Book Description

Look Closer These stunning photographic information books picture nature in extraordinary close-up and with an intimacy unrivaled by other wildlife books. Each title features magnificently detailed, larger-than-life photographs on each spread. Will enthrall any child who has ever wondered how a butterfly wing looks to another butterfly or how a spider sees its own web. Text and annotations give a real sense of where each plant or creature lives, how it eats, breeds, survives, and adapts to its particular habitat. Color artworks show the scale of the animal or plant; a glossary defines the meanings of unfamiliar words. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A fun, fact packed book!
The photos are amazing, the closeups are incredible, the details are excellent for teaching a myriad of concepts relating to the natural history and biology of pond critters.The text is broken up into nice, readable sections and paragraphs, making this a perfect science book for middle elementary grades.But it's really the photos that star in this book, they are some of the best I have seen in any pond book!They draw the kids in and encourage them to read the text. ... Read more

Book Description

Deep in the forest . . .

A bear sharpens her claws on a tree trunk. The scratched bark chips; a tiny hole forms. Timber beetles tunnel inside. The hole grows bigger and bigger.

In lyrical prose, Barbara Brenner reveals the fascinating happenings in one small place. She explains how, over many years, the rough hole transforms into a cozy hollow -- home to salamanders, tree frogs, a family of white-footed mice. Tom Leonard’s absorbing illustrations take you beneath the bark to a hidden world. His warm, lifelike depictions of squirrels and bluebirds, snakes and spiders show the splendor that dwells in the most unexpected places.

So stop. Observe. Explore your natural world. If you look closely enough, you will surely find . . . one small place that is home for something.

Book Description

Open your eyes to a world of discovery.

Prowl through the undergrowth and meet the amazing creatures that lurk there. Favorite animals such as tigers, snakes, and chimpanzees rub shoulders with marmosets, katydids, and sloths, and every animal is shown in its correct layer of the forest. Dramatic, atmospheric photography provides a wealth of visual information. Packed with facts and written in an accessible style, Eye Wonders are the perfect educational start for young children. A groundbreaking reference series specially developed for younger children aged five plus. In a stunning style departure for DK, wonderful photography shows subjects within their natural setting, offering a whole new level of information through powerful images. Vocabulary is accessible to children aged five plus, with the meanings of new, subject-related words clearly explained. The series provides an excellent knowledge base on the natural world for children starting to learn. The combination of breathtaking visuals and informative, accurate text will hook even those children who usually avoid books. ... Read more

Book Description

North America boasts a surprising number of rainforests, including El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico, Olympic National Forest in Washington State, Chugah and Tonga National Forests in Alaska, and the forests in Hawaii, which are home to an enormous variety of plants and animals. Rainforests: An Activity Guide takes kids through the common layers of the rainforest, from the forest floor to above the enclosed canopy. Their journey continues through the different types of rainforests as they are introduced to plants, animals, and people around the world, including those from the temperate rainforests of North America to the tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia, Africa, and South America. Rainforest-inspired activities include making a West African yam festival gourd rattle, building a model of an Alaskan totem pole, and creating a Javanese Wayang-kuilt, or shadow puppet. Kids are encouraged to make a difference and become active supporters of the rainforests no matter where they live. ... Read more

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Wonderful Walk on the Wild Side
A perfect follow-up to Castaldo's book on oceans. Rainforests introduces readers to tropical and temperate rain forests around the world. Activities range from making a fern-print T-shirt to planting a butterfly garden. The closing "Don't Bungle the Jungle" chapter gives kids great ways that they can help save the forests. A wonderful addition to any classroom library. ... Read more

Book Description

Pack up baby for a wildlife adventure in the ooey-gooey, steamy, sticky rain-forest with this delightful touch-and-feel book. Engaging illustrations, stunning real-life photos and repetitive text are used to introduce children to the incredible world of animals and plants that inhabit the rain-forest.Unique and fun touch and feel elements are included to invite children to explore the amazing world of the rain-forest with their fingers. ... Read more

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Noise: The enemy of next generation
Pollution is an overgrowing environmental nuisance, and noise pollution is intruding life in every house of today's big cities. There are several ways to confront noise pollution, like physical means, legal ways, oreducational efforts. This book deals with noise pollution by teachingchildren how it is caused and created,how it affects people and how itcan be blocked and reduced. It also makes them aware to the damage it maycause to any human being. In simple language, large fonts and nicepictures, fact by fact, this book tells the nature of noise, how it iscaused, and the ways to fight it. Children, as we all know, are tomorrow'scitizens, and should better be ready to eliminate the growing levels ofpollution by every means, like reading such book. It is highly recommendedto every school library in the western world's big cities. ... Read more

Book Description

In this colorful introduction to tropical rain forests, kids will learn all about the animals, plants, and people that live together in this complex ecosystem. Readers will find out that the leaves of one rain forest tree can be 70 feet long, that hummingbirds fly like helicopters, and that the okapi has a 14-inch black tongue! ... Read more

Book Description

What would you see if you sat at the edge of a pond and looked into the water? In this hand-size book, Anne Hunter illustrates in loving detail the creatures that live in and around a pond-a water strider, a tadpole, a red-winged blackbird, a painted turtle, and more. Each illustration is accompanied by simple yet detailed text describing the animal's characteristics and habits. Young readers can put this book into a pocket or a backpack and take it with them to the pond. The artwork and simple sense of wonder will inspire children to explore their environment. What's Under the Log? is the perfect accompaniment. ... Read more

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painstaking 3-d detail inspiring sense of wonder
These painstakingly detailed, beautiful drawings are serene, pensive, yet light-hearted 3-dimensional renditions of these tiny creatures. The text and illustrations inspire a closer look and sense of wonder for smallchildren and their adult companions. And it fits in your pocket! ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Tide Pools (First Books: Ecosystems:
This book will give students a good introduction to tide pools in general.With an index and glossary, students will find this book to be very useful for research or interest reading.It contains excellent colorillustrations and will be interesting to the 5th grade through the 8thgrade levels.

Tide Pools (First Books: Ecosystems:
This book will give students a good introduction to tide pools in general.With an index and glossary, students will find this book to be very useful for research or interest reading.It contains excellent colorillustrations and will be interesting to the 5th grade through the 8thgrade levels. ... Read more

Book Description

Walk alongside an award-winning nature artist as she observes, draws, paints, and writes about the majesty of the world's largest temperate rain forest. Richly illustrated, evocative, and highly informative, this careful study is an engaging, first-hand look at an ecological treasure. CBC Not Just for Children Anymore!, 2000 CCBC Choices, 2000 John Burroughs List of Nature Books for Young Readers, 1999 New York Public Library's One Hundred Titles for Reading and Sharing, 1999 Ohio Reading Circle, 2000 Society of School Librarians International Book Award (Honor Book), 1999-2000 ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Here is the Perfect Kids' Book Series!
Not only does my niece love this book, I'm quite fond of the series, too! The illustrations are detailed and painstakingly accurate, but the real treasure is Dunphy's language. The motif may seem simple, but it actively tunes in a child's curiosity, making her or him eager to turn the page and see what's next.

Excellent for teaching about ecological systems, fun!
I really enjoy Madeleine Dunphy's "Here is the Coral Reef," as I do all of her other "Here is..." books (rainforest, arctic winter, southwestern desert, and wetlands). "Here is the Coral Reef" provides parents a fun, colorful medium for teaching children about the coral reef ecosystem. The cumulative verse format is an elegant way to teach about the interconnections between all life. The illustrations are gloriously bright, with just enough action to keep the kids going, but nothing gory. The story grows incrementally with each page, tracing the unseen threads of biological systems, and culminating in a montage of its reef-dwelling characters. Kids seem to like the repetition...but any parent knows how much children enjoy repeating their favorite stories, songs or videos over and over and over! I would highly recommend this subtle yet effective book for parents and educators (*****). ... Read more

Book Description

Dr. Art's Guide to Planet Earth uses systems thinking to help us understand how our planet works and how we can support rather than disrupt earth's operating system. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Perfect Ecological Education Tool
That the world we now live in is unsustainable should go without saying. Skyrocketing human populations put enormous pressure on the productive and absorptive capacities of Earth, outstripping her carrying capacity by some twenty percent. As ever more fisheries collapse, forests shrink, rangelands deteriorate, soils erode, species vanish, temperatures rise, rivers run dry, water tables fall, ozone fades and polar ice caps melt, the single most important question humanity has faced resonates ever louder: How can we live sustainably? Rather than naively banking on some techno-fix, Art believes we must become ecologically literate. And with this book, he has helped us move one step in that direction.

Written for "earthlings ages 12 to 120," Art's Guide is at once light enough for youth to comprehend and yet comprehensive enough to "help us focus on major concepts rather than becoming lost in confusing details." By breaking the subject down into three primary categories (matter systems, energy systems and life systems) he provides a simple framework for thinking about Earth's systems within systems within systems within...you guessed it, more systems! Similarly, he explains the synergistic aspects of these systems, their deep interconnections, and the complex feedback loops which work to balance or reinforce patterns of change: like the rising temp > CO2 > greenhouse effect > rising temp feedback loop (otherwise known as global warming).

I especially liked the way Art stresses our deep interconnection with Earth. "Now, fill a glass with water," he says. "This glass that you hold in your hand today has more than ten million water molecules that once passed through the body of the buffalo, more than ten million water molecules that passed through the dinosaur and more than ten million water molecules that passed through one of our African ancestors!" Along with many other passages throughout the book, this one shuns the most pernicious dualism in Western thought: namely, that humanity is somehow separate from the natural world.

To keep things in perspective, Art includes a comprehensive discussion of current environmental issues: including habitat fragmentation, habitat destruction, pollution, excessive harvesting, introduction of exotic species and climate change. He also notes the major changes we must institute in order to prevent and mitigate further harm, from purchasing organic produce to selecting a home to limiting our consumption of red meat. Why red meat, you ask? I'll let Art answer that one.

Part and parcel of this discussion is the typical corporation. As usual, Art takes a systems approach here. The traditional company inefficiently utilize solar energy in the form of fossil fuels, minerals, and biomass in order to produce finished goods. Processing these finished goods usually creates pollution and waste, which is often toxic. The company then sells the finished product (which is also in many cases inefficient, highly-polluting and toxic itself) to willing if uninformed consumers. The consumer then uses the finished product and disposes of it, creating even more waste and introducing more pollutants into the biosphere. A sustainable company, on the other hand, would utilize solar energy and renewable materials in an eco-efficient, non-toxic manner, thereby completely avoiding problems of pollution and waste. After selling or renting those products and services to the public, the company would then safely recycle all the materials back into the production of new eco-efficient products or into the biosphere. In effect, a sustainable company would create zero waste. What a concept!

From energy budgets to carbon cycles to the greenhouse effect, Art does not leave a stone unturned. The perfect educational tool, Art's Guide has the potential to help create a sustainable future, grounded upon a citizenry with enough environmental understanding to live harmoniously within the delicate web of life upon which we feed and are ultimately fed upon. Get one for your kids - but don't forget to read along!

Dr. Art's Guide to Planet Earth
Finally, a book that takes on the Earth Systems instead of a collection of unconnected Earth facts. Dr. Art's talent for describing the big picture through an interconnected systems approach provides the tool I've been waiting for as an educator and as a citizen of the global community. This readable and beautifully illustrated book is going to be the guide my students use as they travel the Earth Systems. With Dr. Art's guide my students will learn about why the Earth is so extraordinary and what Earthlings can do when they think globally. I can't wait to share Dr. Art's Guide to Planet Earth with my fellow teachers and my friends. Thank you Dr. Art.

The Art of Science
This book is a rare gem! The concepts are described both visually and textually--even an adult could grasp the principles expressed here. It is a book every child in America should read or should read to his/her parents. Armed with this information, I now know how global warming occurs and how matter is recycled. If all of the adults governing our planet would read this easily understood manual, the world would indeed be a better place. Art Sussman, I thank you, my kids thank you and the world thanks you. Dr. Sussman is truly the Art of Science. ... Read more

Book Description

Discover the harsh world of hot and cold deserts and the peoples, plants and animals that live in them.

Here is an original and exciting new guide to some of the most inhospitable places on Earth. Superb, full-color photographs of the people who live in the desert, and the creatures and plants that survive the extremes of temperature, offer a unique "eyewitness" view of this hostile environment. See the stunning sand dunes of the Namib Desert, a Bedouin in full wedding dress, the desert in bloom, a jewel wasp and a camel's regalia. Learn how sand dunes form, how a few honeypot ants store food for a whole nest in their own bodies, how a mummy is preserved in sand and how bedouin women weave a whole tent from goat's hair. Discover why a Tuareg woman never uncovers her face, what makes a dromedary different from a Bactrian camel, the mystery of Timbuktu, why jewelry is so valuable to nomads, which animals never need to drink and why some desert animals have big ears, and much, much more! ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Inhospitable Places
"With little rain and extreme temperatures, deserts are some of the harshest places on Earth."

You will also learn amazing things, like how a cobra can still breathe while swallowing its prey. How a camel is dressed up in full regalia and how people live and eat in the desert.

Features:

Full-color photographs of the people who live in the desert
Pictures of creatures and plants that survive extreme temperatures
Pictures of beads, necklaces, Aboriginal necklaces, amulets, anklets, rings, bracelets, rock art.

Contents:
What is a desert?
What is a desert made of?
Seas of sand - I have a workout video that has the backdrop of sand that makes
life look smooth and relaxing. It is called: Alimacgraw yogamind&body
Water in the desert
After the rains
How plants survive
Insects
Reptiles
Birds
Mammals
Adapting to desert life
Ship of the desert
Camel regalia
Domesticated animals
Dwellings
Food and drink
Men's costume
Women's costume
Desert brides
Jewelry
Spinning and weaving
Arts and crafts
Exploring the desert

Loved seeing the picture of a "Desert Rose" that is a strange shaped crystal that is formed within the sand dunes in the Sahara.

This entire book just made me want to go find a beach! ... Read more

Product Description

Lavishly illustrated book about ocean exploration. Each page has drawings of equipment, sea life and vehicles all clealy labeled. Text is large and easy to read; Illustrated timeline of diving history located at back of book. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Great Introduction to the Deep Ocean
I am somewhat familiar with deep ocean exploration and this book does a great job of describing the experience. I like that the text is simple so that a young reader can enjoy it alone but it also has scientific names of deep sea features and creatures for older readers and this makes it a nice resource book as well.
Quite accurate depiction of the seagoing experience.
The terminology is very accurate as are the pictures.
I read this book several times before I gave it as a gift for a young child. ... Read more

Book Description

The first book for young readers that explains sustainable development in easy terms
An attention-grabbing primer on mankind's direct and indirect effects on the natural world, this important book explains how such topics as global trends, economic disparity, and invasive species, among others, have changed the world in which we live.

World-renowned photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand's spectacular photographs feature fragile environments that are at risk of being lost as well as places that have already seen the devastating effects of human behavior. A poignant overview of the state of the globe, this book encourages readers to understand what is happening in the environment and to take action. AUTHOR BIO: Yann Arthus-Bertrand continues here the work he began with Earth from Above for Young Readers in widening the horizons of people everywhere. His powerful photographs are used to raise awareness of the importance of sustainable development, so that future generations can inherit a livable planet. He lives in France.

Robert Burleigh, in addition to Earth from Above for Young Readers, has authored Volcanoes: Journey to the Crater's Edge, which was nominated for Disney Adventures Magazine Best Book of the Year; The Sea: Exploring Life on an Ocean Planet, an Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Award winner; and Chocolate: Riches from the Rain Forest, a Texas Bluebonnet Master List selection. He has also written many critically praised, award-winning fiction, nonfiction, and poetry books for children. A painter as well as a writer, he lives with his wife in Chicago. ... Read more

Book Description

This popular series opens a window on the natural and scientific world for young readers through the use of painted windows that dramatically reveal, page by page, the wonders of the physical and natural world.

A sensational see-through journey from a coral reef to the depths of the sea, Our Mysterious Ocean plunges readers into the wonderful world beneath the waves. Each turn of the see-through pages transports readers deeper and deeper, all the way to the ocean floor. Our Mysterious Ocean was vetted by Paul Sieswerda, curator of the New York Aquarium for Wildlife Conservation.

Dimensions (inches): 8 1/4 x 11 1/4 ... Read more