceable magic of language and nature for all ages.

The Tragic Tale of the Great Auk


Jan Thornhill - 2016
    But by 1844, not a single one of these magnificent birds was alive.In this stunningly illustrated non-fiction picture book, award-winning author and illustrator Jan Thornhill tells the tragic story of these birds that “weighed as much as a sack of potatoes and stood as tall as a preteen’s waist.” Their demise came about in part because of their anatomy. They could swim swiftly underwater, but their small wings meant they couldn’t fly and their feet were so far back on their bodies, they couldn’t walk very well. Still the birds managed to escape their predators much of the time … until humans became seafarers.Great Auks were pursued first by Vikings, then by Inuit, Beothuk and finally European hunters. Their numbers rapidly dwindled. They became collectors’ items — their skins were stuffed for museums, to be displayed along with their beautiful eggs. (There are some amazing stories about these stuffed auks — one was stolen from a German museum during WWII by Russian soldiers; another was flown to Iceland and given a red-carpet welcome at the airport.)Although undeniably tragic, the final demise of the Great Auk led to the birth of the conservation movement. Laws were eventually passed to prevent the killing of birds during the nesting season, and similar laws were later extended to other wildlife species.

The Boy Who Grew a Forest: The True Story of Jadav Payeng


Sophia Gholz - 2019
    So he began planting trees. What began as a small thicket of bamboo, grew over the years into 1,300 acre forest filled with native plants and animals. The Boy Who Grew a Forest tells the inspiring true story of Payeng—and reminds us all of the difference a single person with a big idea can make.

Not a Buzz to Be Found: Insects in Winter


Linda Glaser - 2011
    But what do they do in winter? Honeybees huddle in their hive. Monarch butterflies fly south. Woolly bear caterpillars hide under leaves and snow. This book shows what twelve different insects do to survive winter's chill.

Life-Size Zoo: From Tiny Rodents to Gigantic Elephants, An Actual Size Animal Encyclopedia


Teruyuki Komiya - 2008
    Giraffes have eyelashes. Sloths hang from trees for days at a time without going to the bathroom. These are just some of the insights featured in Life-Size Zoo. Acclaimed wildlife photographer Toyofumi Fukuda visited Japan's premier zoos to capture remarkably vivid and detailed close-up photographs of 21 animals, from pandas and meerkats to giraffes, rhinos, and elephants (adult and baby). Each photograph is accompanied by a profile including body length, weight, and natural habitat, as well as fun facts about the animal.

On the Wing


David Elliott - 2014
    David Elliott and Becca Stadtlander bestow a sense of wonder onto such common birdfeeder visitors as the sparrow, the crow, and the cardinal and capture the exotic beauty of far-flung fowl like the Andean condor, the Australian pelican, and the Caribbean flamingo. Concise, clever verse from an award-winning author pairs with striking artwork from a debut illustrator to make this a true pleasure for anyone who loves birds.

Earthrise: Apollo 8 and the Photo That Changed the World


James Gladstone - 2018
    People marched for peace, fairness, and freedom. At the same time, the Apollo 8 crew was about to go farther into space than anyone had gone before--to the moon.As they surveyed the moon's surface, astronauts aboard Apollo 8 looked up just when Earth was rising out of the darkness of space. They saw the whole planet--no countries, no borders. The photograph they took, Earthrise, had a profound effect when published widely back on Earth, galvanizing the environmental movement, changing the way people saw our single, fragile home planet, and sparking hope during a year of unrest.This important and timely picture book is publishing to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 8 mission, telling the story behind the photograph, both inside the spaceship and back on Earth. Text includes dialogue pulled from NASA's Apollo 8 transcript, drawing readers into the moment Earth was first photographed in color from space. An author's note at the end explains more about the photograph, the Apollo 8 mission, and how Earthrise went on to inspire Earth Day.

It Started with a Big Bang: The Origin of Earth, You and Everything Else


Floor Bal - 2018
    They'll learn about the big bang theory, how our solar system was formed, how life on Earth began in the oceans and moved to land, what happened to the dinosaurs and how humans evolved from apes to explore and build communities all over the planet ... and even travel to space. It's an out-of-this-world look at the beginning of everything!Science journalist Floor Bal and award-winning illustrator Sebastiaan Van Doninck have combined their talents to create a captivating, kid-friendly introduction to the history of the universe and life on Earth. The spirited narrative and vibrant illustrations make millions of years of history entertaining, and give this book read-aloud appeal. It has direct STEAM curriculum applications for grades one to three in life science, particularly for topics such as the characteristics of living things, how living things adapt to their environments and extinction, as well as earth science and space science. It also could spark deeper conversations with children as it answers some of the biggest questions humans have ever asked - such as how the universe began and where we all came from.