themes: Animals, nature, growing up, eggs
Watching and Waiting: What Hatches from Nature's Nurseries
By Sara Levine
32 pages; ages 4-8
Millbrook Press, 2025
When you find something interesting and beautiful
… what should you do? Should you poke it and prod it? Open it up to see what’s inside? Granted, that is the way curious naturalists discover things. But if you open things up, then what’s inside won’t grow anymore, says Sara Levine. So maybe you could wait?
What I like about this book: Using gentle, lyrical language, Sara ponders how one might observe nature without harming it. In particular, she offers strategies for watching how eggs develop and waiting to see what hatches out. She draws examples from birds, insects, amphibians, and reptiles. Back matter discusses what eggs are, egg cases and galls, and how to be an “observational scientist” – something anyone can do. The photos are gorgeous and will have children looking closer to study the details.
Sara is a member of #STEAMTeam2025. You can find out more about her at her website, www.saralevinebooks.com She's also a guest author joining me at the 5th Annual Arthropod Roundtable over on the GROG Blog on April 16.
Butterflies come from eggs. But what happens when they grow up?
When a Butterfly Goes to School (Board Book)
by Laura Purdie Salas; illus. by Chloe Niclas
7 spreads
Creative Editions, 2025
What does a butterfly do at school all day? From art class to science, story time to lunchtime we follow swallowtail and her friends.
What I like about this book: I have to confess that I loved the lunch break the best – the butterflies zip and sip their way through the flowers. The luscious artwork supports lyrical prose as the words ask us to suspend reality and join a butterfly on a normal day at butterfly school.
Beyond the Books:
Go on a gall walk. You can find round galls on the stems of goldenrod, bumpy galls on leaves, and fluffy galls on leaves as well. Find out more about galls – and see some examples – here and here.
Birds aren’t the only animals to lay eggs. Find out what other animals lay eggs, and what kind of eggs they lay.
If you were a butterfly, what sort of things would you learn at school? What might you do in art class? In science? At story time? At play time?
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.
