Crows Come Together

 

I Am We: How Crows Come Together to Survive 

by Leslie Barnard Booth; illus. by Alexandra Finkeldey 

44 pages; ages 5-8

Chronicle Books, 2025 

theme: birds, behavior, community, winter

I spill across the sky like ink—

fill the night with jagged cries.

I have one thousand eyes.

With the opening of the book we are invited into a winter flock of crows – a flock where one crow is part of the many because, as Leslie writes, “one set of eyes isn’t nearly enough.” With lyrical language she shows how the flock works together for survival. 

What I like about this book: The lovely, poetic language pulled me right in to the crow’s reality of winter survival. I love how Leslie explains that “we” is stronger than “I” – even if it is just for a night’s roost. There is a wonderful nod to the witches in Macbeth, and the recurring theme that night casts the spell that binds the birds together. The illustrations are perfect: dark, but not dreary! And there is Back Matter where curious readers can learn more about crow families, bird intelligence, social learning, and winter survival.

Every time I read a book by Leslie, I feel like she’s found a new way to tell a story. So I had to ask her One Question.

Me: How did you come to this way of telling a story about crows? And did you explore other ways of telling the story?

Photo by Kristal Passy Photography

Leslie: This story began with the concept of crows as social creatures that cooperate and collaborate to survive. I was particularly struck by the fact that crows benefit from the vigilance of other crows--by moving and resting as a flock, they can in a sense "see" with a thousand eyes. I had also been thinking, at the time I wrote this piece, about the power of cooperation more generally. We humans are inextricably bound to one another--our happiness, health, and survival depend on the actions of families, communities, and nations. Because the collective is the focus of this story, when I wrote the first draft I chose first-person plural point of view. While other aspects changed from draft to draft (I worked to add tension and create more of a narrative arc), the point of view remained consistent.

Beyond the Books:

Check out the video and activities at Leslie’s page for educators. There’s a lot to do there!

Get to know a crow. The best way is to find a place to watch them in your neighborhood, or at a park. If you want to know how to identify a crow, check out this page from Cornell’s All About Birds

Fold a paper crow. Instructions here.

Leslie is a member of #STEAMTeam2025. You can find out more about her at her website, lesliebarnardbooth.com

https://www.lesliebarnardbooth.com/

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 copy provided by the publisher.

Explore Outdoors ~ Leps in the Garden

 Butterflies and moths are both members of the order, Lepidoptera. The name is derived from the Greek and means "scaly winged." When you look closely, you can see the dust-like scales that cover the wings. Both butterflies and moths play an important role in the environment. Their larvae - caterpillars - are an important food source for birds. The adults pollinate plants. The major difference? Butterflies fly during the day, and moths fly at night - but I found both in my garden one morning.

 

 

 

 

 

How to Be an Animal Hero

Hoo-ray! Kate Messner has a new chapter book series, and this one is about wildlife rescues. How to Save an Otter, along with How to Save an Owl, are the first two book that will release together this week. Perfect timing for a chapter book, too: the beginning of a school year when kids will be looking for new books to read!

How to Save an Otter (Wildlife Rescue) 

by Kate Messner 

128 pages; ages 6-9

Bloomsbury Children's Books, 2025

Ivy and her brother, Ezra are as different as two siblings can be. But they have one thing in common: they care about animals. Their family volunteers as “critter carriers” for the local wildlife hospital – that means they’re called when someone finds an injured or orphaned animal. When they arrive, they calm the animal, load it safely into a carrier, and transport it so it can receive medical care. 

When Ivy discovers a baby river otter with an injured leg, she’s worried that it will feel lonely without its family. Ivy would! Ivy helps transport the otter and, later, visits it as it recovers. Readers will enjoy the antics of the baby otter and at the same time learn what it takes to care for injured wild animals. For example: when carrying an injured critter to the hospital, leave the radio off. Too much noise is stressful!

Ivy’s visits to the wildlife hospital keep her busy, and at the same time she has friendships to build and school projects to collaborate on. I love how Kate brings everything to a satisfying conclusion so we can all take a deep breath … before diving into the next book in the series – which I have not read yet, but I understand it focuses on Ezra and the owl.

Why I like this book: The story inspired by Kate’s own experiences volunteering for a local wildlife hospital and has the voice of authenticity. I also like that she includes back matter. Her author’s note shares her experience with wildlife rehabilitation, and another section offers specific ways kids can be “wildlife heroes.”

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 ~ Nature Walk

 On a cool and damp summer morning, I went for a walk. I intended to go up to the hayfield and maybe follow one of the trails. But... I managed to get about 10 feet past the garage and spend the next 20 minutes discovering cool things in the underbrush.  

 

 

What will you find this week when you head out 

for a walk in the wild? 

This Tree Needs Fire to Survive!

 

Pine Cone Regrown: How One Species Thrives After Fire 

by Elisa Boxer; illus. by  Kevin and Kristen Howdeshell 

32 pages; ages 5-8

Sleeping Bear Press, 2025 

theme: forest, ecology, trees

Nestled in the needles, seeds sealed inside, the pine cone hangs high out of harm’s way…

For those of us who grew up with Smokey Bear and posters reminding us that Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires, the idea that forest fires are necessary comes with a bit of trepidation. Fires destroy so much: animal homes, timber, wildlife food sources… and often the wildlife themselves. But some trees require fire.

In this book, Elisa Boxer introduces readers to lodgepole pines, one of the serotinous trees that can only produce new seedlings when their cones burst open from the heat of flame. Once the flames clear the canopy, the seeds fall down onto soil filled with nutrients from the ash and begin to germinate. Over time, the forest renews itself.

What I like about this book: I like how Elisa uses lyrical prose to bring us into what could be a scary story. I like the way she shows how fire is integrated into forest ecology. Not only do certain trees require heat to germinate their seeds, but other plants and fungi require fire to thrive. I like the back matter! Elisa reaffirms that fires are destructive and come at an environmental and health cost. At the same time, she points out that fire has always been part of a healthy forest ecosystem. 

Beyond the Books:

Find out more about how trees have adapted to fire, and the plants that grow back in a burned area. An article about trees from the National Forest Foundation, and a couple articles about other fire-adapted species from the Teton Chapter of the Wyoming Native Plant Society and “fire followers” in Southern California.

What trees and plants move into burn areas in the environment where you live? (If you live in a city, look to the surrounding areas)

If you’re interested in learning more about wildfire ecology, I’ve posted reviews of a couple books right here on the blog: The Glorious Forest that Fire Built, by Ginny Neil and Fire Escape: How Animals and Plants Survive Wildfires , by Jessica Stremer.

Check out why some folks use controlled burns to restore health and diversity to natural lands here. 

We’ll join Perfect Picture Book Friday once they resume. It’s a wonderful gathering where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Review copies provided by the publishers.

Kitchen Science ~ Spin Art!

 Our library's Summer Reading theme was "color your world" and one of the activities that kids could do was create spin art. It's fun and all you need are a few things: some cardstock, washable tempera paint, and a salad spinner (NOT the one you use to spin your lettuce!)

 

 Put your cardstock in the basket inside the spinner and squirt some tempera paint on it. You might have to experiment to get it thin enough to move when the spinner spins. 

 

 

Then start the spinner. I discovered that I had to keep pumping the thing to get the paint to push out to the sides (the effect of centrifugal force)

 

You may want to add more drips and drabs of paint to fill in a few blank spaces...

 

 

 

... and then finish off with a white or silver gel pen! Have fun! Oh, and if your salad spinner has holes on the bottom of the outer plastic bowl, make sure to cover your table with a piece of plastic so you don't get paint all over it. Or just do it outside on an old stump.

 

How To Plant a Forest

The Blue Jays That Grew a Forest 

by Lynn Street; illus. by Anne Hunter 

48 pages; ages 4-8

‎Peachtree/Margaret Quinlin Books, 2025

theme: ecology, autumn, birds

How does the mighty oak create more oak trees? By making acorns.

But here’s the thing about acorns: they are heavy! (I know this because I’ve had a few fall on my head.) They are too heavy to blow on the breeze, so they plunk right down to the ground. Right under the tree. Here’s another thing about acorns: they need sun and water and room to grow. And how can they get that if they’re laying on the ground in the shade with all the other acorns? Well, if they’re from the white oaks next to my house they get picked up and moved by squirrels and birds, carried away, and buried in the ground. 

And sometimes those acorns get forgotten and they sprout into tiny oak seedlings (I know this because I’ve had more than a few grow in my vegetable patch!). 

In luscious, lyrical language, author Lynn Street pulls readers into the acorn-caching behavior of blue jays who hide their treasure – like pirates! “With their beaks, the jays tap, tap, tap the acorns into soft ground…” she writes. The jays have to move fast, because there’s competition. Squirrels, turkeys, mice, chipmunks, deer … they are gathering up acorns too.

What I like about this book: I mentioned the language. Here’s what I mean: “Back and forth— flashes of sapphire in the sun— blue white, blue white.” Even without an illustration you can picture this blue jay flapping across the sky. I like that Lynn takes us through an entire year: winter when jays dig up the acorns to eat, spring when they feed their nestlings bugs (because acorns are too big for babies…),  and fall, when the young jays join the “blue crew” and help their parents collect acorns for the winter. I like the back matter, too! More information about oak trees and jays, and how human interaction has changed the nature of oak forests. There’s also a great list of books for further reading and some websites to visit.

Lynn’s inspiration for this book came from a photo of a blue jay carrying an acorn. In addition to researching books and articles about blue jays and oaks, she spent lots of time watching jays. So I had to ask her A Couple Questions:

Me: What cool insights have you gained from the jays visiting your backyard? (ours are raucous thieves!)

Lynn: I watched blue jays in my backyard as they interacted with a pin oak just over the fence. From a second story window, I was able to see into the oak’s canopy as jays pried acorns from the tree. Over several fall seasons, I spotted more and more of this acorn gathering in real time.

I noticed, too, where the peanuts from my bird feeder were being hidden. One jay buried a peanut under leaf litter. Another time I spotted a jay leaving a peanut in the rain gutter of my neighbor’s house. I also watched a blue jay pull an acorn out from between flagstones on my patio.

Me: Jays are related to crows, and crows are pretty smart birds. How do jays exhibit their corvid intelligence?

Lynn: Blue jays are part of the corvid family, which includes crows, magpies, nutcrackers, and ravens. Blue jays are very intelligent. They have an amazing spatial memory, which helps them locate thousands of buried acorns. The blue jay that dug up an acorn from my patio knew exactly where it was hidden. It landed, plucked it out, and was flying again a few seconds later. 

Blue jays are also great mimics. Their calls can sound like a hawk, or a squeaky gate. The hawk call may alert other jays to predators nearby or trick other birds into thinking a hawk is present. I hear the hawk call often, and the jays always fool me. I look outside when I hear it, but each time it’s a blue jay perching in a nearby tree. Only one time was it a hawk circling high above my street.

In captivity—but not in the wild—blue jays have been observed using tools to rake food into their cages.

The black markings on their faces and throats (called a bridle or necklace) vary and may help the jays to tell each other apart. Do you think you can tell the blue jays at your feeder apart?
 

Beyond the Books:

Watch some blue jays this fall.  Draw a picture of what your jays look like – and make sure to note the markings on their faces and throats.

This one comes from Lynn: Watch your jay’s behavior. Is the bird eating? Is it hiding food or plucking an already buried acorn out of the ground? Blue jays move quickly, so pay close attention!

Do you have oak trees in your neighborhood? If so, get to know them. Draw a map of where the oak trees are growing. 

In the spring, look for oak sprouts. You might find one in your yard or neighbor’s garden. If it’s “in the way” ask if you can dig it up. Then put it in a pot and watch it grow,

Lynn is a member of #STEAMTeam2025. You can find out more about her at her website, lynnstreetbooks.com 

We’ll join Perfect Picture Book Friday once they resume. It’s a wonderful gathering where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Review copy provided by the publisher.

Explore Outdoors ~ Old Friends

 

 

 

Flower-watching is sort of like bird watching. Except that flowers don't have feathers, and they don't fly. They don't move very much at all ... but they do change over the season. I enjoy looking at flowers at all stages, from buds to "old friends" 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm not the only one who has flower friends - Last  Friday I shared a book about a kid who befriends flowers.

 

 

This week visit the flowers in your neighborhood. 

Are there any that are growing old and fuzzy?

 

 

Finding our "Best Buds"

I’ve been spending a lot of time in my garden this summer, and I’ve come to realize that, for me, many of the plants (and insects) in my garden have become … friends. Best Buds, even. So I’m delighted to share this book with you today. It’s not my ordinary STEM book offering, though there are plenty of stems in it. 

Best Buds 

by Becky Scharnhorst; illus. by Jiarui Jiang 

40 pages; ages 4-8

‎Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2025

theme: friendship, plants, moving

On his first day in a new town, Spencer made a friend. It was easy!

Spencer and his mom are moving into a new house, and Mom is worried about making friends. But Spencer has NO trouble finding friends. He met Fred on the first day, just sitting outside in a box under a tree, and Vera was found next to a fire hydrant.

Spencer cares for his plant friends. He takes them to the playground and to reading circle so they can hear the stories. Everywhere he goes, people ask “wouldn’t you like a real friend?” as if plants couldn’t be friends. Some days Spencer would load up his wagon with a few friends and go to the park. That’s where he meets Daisy, whose friend is much smaller and has no leaves at all!

What I like about this book: I like how Spencer appreciates each plant’s personality: They could be “late bloomers” or shy, or even a bit wild, but it didn’t matter because he loved them anyway. As he comes to accept the differences of his plant friends, readers will accept that friendship doesn’t depend on what you look like. It’s more about accepting people – or plants – as they are.

I also love the illustrations. The detail of each plant, and the diversity pictured is just plain fun – from the front endpapers to the last – and every page in between. 

Beyond the Books:

Do you have any plant friends (trees are included)? Draw a picture of your favorite and if they don’t have a name, give them one!

If you were a plant, what kind would you be? Would you be tall? Spiky? Flowery? Would you have long, thin leaves or leaflets that are bunchy? Draw your plant portrait!

Get to know the plants growing in your neighborhood on a first-name basis! Are there tiny flowers in the grass? Are there bold, yellow dandelions growing between cracks in the sidewalk? Are there trees you’d like to get to know better? Draw a map of where your plant friends live.

Hop over to the GROG and find out more about author Becky Scharnhorst in this lovely interview with former librarian and author, Kathy Halsey.

We’ll join Perfect Picture Book Friday once they resume. It’s a wonderful gathering where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. A huge thank you to author Becky Scharnhorst for a review copy.

Explore Outdoors ~ Funky Fungi!

 

 

 We had a lot of rain in June and early July, and the pile of wood chips hosted quite the convention of mushrooms. But one day when I walked over to check them out, I noticed that many of them seemed to be wearing "hats" atop their caps.
 
iNaturalist came to the rescue and identified the brain-like growth as another fungus, a parasite called Collybia Clouds (Syzygospora mycetophila).

 

 

I wondered: did it grow beneath the mushroom cap as well?

So I looked.

Yep!  

 

And then I found one of the collybia clouds all by itself... I guess it had finished off its host mushroom. A week later I checked the chip pile and all was gone!

 

With mushrooms, you've got to be looking when they fruit! 

 

What cool fungi will you find this week?

My harvest basket is filled with ... books?

It’s been a summer of planting and weeding and now it’s time to harvest! As long as the deer don’t get there first! Here are two books that celebrate farming and gardening. 

themes: nature, seasons, friendship

Seasons on the Farm 

by Chelsea Tornetto; illus. by Karen Bunting 

32 pages; ages 5-8

Sleeping Bear Press, 2025  

Barren trees sprout budding leaves. Melting snow drip-drops from eaves….

Beginning with sheep-shearing, this book takes readers through a year on a farm. Seeds are planted, the corn grows tall, farmers cut and bale hay… and eventually the combines rumble down the rows. Using rhyme, and the rhythm of the seasons, this book shares the daily tasks of farm life.

You might think things slow down once “…wood is cut and fires glow. Fields are covered up with snow.” But no. That’s when repairs get done and planning for spring crops. Back matter helps readers understand how important seasonal changes are for farming. And how farmers, after years of observing the seasons, become experts at understanding their local ecology.

What I like about this book: As a gardener who lives in a farming community, I enjoyed the way the seasons unfolded in the book. The language, slow and unhurried, invited me to linger on the page and immerse myself into the lovely artwork. I would have lingered longer, but … I hear the garden calling!

Speaking of gardening, one of the things we have to deal with in my neck of the woods is deer. They love to nibble on the apples, the flowers in the lawn, and just about everything in my garden (when they manage to get in). I have often thought I should write about those pesky deer, but I don’t have to because …

Oh Deer! 

by Phaea Crede; illus. by Erica J. Chen 

32 pages; ages 5-8

Sleeping Bear Press, 2025 

Jasper the Sasquatch lived in the woods. Alone. Other animals made him feel overwhelmed and worn-out.

I can hear you already: “But Sue, this isn’t a STEM book! It is a work of mythological proportions!” You are correct. And yet it pairs well with Seasons on the Farm because, who gets to eat all those yummy crops. Besides us?

Deer, of course! And for an all-alone sasquatch who wants to harvest his first crop of turnips, deer can be quite a problem. Jasper does not want to share his luscious, yummy turnip tops with anyone – and goes to great lengths to protect them. He tries a fence. He tries netting. He even hangs old CD’s and pots and pans.

What I like about this book: I like Jasper’s inventiveness. I also like how this book is about more than protecting turnip greens. Because, at the end he realizes that there are good reasons to share your veggies. And he discovers a way to have both solitude and a few close friends. 

Beyond the Books:

Visit a farm, if you can. Maybe there’s a pumpkin farm or U-pick orchard nearby, or a ranch. If there are no farms near you, visit a community garden where people grow their own veggies. 

Observe the trees and plants around your neighborhood as the season shifts from summer to fall to winter. What changes do you notice? The study of cyclical changes in plants and animals is called “phenology.”

Drop by a farmer’s market or green grocer and buy a turnip with its tops attached. You don’t have to be a deer to eat the greens. You can cook them in a quiche, bake them for crunchy chips, or fry them up with bacon and a bit of spice.

We’ll join Perfect Picture Book Friday once they resume. It’s a wonderful gathering where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Review copies provided by the publishers.

https://susannahill.com/blog/

Explore Outdoors ~ bugs on blooms

 I spent a lot of time last month taking photos of bugs - a great many of them on flowers. Here are three that I particularly enjoyed.

 

Now it's your turn -

look for bugs on flowers

where you live 

 

 

Noisy Animals!

 I’ve been enjoying Darrin Lunde’s books for a while – and this summer he had two new books hit the shelves. What I really appreciate is that Darrin writes from his experience of being a biologist – he’s the collection manager in the Division of Mammals at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC.

Themes: nonfiction, animals, animal behavior

Who's Making All That NOISE?! 

by Darrin Lunde; illus. by Erica J. Chen 

32 pages; ages 3-7

Charlesbridge, 2025

Rap tap tap! Rap tap tap tap!

Who’s making all that noise?!

Owl and squirrel and a bunch of other animals want to know because it is sure a LOUD hammering on a tree! Before we turn the page, though, can you guess who it might be?

If you said woodpecker, you would be right! Woodpeckers hammer on trees to find ants and other insects. They hammer on trees to communicate with other woodpeckers. And when they hammer on the side of my house, I’m pretty sure they’re doing it just to bug me!

From creaky clicks in the sea to grunts, roars, and quacks, readers meet seven animals who make their own kinds of noises.

What I like about this book: I like the format of paired spreads. The first presents the sound and asks “Who’s making all that noise?” There’s a brief description of the sound: it’s a loud blast of air, or it sounds like rumbling thunder. This makes for a fun read-aloud because you can pause … and wait … and let kids guess … before turning the page to reveal the Noisy Animal! Also, it’s fun to read the sounds. I also like that there’s back matter: a spread filled with facts about the noises animals make.

Some of Darrin’s books are being published in board book format – here’s one

Whose Egg Is That? (Whose Is THAT?) Board book 

by Darrin Lunde; illus. by Kelsey Oseid 

22 pages; ages 0-3

Charlesbridge, 2025

As with the book above, Whose Egg Is That? Is a nonfiction guessing game exploring the connections between an animal, its eggs, and its habitat. With fewer pages come fewer animals, in this case: emperor penguin, sea turtle, ostrich, robin, and dinosaur. The final spread shares fun facts about the featured critters – and their eggs.

Beyond the Books:

Listen to animals! Where? I sit on my porch in the morning and listen to birds. I go to the zoo where I can hear penguins and lions. And when the weather allows, I leave my windows open at night so I can hear frogs calling, owls hooting, and foxes screaming.

We’ll join Perfect Picture Book Friday once they resume. 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 ~ WELCOME BACK!

 Welcome back from summer vacay! Just in time to meet a teensy flower that I look for outside my kitchen door every summer. It's so tiny it often goes unnoticed - but not this year.

 

Meet the Blue-eyed Grass! 

 

 

I've got a few of these tiny (less than 1" across) flowers that pop up near my house when there's enough rain. They don't always look like flowers - in fact, their flat stems and blade-like leaves give them a bunchy "grass-like" appearance. Which is probably how they got their name, "blue-eyed grass" - though to tell the truth, I think they have more of a yellow eye.

 

These flowers aren't grass at all, but are related to irises. And when you see the seed pod it makes sense, as they look a bit like rounded iris pods. Blue-eyed grass is a native plant, and can grow as tall as 18 inches - though mine rarely grow taller than half-a-foot.

 

This week, keep your eyes peeled for tiny blue flowers and tiny seed pods. If you can, collect some seeds and try to grow them to plant at the edge of your yard or garden.

 

What color of eyes does the grass in your yard have? 

 

Explore Outdoors ~ Make your own (very quiet) Fourth of July Explosions!

 With the Fourth of July just a couple days away, I thought I'd share some alternatives to fireworks. These hands-on activities will provide plenty of pop, sizzle, and fizz without the big noise.

Chances are you have many of the ingredients in your cupboards, but check the materials lists in case you need to stock up before Friday. Then, after the parade and potato salad, invite friends and family to create their own Fourth of July celebration in your back yard.

Exploding paint Bags ~ more pop than boom!

Blobs in a Bottle ~ a simple take on lava lamps. All you need is oil, water, food coloring - and some alka-selzer.

Erupting Rainbow ~ Of course vinegar is involved!

Fizzy sidewalk chalk fireworks ~ pffff!

For more activities, check out this post from a few years ago

I'm taking a summer break to explore nature in my neighborhood, and catch up on some writing. And of course, I'm tucking a bunch of books in my beach tote for summer reading! 

Enjoy! See you in August!

Invent Machines Like Rube!

Smash, Crash, Topple, Roll!: The Inventive Rube Goldberg―A Life in Comics, Contraptions, and Six Simple Machines 

by Catherine Thimmesh; illus. by Shanda McCloskey 

60 pages; ages 8-12

‎Chronicle Books, 2025 

Rube Goldberg was born in 1883 – on the brink of technological revolution. During his life he saw inventions and machines that were meant to make life simple. But… (as many of us have discovered with today’s tech) too often those inventions left folks befuddled. The tech was Just Too Complex!

Rube’s response? Draw his own contraptions – crazy, complex machines that went through multiple steps to achieve a simple goal. 

Starting with a Table of Contents that is, itself a Rube Goldberg contraption, we get drawn into Rube’s world of cartoon and satire. There's a section on becoming an artist the "Rube Goldberg way" and great sections that describe how each type of machine works. And a wonderful bit about Rube's invention cartoons. Back when he drew them, those crazy contraptions captured the imagination of kids and adults. Even today, more than 100 years later, people are designing and building “Rube Goldberg Machines” and posting videos online. Why? Because it’s fun. These machines do such ordinary things in unexpected ways. Even Honda got in on the action with their 2009 ad that uses car parts in an elaborate machine that rolls out their newest model. 

Rube Goldberg machines are, by design, whimsical - like the plant-watering machine. But the science behind them is real. Most are powered by gravity (things rolling, falling, swinging) and some combination of the six basic simple machines: lever, wheel and axle, inclined plane, wedge, screw, and pulley that are introduced on the front endpaper.

Back matter includes a section on How to Build a Rube Goldberg Machine in eight simple steps. My favorite is step 8: embrace Murphy's Law. You know - the one that says if anything can go wrong it will. Something will happen, writes author Catherine Thimmesh. "Something will fall off its track. Count on it." Just be ready to troubleshoot and fix it. There's also a glossary and lists of resources for curious inventors.

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 ~ Sneaky Spiders

 I've got some Very Sneaky Spiders hanging out in my garden and surrounding area! They don't advertise their presence by spinning sticky webs that net unsuspecting fliers. Instead, they hide in and under flowers, waiting for dinner to come to them - to settle on the flower for a sip of sweet nectar - and then they POUNCE! 

 

Do you have sneaky spiders in your flowers? 

  

Plant some Flowers for Your Pollinators!

 

My Pollinator Garden: How I Plant for Bees, Butterflies, Beetles, and More (Books for a Better Earth) 

by Jordan Zwetchkenbaum; illus. by Kate Cosgrove 

40 pages; ages 3-6 

‎Holiday House, 2025

theme: garden, pollinators, ecology

My garden is full of flowers. I like the pretty colors. I like that they smell good.

Those lovely flower smells attract animals that take pollen from one plant to another, so the flowers can make seeds. And those animals, from bees to birds, butterflies to bats, are called pollinators.  Spread by spread readers learn how flowers attract pollinators and how different pollinators carry the pollen. At the same time, we are introduced to a diversity of native bees, butterflies, moths, hummingbirds and bats, flies, beetles, and wasps.

What I like about this book: It’s fun to look at the different pollinators and flowers on each page. There are short-tongued bees and long-tongued bees. Some bees shake the flowers to release the pollen. There’s a fun fact about each of the featured pollinators: what colors they see; whether they fly during the day or night; what attracts them to a particular flower. Back matter includes and author’s note, how to plant for pollinators, a short glossary, sources, and an index to pollinators and their plants.

Beyond the Books: 

Plant some pollinator flowers that are native to your region. You can find a list of plants for your region here at XERCES. If you don’t have a large space for a pollinator garden, plant a way station. A way station flower spot could be as big as the area inside a hula hoop or a few pots on the balcony.

Make sure to have a watering spot for your pollinators. I use a shallow dish with rocks in it. The rocks serve as landing islands once I pour in water. Make sure you keep it filled, especially on hot and sunny days. 

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 copy provided by the publisher.

Keeping Count of Pollinators

 

The Great Pollinator Count (Community Science Counts!) 

by Susan Edwards Richmond; illus. by Stephanie Fizer Coleman 

32 pages; ages 4-8

Margaret Quinlin Books/Peachtree, 2025

One of the things I do every summer is count pollinators for the Great Sunflower Project, a community science project that I’ve been participating in since … oh, my - 2009! So I was really, really looking forward to Susan Richmond’s newest book about pollinator counts, and she doesn’t disappoint.

Mellie and her friends are part of a science club and they’re planning to count pollinators. The science club advisor, aptly named Ms. Bombus (awesome nod to buzzy sounds and bumblebees!) pairs Mellie with a kid who loves dinosaurs and hates stinging insects. As they count, readers are introduced to honeybees and small bees, carpenter bees and bumblebees, flies and wasps and even a hummingbird moth. Back matter highlights the insects in the book and lists the flowers in the school’s pollinator garden.

Back around Earth Day, Susan joined a bunch of us for “The Fifth Annual GROG Arthropod Roundtable” where we chatted about bugs we love (and those we don’t). She talked a bit about why she wrote The Great Pollinator Count.

“Young children are eager to explore their environment and are natural scientists,” she said, adding that many children (and adults) are afraid of bees and wasps. While respect and caution are a healthy response towards stinging insects, Susan wanted folks to appreciate all pollinators, not just the butterflies. A perfect reason for writing a book … but what’s the hook?

“When I learned that Georgia conducted an annual insect pollinator census, which includes schoolchildren, I knew this would be my gateway!” What better than a pollinator count! Pollinator counts are becoming more common, and what began as a Georgia community science project, The Great Southeast Pollinator Census has now expanded to include four more states: North and South Carolina, Florida, and Alabama. 

“May this notion of promoting a healthy pollinator population continue to grow!” Susan says.     

Pollinator Week Activity: visit a flowery meadow or a garden and count the pollinators you see in 10 minutes.

Susan is a member of #STEAMTeam2025. You can find out more about her at her website at www.susanedwardsrichmond.com  

Explore Outdoors ~ local pollinators

 This is Pollinator Week!  Pollinators, like people, come in all shapes and sizes. Those visiting my garden include bumblebees, carpenter bees, sweat bees and tons of other bees I don't have names for (yet), syrphid flies and other flies, wasps - from bald-faced hornets to paper wasps to tiny wasps, butterflies, skippers, hummingbird moths, beetles, and hummingbirds. I'm sure I've left some out. 

 

Here are a few  of the pollinators visiting my garden and the "weeds" along the road.

Who do you see pollinating your flowers?