Review: A Seed is the Start

Title: A Seed is the Start
Author: Melissa Stewart
Publisher: National Geographic
Pages: 32
Availability: On shelves now
Review copy: Final copy via publisher

Summary:
Beautiful photography and lyrical text pair with comprehensive picture captions in award-winning author Melissa Stewart's story about the surprisingly diverse world of seeds. Learn all about the plant cycle, from how seeds grow, the fascinating ways they travel, and what it takes for a seed to become a plant.

Meet seeds that pop, hop, creep, and explode in this vividly illustrated introduction to the simplest concepts of botany. The story, which is perfect for elementary school Common Core learning, carefully highlights the many ways that seeds get from here to there, engaging children's curiosity with strong action verbs. Stunning photographs with fact-packed captions provide supporting details, explaining the role of seed features and functions in creating new generations of plants. Complete with an illustrated glossary and back matter featuring more resources, this book inspires wonder as it encourages budding botanists of all ages to look with new eyes at plants and their seeds.

Review: There is so much to love about this book from the text, to the pictures and to the way it is put together. The information presented is very interesting and kept my attention all the way through. I wasn't particularly interested in learning more about seeds when I began, but I quickly became curious to learn more.

The first page introduces vocabulary that will be used throughout the text. I appreciated this as glossaries are usually at the end and not all readers will flip back and forth when they need to know something. Front loading seemed to get around that issue. In addition, the pictures are so vibrant and bring everything up close.

The words themselves are helpful and intriguing, but they are also in a variety of sizes and are not always straight across the page. The text features make the words seem to sing. This doesn't detract from the information, but rather pulls the reader along as they learn about the many ways seeds move.
My favorite picture is the hamburger bean vine. As you might guess, the seed looks like a mini hamburger.

Recommendation: This is a fabulous look into the world of seeds that will have readers excited to learn. I look forward to using this with students and sharing it with our district garden coordinator. If you are looking for books to teach or explore the basics of seeds, this is one you will definitely want to purchase. If you are looking to expand your nonfiction collection in any way, this is also a great addition. It's everything a nonfiction picture book should be. Melissa Stewart is a master.

Review: Can an Aardvark Bark?

Title: Can an Aardvark Bark?
Author: Melissa Stewart
Illustrator: Steve Jenkins
Publisher: Beach Lane Books
Review copy: Final copy from publisher
Availability: On shelves now


Summary: From award-winning author Melissa Stewart and Caldecott honoree Steve Jenkins comes a noisy nonfiction exploration of the many sounds animals make.

Can an aardvark bark? No, but it can grunt. Lots of other animals grunt too... 

Barks, grunts, squeals--animals make all kinds of sounds to communicate and express themselves. With a growling salamander and a whining porcupine, bellowing giraffes and laughing gorillas, this boisterous book is chock-full of fun and interesting facts and is sure to be a favorite of even the youngest animal enthusiasts.

Review: 
Children are sure to squeel, grunt, growl and make all manner of wild sounds when reading this entertaining bit of nonfiction. The book is in a question and answer format and is accompanied by Steve Jenkins' wonderful illustrations. Throughout the book, readers find out about animals that do and do not make various sounds. There are also other facts about the animals included in captions. These captions add a lot to the text and will be gobbled up by animal fans.

The illustrations fascinate me as a lover of paper art and collage. The porcupine is fabulous with its amazing quills. The texture of the boar is also fabulous. I think this, like many of the books Steve Jenkins has illustrated, would be a natural jumping off point for creating animal art.

This is definitely a book I am eager to share with students. Animals are intriguing to most children and this look at ways to communicate easily ties into our own ways to communicate.

Recommendation: If you are looking for engaging nonfiction picture books, Can an Aardvark Bark? is one you will want to purchase. It's sure to be a hit with children and adults. 

Extras:
Interview on Mr. Schu's Watch. Connect. Read.

Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge

Alyson Beecher over at Kid Lit Frenzy hosts a Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge and has a roundup every Wednesday. I love the encouragement to explore more non-fiction. I am thankful that she has this challenge because I know I have read more nonfiction texts as a result.

Zoom in on Insects Series by Melissa Stewart

I got this series in the mail last week (minus the butterfly book) and am excited to share it with my students. The whole series is designed for younger readers. The books are laid out simply, but do share more than simple facts. The "zoom in" part of the title refers to the zoom bubbles that show the insects up close. The photographs are crisp and colorful and the facts are interesting too. They are eye-catching books that provide just the right balance of facts for my young researchers. I now know a lot more about fireflies than I did last week.