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| Arbordale, 2017; ages 4-9 |
theme: nonfiction, nature, animals
Moonlight Crab Count opens with a list:
Full moon. Check.
High tide. Check.
Flashlight. Check.
Clipboard. Check....
Leena is getting ready to do science. She and her mom, and Bobie, the dog, head out to a beach where they will count horseshoe crabs. The crabs are ancient creatures, with hard, spiny shells and pointy tails. They are an essential part of the ocean ecosystem, and medical companies use their blood to test medicines. But experts worry that horseshoe crabs are disappearing, so every summer volunteers help count the crabs.
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| Arbordale, 2017; ages 4-9 |
The sun is dropping behind the ridge and the red-winged blackbirds have quit their squalling, so I know it's almost time.
Jojo remembers a time when there used to be more bats living in their barn. But then newspapers told how bats were dying of white-nose syndrome, and so Jojo and her mom began doing bat counts. At the beginning of summer, they saw only one bat. Tonight, Jojo hopes to see more. She is rooting for the bats to return to the night sky.
What I like about the books - They portray kids and their families engaged in citizen science: collecting data that will help researchers understand more about crabs and bats. Both books contain back matter that adds to the understanding of both the animals, and the research being done.
Beyond the books:
Find out more about Horseshoe crabs. This blogpost tells more about the crab count behind the book, and has links to citizen science crab counts. Here are some more links for horseshoe crab counts in Delaware Bay and New York.
Learn more about Bats at Anna Forrester's website.
Become a citizen scientist. You don't have to tag crabs or count bats - there are tons of projects to be involved in. Check out the links over to the right under "Get Involved in Real Science", or find a project on the Scientific American citizen science page or Scistarter.
Today is Perfect Picture Book Friday, an event in which bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's site. She keeps an ever-growing list of Perfect Picture Books. Review copies from the publisher.
I keep meaning to sign up for the bat count in our community. Thank you for the reminder! Great book choices!
ReplyDeleteI love the books you shared as I like seeing children involved in their communities. I learned something new today. I have never heard of citizen scientists. Checked out the site! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteLove the data-driven approach to these NF titles!
ReplyDeleteI also never heard of Citizen Scientists. I'm definitely going to look into it. Thank you for sharing two wonderful books that will encourage children to help out in their communities.
ReplyDeleteSo cool! We have opportunities to count birds on Hawk Hill in the Headlands, here. Also, we did a Bioblitz in a local park last year, using iNaturalist, an app that you can download to your phone to record the location spotted and then identify species of plants or animals. It was in conjunction with Nature Nerds and Academy of Science scientists. So much fun!
ReplyDeleteJilanne, I have always wanted to do a bioblitz! Scistarter has tons of other amazing projects, as does the series http://crowdandcloud.org/.
DeleteNever heard of this as a concept with a name - very interestingg. You might like a documentary series I watched that involved a community in the science: http://www.pbs.org/programs/michael-woods-story-england/
ReplyDeleteJulie- PBS aired another great series in April worth checking out too: http://crowdandcloud.org/ (you can stream it).
DeleteI love BAT COUNT and look forward to reading MOONLIGHT CRAB COUNT. Thanks for the heads up about it. :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the review -- and for getting the word out about Citizen Science!!
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