Cheetahs are the most rapidly vanishing cat in Africa. Share the dreams of a bright future for cheetahs while engaging sidebars provide a wealth of natural history information. From cleat-like feet to tear-marked faces, these majestic cats are well adapted to life on the African plains. The fierce predators sprint after their prey at high-speed, an exhausting dash that leaves them ready for a nap! This rhythmic text will lull readers into cheetah dreams of their own.
One winter day, Braden and Finley hike into the woods with their wildlife scientist dad and his team to tag a mamma bear who just had cubs. The tag makes it easy to find the mamma bear in the summer when the team gets a call about an orphaned bear cub that needs a new family. But will the mama bear adoptt this new cub as one of her own? The story is based on orphaned black bear cub rescue efforts by Michigan DNR.
Yodel and his siblings have woken from their long winter’s nap and are ready to learn and grow. Nature photographer Mary Holland captures precious moments of this black bear family’s springtime adventures. Just like human children, the yearlings play, explore their surroundings, and then snuggle up with mom for milk. They even stay with a special “babysitter” while mom is away. Someday soon, the yearlings will be grown and go off on their own, but for now they can catch a nap under their mama bear’s watchful eye.
Elephants are social animals. Maggie and Annabelle used to live together at the Alaska Zoo. But after Annabelle died, Maggie was all alone. For years, zookeepers tried to keep her happy (and warm). But ultimately they sent Maggie to live at a sanctuary (PAWS). Now she is happy and at home with her new herd of other elephants. This is a heartwarming story of how zoos ensure the best for the animals in their care—even if the best is not at their zoo.
Hearing is an important sense for animals’ survival. Ears give animals vital information to help them find food or listen for predators ready to attack. This continuation of Mary Holland’s award-winning Animal Anatomy and Adaptations series features a wide variety of animal ears and how animals use them. Did you know that some animals have ears on their legs? Like the eyes, mouths, legs, and tails featured in previous books, animal ears come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes—a perfect match for each animal’s needs.
What creeps while you sleep? Short, lyrical text makes this a perfect naptime or bedtime story. Young readers are introduced to nocturnal animals and their behaviors. Older readers learn more about each animal through paired-reading sidebar information.
Using a wide variety of stunning photographs, author Kevin Kurtz poses thought-provoking questions to help readers determine if things are living or nonliving. For example, if most (but not all) living things can move, can any nonliving things move? As part of the Compare and Contrast series, this is a unique look at determining whether something is living or nonliving.
How much does an elephant weigh? How do you know? How would you know if you didn’t have a modern scale? Six-year-old Cao Chong, the most famous child prodigy in Chinese history, faced just this problem! Chong watches as the prime minister’s most trusted and learned advisors debate different methods. The principle of buoyancy and a little bit of creative thinking help this boy come up with a solution.
Readers will be fascinated by the many ways animals use their tails: to move on land, swim, warn others, steer, hold onto things, keep warm, balance, fly, attract a mate, and even to defend themselves! Apparently tails are not just for wagging when happy. Following Animal Eyes, Animal Mouths (NSTA/CBC Outstanding Trade Science Award), and Animal Legs, Mary Holland continues her photographic Animal Anatomy and Adaptations series by exploring the many ways animals use their tails.
One cold, rainy, spring night, a young girl and her scientist father participate in “Salamander Night” to follow hundreds of spotted salamanders as they venture into a vernal pool to mate and lay eggs. Together, the father-child team studies the salamanders through their complete amphibian metamorphosis, culminating in the adult salamanders' disappearance into the woods in late summer. In easy-to-understand text, the girl relates the tale through her illustrated, photographic journal.
Jojo is prepping for an exciting night; it’s time for the bat count! Bats have always been a welcome presence during the summers in the family barn. But over the years, the numbers have dwindled as many bats in the area caught white-nose syndrome. Jojo and her family count the bats and send the numbers to scientists who study bats, to see if the bat population can recover. On a summer evening, the family quietly makes their way to the lawn to watch the sky and count the visitors to their farm.
Tudley, a pond-living painted turtle, adopts other animals' behaviors--simply because he doesn't know he can't! He flies like a bird, sings like a katydid, hops like a frog, and glows like a firefly. All the while, he uses his special behaviors to help other animals. But will Tudley's new friends help him when he needs help? The "For Creative Minds" education section includes fun facts about painted turtles, rubythroated hummingbirds, fireflies, leopard frogs, and true katydids. It also contains a "Make a Hopping Tudley" craft, a recipe for hummingbird sugar water, a "Creative Sparks" section, and a "Food for Thought" section.
Octavia Octopus and her sea-animal friends love playing camouflage games to practice how they would hide from a "big, hungry creature." Octavia, however, just cannot seem to get her colors right when she tries to shoot her purple ink cloud. What happens when the big, hungry shark shows up looking for his dinner? This creative book introduces basic colors along with the camouflage techniques of various sea animals - a great introduction to marine biology! The "For Creative Minds" educational section includes fun facts about octopuses and animal camouflage and protection. The craft uses primary colors (paint or tissue paper) to help children learn about blending colors.
Modeled after The Wizard of Oz, this enchanting story describes a young giraffe who suffers from a fear of heights. On his way to the doctor, he befriends a monkey who is afraid of climbing and a hippo who is a afraid of water. What causes the three new friends to face and overcome their fears? The "For Creative Minds" section includes fun facts and animal adaptation information, as well as a "Match the Feet" game and a mix-and-match activity. Encourages children to overcome their fears and to help friends in trouble.
Join Delfina the dolphin as she imagines that she becomes other sea animals: a fish, a sea turtle, a pelican, an octopus, a shark, even a manatee! The incredible morphing illustrations will have children laughing as they learn about the real differences between these ocean animals and their respective classes.
What do you get when you cross The Little Red Hen with a burro and his friends? Burro's Tortillas! In this humorous Southwestern retelling of a childhood favorite, Burro finds it difficult to get any help from his friends as he diligently works to turn corn into tortillas. Young children will love the repetition; older children will enjoy the book's many puns. In addition to its Southwestern "flavor," the delightful story imparts an accurate picture of the traditional way that tortillas are made. A Spanish/English glossary and a simple recipe for making tortillas are included in the "For Creative Minds" section.
This soothing bedtime story explains how ten different marine mammals--animals that live in water but breathe air--sleep in the ocean. Based on up-to-date scientific research, the brief portraits are explained in simple, poetic language. Water Beds invites children to drift into sleep on gentle waves of imagination. The "For Creative Minds" educational section includes fun facts about marine mammal adaptations, and a "Design Your Own Marine Mammal" craft.
Watch the vulture bask in the morning sun, the roadrunner kick up a cloud of dust, the javelina wallow, and the bobcat give her cub a licking with a rough tongue in Desert Baths. As the sun travels across the sky, learn how twelve different desert animals face the difficulties of staying clean in a dry and parched land. Explore the desert habitat through its animals and their habits of hygiene. Told in lyrical prose, this story is a celebration of the desert lands of the American Southwest.
This arctic adaptation of "This is the House that Jack Built" follows polar bears, walruses, seals, narwhals and beluga whales as they chase each other around "the ice that floats in the Arctic waters." Not only is the rhythmic, cumulative prose good for early readers; it is a pure delight to read aloud. The "For Creative Minds" section helps children learn how these animals live in the cold, icy arctic region.
Nani has always dreamed of being a princess. When a real Hawaiian princess comes to her hometown of Hilo, Nani dresses in her best clothes. But as she watches Princess Luka, who has come to save the town from a volcanic lava flow, Nani learns that there is more to being a princess than fine clothes. This incredible story of kindness and generosity is based on the historical events of the 1880-1881 eruption of Mauna Loa on the Island of Hawaii and the real-life Princess Luka.
Even kids can get involved in science! Ecologist Dr. Neeti Bathala and Jennifer Keats Curtis collaborate to bring us the story of these adventurous citizen scientists. Leena and her mom volunteer each summer to count the horseshoe crabs that visit their beach. With their dog Bobie at their sides, the duo spends a night on the shore surveying horseshoe crabs who have come to mate and lay eggs. Readers will learn valuable facts about these ancient animals and how they can get involved in the effort to conserve horseshoe crabs.
In beautifully detailed photographs, Mary Holland captures the first few months of a baby barred owls life. The huge eyes and fluffy feathers will steal the hearts of readers as they learn how barred owl parents ready their young owlets for the big world outside the nest. Follow along as Otis learns to eat, fights with his sister, and prepares for flight.
Long ago, the Old Ones were bad. They drank all the water, ate all the pine nuts, and left nothing for the other creatures. Sinawav the coyote punished them by turning them into rocky hoodoos. Now when children misbehave, their Paiute elders remind them that they too could be turned into stone columns! Vivian has heard the stories, but this year as she and her grandmother climb the mesa to pick pine nuts, Vivian has something more important on her mind: basketball tryouts. When Vivian is disrespectful to the trees and the land, her grandmother must remind Vivian of the legend of the hoodoos and how nature has made it possible for her people to live.
When a young girl finds a sparkly rock buried in the dirt and discovers that it cleans to a beautiful quartz crystal, she is fascinated and becomes Julie the Rockhound. Join Julie as her dad shows her how to dig for minerals and explains the wonders of crystal formation. Combining clever wordplay with earth science, young readers learn about Earth's most abundant mineral "treasure."
As the sun begins to set, arctic animals scurry to prepare for six months of darkness and cold. Tuktuk the collared lemming is almost ready for the long winter night all he needs is warm fur to line his nest. When one furry kamik (boot) slips off an Inuit drivers sled, Tuktuk is in luck! But as he drags it home, Putak the polar bear, Aput the arctic fox, and Masak the caribou eye this little lemmings prize and want it for their own. Can Tuktuk outwit the other animals and convince them that one furry kamik is no good for anyone bigger than a lemming?
