From dazzling blue lapis lazuli to volcanic snowflake obsidian, an incredible variety of rocks are showcased in all their splendor. Poetic in voice and elegant in design, this book introduces an array of facts, making it equally perfect for classroom sharing and family reading.

    Perfect for reading on winter days, the book features photos of real snow crystals in their beautiful diversity. Snowflake-catching instructions are also included.

    And once, born nearly a thousand years after the tree first took root, there was a girl named Julia, who was called Butterfly.When exploring her beloved forest, Butterfly wandered into a grove of ancient trees. One tree had broken branches and a big blue "X" on the side. It was going to be chopped down. Butterfly climbed up into the tree. A tree wouldn't be cut down if it had a person living in it. This is the story of Julia Butterfly Hill and Luna, the redwood tree she lived in for two years, never once coming down. That is, not until Luna's future was safe.

    This level two reader, written in easy-to-grasp text, will help cultivate the geologists of tomorrow!This high-interest, educationally vetted series of beginning readers features the magnificent images of National Geographic, accompanied by texts written by experienced, skilled children's book authors. The inside back cover of the paperback edition is an interactive feature based upon the book. Level 1 books reinforce the content of the book with a kinesthetic learning activity. In Level 2 books readers complete a Cloze letter, or fun fill-in, with vocabulary words.Releases simultaneously in Reinforced Library Binding: 978-1-4263-1039-3 , $13.90/$15.95 CanNational Geographic supports K-12 educators with ELA Common Core Resources.Visit www.natgeoed.org/commoncore for more information. From the Trade Paperback edition.

    If it's a challenge for these 7,000-pound giants, what's it like for their newborn babies?An infant elephant has precious little time to learn the incredible array of skills that are necessary to keep up, from projecting her voice across a 10-octave range to using the 100,000 muscles in her trunk to stay hydrated. But this giant-to-be has the perfect classroom--a family herd made up of her mother, sisters, cousins, and aunts. With their help and protection, she'll learn how to survive, how to thrive, and how to be an elephant. Award-winning author-illustrator Katherine Roy's How to Be an Elephant delves into the intricate family dynamics at play in a typical African herd. Drawing upon the latest scientific research and Roy's own expedition to Kenya, and brimming with lush watercolor illustrations and detailed diagrams, this book vividly portrays the life and development of an elephant from an uncertain newborn into a majestic adult. As informative as it is beautiful, Roy's unique portrait of an elephant's life will captivate young explorers and animal lovers alike.

    (That's why it's been Employee of the Month for 4.5 billion years.) So why does the Sun get to be the center of attention? Because it's our solar system's very own star! This funny and factual picture book from Awkward Yeti creator Nick Seluk explains every part of the Sun's big job: keeping our solar system together, giving Earth day and night, keeping us warm, and more. In fact, the Sun does so much for us that we wouldn't be alive without it. That's kind of a big deal. Each spread features bite-sized text and comic-style art with sidebars sprinkled throughout. Anthropomorphized planets (and Pluto) chime in with commentary as readers learn about the Sun. For instance, Mars found someone's rover. Earth wants the Sun to do more stuff for it. And Jupiter just wants the Sun's autograph. Funny, smart, and accessible, The Sun Is Kind of a Big Deal is a must-have!

    A concise main text highlights how feathers are not just for flying. More curious readers are invited to explore informative sidebars, which underscore specific ways each bird uses its feathers for a variety of practical purposes. A scrapbook design showcases life-size feather illustrations.

    The camera stops the action and magnifies it so that all the amazing states of water can be observed - water as ice, rainbow, stream, frost, dew. Readers can examine a drop of water as it falls from a faucet, see a drop of water as it splashes on a hard surface, count the points of an actual snowflake, and contemplate how drops of water form clouds.

    This extraordinary book collects animal information not available anywhere else—and shows all 30 roosting holes, all 200 spots, and, yes!, all 1,000 baby seahorses in eye-catching illustrations. A book about picturing numbers and considering the endlessly fascinating lives all around us, Lifetime is sure to delight young nature lovers.

    They can be big, like a whale, tiny, like a shrimp, and even scary, like a shark.Even though sharks can be scary, we need them to keep the oceans healthy. Unfortunately, due to overfishing, many shark species are in danger of extinction, and that can cause big problems in the oceans and even on land.What would happen if this continued and sharks disappeared completely?Artist Lily Williams explores how the disappearance would affect other animals across the whole planet in this clever book about the importance of keeping sharks, and our oceans, healthy.

    Mesmer’s mysterious powers in a whimsical look at a true moment in history.The day Ben Franklin first set foot in Paris, France, he found the city all abuzz. Everyone was talking about something new. Remarkable. Thrilling. Strange. Something called Science!But soon the straightforward American inventor Benjamin Franklin is upstaged by a compelling and enigmatic figure: Dr. Mesmer. In elaborately staged shows, Mesmer, wearing a fancy coat of purple silk and carrying an iron wand, convinces the people of Paris that he controls a magic force that can make water taste like a hundred different things, cure illness, and control thoughts! But Ben Franklin is not convinced. Will his practical approach of observing, hypothesizing, and testing get to the bottom of the mysterious Mesmer’s tricks? A rip-roaring, lavishly illustrated peek into a fascinating moment in history shows the development and practice of the scientific method—and reveals the amazing power of the human mind.

    Full-color illustrations.

    Science meets subtraction as a swarm of flies buzzes along, losing one member to each predator along the way. Includes a guide to eating bugs, complete with nutritional information for a single serving of flies."--

    Huge numbers are hard to comprehend. This book explains quantities in terms children can understand. For example, one million dollars could buy two full pizzas a day for more than sixty-eight years.

    Along the way you’ll explore different breeds, discover different types of coops, and learn everything there is to know about chicken reproduction and hatching.Gorgeous, playful, and filled with facts, this engaging nonfiction picture book shines new light on a very familiar fowl!