Explore Outdoors ~ Three Ways of Looking at a Dahlia

 There are so many ways to look at things: from the front, from above, from below. I happened to be visiting a friend who was trimming her dahlias earlier this month - so I got to look at the flowers close-up-and-personal.

 

This week, take some time to look at flowers

 or trees, leaves, lichens

from different points of view.

Look Up - Stars Are Falling!

 The annual Orionids meteor shower has been happening this week, and is predicted to peak this weekend. Just how many meteors are we talking about? According to the Washington Post, meteorologists are expecting about 23 meteors to shoot across the sky every hour. I can't think of a better time to check out this book!

The Meteor Shower: Kaleidoscope Club  

by Marie Mazas; illus by Joëlle Passeron 

128 pages; ages 7-10

‎Blue Dot Kids Press, 2024

This is book two in this fun, STEAM adventure series and Nour and August, best friends and tree-house engineers, are at it again. This time they are drawing up plans to build something cool for watching the meteor shower. But first, they need to convince the Mayor to turn off the lights so they can have a dark-sky night. There’s already a law on the books that requires public lighting – street lights, public buildings, monuments – to be off between 1 and 7 am in an effort to reduce energy consumption. But nobody is enforcing the law, and the Mayor isn’t interested in pushing the issue.

So Nour and August engage in a flyer campaign: Keep the Stars Bright! Turn off Your Lights! This is a bold initiative for August, who is afraid of the dark. 

Just as the community seems to rally around the Dark Night idea, a fair moves into town. People have been waiting for the carnival rides and the games for a whole year – but the carnival lights threaten Nour and August’s efforts for stargazing. And an unlikely friendship threatens the Kaleidoscope Club.

What I like about the book is that it focuses on problem-solving and includes lots of STEM stuff: 

• designing and building a model space capsule using recycled materials (engineering, art);
• migration and light pollution (biology, conservation science);
• meteors and constellations (astronomy); and
• kitchen chemistry

I also like the back matter, which discusses in more depth how light pollution disrupts animal ecosystems, wastes energy, and even affects human health. And there’s a list of “what you can do” about it.

Thanks for dropping by today – and remember to watch for the meteor shower this weekend!. 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 ~ letting go of color

As we move toward winter, I watch the changing season reflected in my garden. Flowers go to seed, blooms fade, leaves turn color or dry and fall...

How do your plants reflect the changing season?

 

Very Bouncy Science - and History

 

Bounce! A Scientific History of Rubber 

by Sarah Albee; illus. by Eileen Ryan Ewen 

48 pages; ages 6-9

‎Charlesbridge, 2024

themes: rubber, science, invention

 It can bounce, bounce, bounce!

Rubber has been around for thousands of years, and chances are that you’ve got some in your dresser drawer or maybe even your pocket. Where that rubber came from, what makes it so stretchy, and how it’s been used throughout history is the meat of this book.

What I like about this book: Sarah begins with how Indigenous people living near rainforests in Mexico and Central America created and used rubber. 

She explains how European explorers took rubber back with them – along with the gold and riches they stole – and how rubber became part of our lives. Sprinkled throughout are spreads labeled “The Science” where she explains bounce, polymer chains, and why pure rubber fails in heat and cold.

I also like the illustrations – they add a touch of fun to this bouncy history. And there is Back Matter! Sarah discusses names of the Indigenous people, and shares some of the troubling details about the sometimes violent history of the rubber industry and some of the environmental issues. She also includes a timeline of the last 3,500 years of rubber history.

Bouncy Science Beyond the Books: 

Compare bounciness of a variety of balls. You’ll need a hard surface for your bounce test and a way to measure height - you can tape a couple yard-sticks or tape measure against a fence, wall, or tree. Drop each kind of ball from as high as you can reach and write down how high it bounces.

Measure stretchiness of a rubber band. First, measure the width (how “fat” the rubber band is) and the loop-length (how long it is before you stretch it). Now hook one end of the rubber band over the end of a ruler and gently stretch the rubber band. How far can you go? If you’re outside, you can let go and see how far your rubber band flies. Try different rubber bands – and remember to pick them up when you’re finished.

Make your own rubber from plants in your yard. Caution: don’t do this if you are allergic to latex! Break open the stem of a milkweed or dandelion and collect the latex in a spoon. Cover the end of your finger with the sap, all the way to the first knuckle-bend and let the sap dry. After 10 to 15 minutes, roll the dried sap off your finger. It will make a slightly stretchy band. To make a “rubber” ball, put a half a teaspoon of sap into 1/4 cup of water and stir with a straw. Slowly add a little bit of vinegar. The acid in the vinegar will make the latex stick to the straw. Gather the latex into a ball, squeeze out the water, and give it a bounce.  

 

Sarah Albee 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 ~ a very hairy snail!

 A few weeks ago I noticed an interesting snail clinging to the underside of a red lettuce leaf. Interesting because usually I only find slugs in my garden ... and also because this snail had a hairy shell!

 

 "Is there such a thing as a hairy snail?" I asked my friend and snail expert, Marla Coppolino. 

"Yes," she said. "It's called the hairy snail." Unfortunately it is not native to our area.

I watched it for a bit and here's what I learned: a snail's pace isn't as slow as we think. At least not for this snail. It speedily moved up the leaf, searching for a tender spot to begin scraping away with its sharp, spiny mouthparts.

What sort of snails have you seen?

Books to Celebrate Dinosaur Month

 October is National Dinosaur Month and I’ve got three great books that are perfect for young paleontologists!

Themes: dinosaurs, nonfiction, biography

Dinosaurs Can Be Small 

by Darrin Lunde; illus. by Ariel Landy 

32 pages; ages 3-7

Charlesbridge, 2024

 A Brontosaurus raises its head above a ginkgo tree. It is a long-necked dinosaur. But not all long-necked dinosaurs are big.

Many dinosaurs, it turns out, were small. Some as tall as you, others no taller than a Barbie doll. And that’s okay, because sometimes smaller is better. Smaller dinos needed less food to fill their bellies. They could survive eating insects. They could climb trees. And when the large dinosaurs were wiped out by a giant meteor, it was the small dinos that survive.

What I like about this book: I like the compare and contrast structure. On one spread Darrin Lunde introduces a large dinosaur – Tyrannosaurus, Tricerotops, Pterodactyl (not really a dinosaur but a close relative). The next spread highlights a tiny dino-relative. Back matter shows each dino with an explanation about their name.

She Sells Seashells: Mary Anning, an Unlikely Paleontologist 

by Heidi E. Y. Stemple; illus. by Emily Paik 

40 pages; ages 5-9

Charlesbridge, 2024

Mary Anning was an unlikely paleontologist. Especially unlikely for England in the early 1800s.

Because she wasn’t really a paleontologist at all. She was just a girl who collected fossilized seashells to sell in her family’s seaside shop. Back then, girls could collect things – they just couldn’t study them. Girls didn’t go to school, and they certainly didn’t become scientists. But Mary did.

What I like about this book: I like how Heidi Stemple shows the patience and persistence of Mary Anning as she chipped and dug fossils and bones from cliffs and stones. I like the use of repetition of some phrases such as, “Chip! Scrape! Chip!” I particularly like how she portrays Mary: unconcerned about those “rich boys” and “educated men” because she had fossils to find, and was too busy educating herself. Back matter dives a bit deeper into Mary’s life and the fossils she discovered. Plus, we learn about another Mary who lived just 150 miles away who was also digging up fossils! (And who, like Mary Anning, never got the credit for her discoveries.)

Mary Anning and Paleontology for Kids: Her Life and Discoveries, with 21 Activities 

by Stephanie Bearce 

134 pages; ages 8-12

‎Chicago Review Press, 2024

It is only fitting that Stephanie Bearce, a fossil-collecting, award-winning author, write about a girl who loved fossils. She begins with Mary Anning’s early life, fossil-hunting with her father, to Mary’s discovery of her first skeleton. Stephanie shows hoe Mary painstakingly removed the fossilized bones from the shale and how those bones, bought by a wealthy man, wound up in a museum. Mary did more than dig up bones, though. She cleaned them, figured out how to put them together in a complete skeleton, and creates detailed scientific illustrations about her finds. 

What I like about this book: Scattered throughout the book are sidebars that dive into details about aspects of life in the 1800s as well as the hands-on activities. Young readers can try their hand at making a fossil imprint, creating their own scientific illustration, and doing their own fossil extraction. I especially like that there’s an entire chapter devoted to female fossil finders and one on modern paleontology. 

Beyond the Books:

Make some dinosaur footprint cookies. You’ll need a plastic dinosaur or two… here’s the recipe.

Make a paper bag dinosaur puppet. All you need is a paper lunch bag, some construction paper, scissors, glue, and imagination. But here’s how one person made their puppets.

What kind of dinosaur are you? Gentle giant or fierce meat-eater? Here’s a quiz from the London Museum of Natural History that will reveal your true dino-heart.

Check out TrowelBlazers, a site that highlights the contributions of women in the ‘digging’ sciences: archaeology, geology, and palaeontology. 

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 copies provided by the publishers.

Explore Outdoors ~ Asters and Goldenrod

 

Fall is a season of colors. Leaves turning red, orange, gold... even the wildflowers are getting in on the act. You can tell it's fall in the northeast by the yellows and purples of goldenrod and asters growing in fields and along roadsides. Their beauty is eye-catching, both for people and the pollinators collecting nectar and pollen before winter settles in. 

Goldenrod and asters create a community, says Rhonda Fleming Haye. "Beyond the bees and butterflies you’ll find syrphid flies, beetles and many other insects. Goldfinches, tree sparrows, prairie chickens and wild turkeys eat the seeds, while rabbits and deer will browse the foliage," she writes for Northern Gardener.

If you can, find a patch of asters and goldenrod to watch!

Sounds of the Night

I love to leave my window open at night – even if just a tiny bit – to let the night sounds in. Some nights I hear owls hooting and coyotes singing. Some nights I hear the distant sound of a train’s whistle. So I eagerly anticipated these two books hitting the shelves this fall!

themes: nighttime, nature, sounds

Starlight Symphony 

by Buffy Silverman 

32 pages; ages 4-9

‎ Millbrook Press, 2024

The lighting dims. 

The curtain lifts.

 Musicians gather. 

Spotlight shifts.

Settle in and get ready for a symphony of a different sort. Tonight’s program features the song of the wood thrush, the whistle of a screech owl, the slap of a beaver’s tail. Each animal adds their music to the symphony.

What I like about this book: Buffy highlights the bird calls and other animal sounds we might hear in nature at night while at the same time introducing sections of an orchestra. A beaver’s tail slapping the water – that’s percussion. I like the arc of the book, from dusk to dawn. And the back matter is really fun. In “Meet the Musicians” you learn more about each featured animal. “Meet the Musical Instruments” is all about the instruments, from wind to strings, grass to percussion.

A couple weeks ago I asked Buffy what inspired her to write Starlight Symphony.

Buffy: We live at the marshy end of a small lake, and across the street from an even smaller pond. Starting with the spring peepers in March, and continuing through spring and summer, we enjoy a nightly (and loud!) chorus of frogs, insects, birds, and mammals. The book is my tribute to all those songsters that I have enjoyed listening to for many years.

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

Goodnight Sounds 

by Debbie S. Miller; illus. by Michelle Jing Chan 

32 pages; ages 2-5

Bloomsbury Children’s Books, 2024

 In the cool, quiet night, fingers of fog spill over the hills, up the channel, and under the Golden Gate Bridge. I listen and wait for the sound…

The child in this book waits for the sound of foghorns bellowing their deep song. For her, it’s the sound of a lullaby. In other places the song that sings you to sleep might be the hooting of an owl, the trilling of crickets, or the clickety-clack, rick-rack of train wheels rolling down the track (which, if you are used to them, make a comforting and rhythmic sound).

What I like about this book: This is a sweet bedtime book, filled with the sorts of sounds a kid living anywhere might hear – whether they’re in a city or in the country, camping beside a stream or falling asleep by a campfire. The sounds might be distant, like a foghorn, or right next to you, like the purring of your cat curled up beside you. 

Beyond the Books:

Open the window tonight. What sounds do you hear? Instead of thinking about what’s making the sound, just listen. And then try to write down what you hear.

What are your favorite nighttime noises? Why do you like them? And what night sounds do you dislike?

Make a sound map. You should be outside to do this, so you can hear sounds coming from all directions. When you hear a sound, write it down on your map, like shown in this post from a couple years ago.

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 ~sitting with nature

 

Sometimes taking a five-minute nature break turns into ten minutes... as I sit and notice the things around me. A couple weeks ago I noticed this tiny spider clinging to a seed head of grass. So I got up closer to take a look. The foxtail has a fuzzy head which, when you get a closer look they seem like needle-thin spines. And if you're that close, you might notice that the spider has spines on its legs. 

What do you notice 

when you sit with nature for a few minutes?