Oddball Armadillos

The Oddball Book of Armadillos 

by Elizabeth Shreeve ; illus. by Isabella Grott 

40 pages; ages 7-10

Norton Young Readers, 2024  

theme: armadillos, evolution, nonfiction

Are they giant roly-poly bugs? Time-traveling dinosaurs? Crazy mixed-up turtle-rabbits? No! They’re armadillos…

… small mammals with tough, scaly armor. Modern armadillos may be as small as 6-inches, but some of their prehistoric ancestors were as big as cars! In this book, Elizabeth Shreeve introduces readers to a variety of armadillos found around the world: pink fairy armadillos, nine-banded armadillos, the screaming hairy armadillo, and more. She discusses armadillo adaptations, behavior, and migration for modern and prehistoric animals. 

What I like about this book: As with The Upside-Down Book of Sloths, Elizabeth Shreeve presents information about armadillos in layers. Some pages feature large text with conversational language, while others have smaller text with sidebars providing more details. That makes this book perfect to read as a picture book to younger kids (6-7) and as an informational book for the 7-10 year old crowd. Some of those sidebars highlight cool stuff, like how armadillos walk under water and how artists have been portraying armadillos for the past thousand years or so.

Armadillos are odder than I expected! So I knew I had to ask Elizabeth One Question: What inspired you to write a book about ancient armadillos?

Elizabeth: Great question! Armadillos are related to sloths, a topic that I explored in The Upside-Down Book of Sloths (Norton Young Readers, 2023). My editor was all-in for a companion title about the “little armored ones” and their prehistoric kin. Armadillos, both living and extinct, help us understand the natural history of the Americas, a topic with special meaning for many students. Plus who doesn’t love an oddball? By celebrating life-forms that are less familiar, we can send a message about embracing differences and finding connections. Let’s appreciate all of Earth’s creatures!

Thanks, Elizabeth. And with that, let’s go have some Beyond-the-Books fun!

Learn more about armadillos at the San Diego Zoo website 

Armadillos can roll up into a ball. Can you? What other animals roll up in a ball to protect themselves?

For older kids: Check out the Adaptation Game in the teacher’s guide at Elizabeth’s website. It’s a card game developed specifically for the book, and shows how the traits of animal populations help them survive in the environments they live in.  

Elizabeth is a member of #STEAMTeam2024. You can find out more about her at her website.

Today we’re joining Perfect Picture Book Friday. It’s a wonderful gathering where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. On Monday we'll be hanging out at Marvelous Middle Grade Monday with other  bloggers. It's over at Greg Pattridge's blog, Always in the Middle, so hop over to see what other people are reading. Review copy provided by the publisher.

Explore Outdoors ~ honeybee in flight

 Every now and then I capture a bug commuting to work.... 

Holladay, UT /August 2024

Small Science Expeditions

The Observologist: A Handbook for Mounting Very Small Scientific Expeditions 

by Giselle Clarkson 
120 pages; ages 8-13
Gecko Press (Lerner), 2024

“An observologist is someone who makes scientific expeditions every day, albeit very small ones.” With that introduction you know this will be the perfect book to inspire a backyard study of small things: earthworms, caterpillars, fungi, slug eggs…. 

There are only two things you need to know if you’re going to be an observologist:

1. You’ll spend a lot of time looking at the ground (which is closer to you if you’re between the ages of 8-13 than if you’re an adult).
2. You need to be curious. Because being an observologist is like being a detective… looking for clues that lead to something cool and interesting.

After introducing the whats, hows, and whys of Observology the remainder of the book presents four potential expedition sites – and the sorts of things one might study/observe/examine while there. These are places accessible to any kid: a damp corner (perfect site for discovering more about centipedes and fungi); pavement (great habitat for ants and worms); weedy patches (insects galore!); and around the house.

What I like love about this book: I love the introductory section where Giselle Clarkson lays out such things as “principles of observology,” the reasons for scientific names, and the importance of drawing what you discover. I love the table of contents that exudes the feeling of being a field guide to adventure. Each section – er, expedition site – includes one to three spreads filled with details about the organisms one might discover. There’s even a spread devoted to “aural observology” for those who want to recognize insects by the sounds they make. 

“Not all buzzes are alike,” Giselle writes, “and you have to have very clever ears.”

For those using this book as a text, there is a final exam and a certificate at the back – plus a great index for quick reference to the organisms. Best of all, this book is suitable for parents, teachers, homeschoolers, grandparents, and scientifically minded extraterrestrials desiring to learn more about this planet. 

Thanks for dropping by today. On Monday we'll be hanging out at Marvelous Middle Grade Monday with other  bloggers. It's over at Greg Pattridge's blog, Always in the Middle, so hop over to see what other people are reading. Review copy provided by the publisher.

Explore Outdoors ~ noisy moth!

 So there I am in my garden on a quiet morning, listening to the birds and the low hum of bees - when a flirrrr of wings goes past. It sounds like a hummingbird with a muffler...

 

but it's not. It's a moth. A hummingbird moth. Sucking all the yummy nectar out of the monarda before the hummingbirds have finished their first cup of coffee.

I know, I know. I post a photo of them every summer. But hey! They are so cool. Look at that looong proboscis. It's like a giant straw that they uncurl to sip sugary stuff. 

Hummingbird moths are hefty and hairy, and even have little fan tails. And their wings beat in a blur. If this one stopped for just a second, you'd notice that the middle part of the wing is clear, giving it the name "clearwing".

Keep your eyes open for hummingbird moths 

hanging out in your neighborhood this week.

Books celebrating Ants and Doves!

Upon returning from my end-of-summer break, I discovered a bunch of summer releases I’d neglected to share. Taking care of that forthwith! Today’s books celebrate animals, behavior, and human interactions.

Rosemary Mosco writes and illustrates a variety of things, from her Bird and Moon comics to chapter books. Her most recent picture book was released in July. It’s about ants – and I love it! 

There Are No Ants in This Book 
by Rosemary Mosco; illustrated by Anna Pirolli 
40 pages; ages 4-8
Tundra Books, 2024  

  
What a nice-looking book this is! It’s the perfect place for… a picnic.

The reason? There are no ants… it even says so on the cover. Except, as we turn the page we discover that there’s one ant. That might be okay, but then two more ants show up, then more until there are Ten Ants! And that turns out to be fine with the character, because she’s discovering just how cool ants are.

What I like love about this book: I love that each ant is a different species, from a tiny acorn ant to a huge dinosaur ant. The back matter provides a brief bio for each of the ten ants, with their scientific name, where they live, and a cool fact. I’d write more, but I want to go check the acorns in the yard for … ants!

Over the past decade or so I’ve enjoyed reading books written by Sara Levine. Whether it’s animal bones or flower talk or math, she combines fun with STEM. Her newest picture book is all about… well, the title says it all.

A Terrible Place for a Nest 
by Sara Levine; illustrated by Erika Meza 
40 pages; ages 4-8
Roaring Brook Press, 2024 

  
When Juno and his mom lost their home, they had to move to a new place.

Juno doesn’t like his new room. The local grocer doesn’t carry his favorite cereal. Making new friends is hard, and mourning doves are building a nest on the fence right next to the gate. “This is a terrible place!” Juno yells. 

What I like about this book: I like how Juno helps the doves when their nest falls to the ground, and how he decides to take them under his wing (so to speak). As the dove family grows, we see Juno’s circle of friends grow, and the ways they come up with to protect the nest, despite its suboptimal location. I also like how Sara’s story focused on a bird that is distributed across the continental US, Mexico, and southern Canada. So any kid reading or listening to this story can see mourning doves – or their rock dove “pigeon” cousins – around their neighborhood.

Beyond the Books:

Make a picnic for the ants in your yard or at a park. What sort of food will you provide? Remember, some ants like sweets, others like meat, and some will eat anything. Make sure you put your ant picnic on a sheet of paper so the ants can reach their favorite food.

Once you’ve made your ant picnic, observe the ants that visit. What ants arrive first? Do they stick around and eat or do they scurry away, only to return with a friend or two or ten? How many kinds of ants did you see?

Maybe you’d rather make a picnic for mourning doves. They like to eat sunflower seeds, millet, oats, unshelled peanuts, and cracked corn. You can learn more about attracting mourning doves at exploring birds.

This summer a robin tried building a nest over a door. It was a terrible place for a nest! Are there any birds nesting in “terrible places” around your house? What kind of bird, and where did they try to build their nest?

Today we’re joining Perfect Picture Book Friday. It’s a wonderful gathering where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Review copies provided by the publishers.

Explore Outdoors ~ garden denizen

 Of all the spiders hanging out in my garden, I think this one (Argiope aurantia) is the prettiest. Look at the color and design! And look at those sharp claws! These spiders are great garden residents - they eat flies and mosquitoes and bothersome gnats. I admit I feel sad when I see a bee tangled in their web, but everyone's gotta eat...

 iNaturalist calls this spider a yellow garden spider. They also go by other names:  the black and yellow garden spider, golden garden spider, writing spider, zigzag spider, and zipper spider.

What name would you give this spider?