Two Fun Books to Tuck in a Tote

A couple of books came out last month and I think they’re perfect for spring.

Odd Bugs: Meet Nature’s Weirdest Insects 

by Laura Gehl; illus. by Gareth Lucas 

22 pages; ages 2-4

Abrams Appleseed, 2026   

A few years ago I chatted with Laura Gehl about her book Odd Beasts. This one is the third in her series of “nature’s oddballs” and it’s about my favorite critters: bugs!

Odd Bugs presents eight insects, each with a particular adaptation. Among them is a moth with painted wings, and a caterpillar that stings. There are ants that weave with silken strands and a butterfly whose wings look like panes of glass. And then there’s the robber fly – a true thief. Even their babies steal from other insects!

What I like about this book: Using fun and playful language, each spread presents a single bug. Read aloud, page by page, it’s a single poem about the insects. My favorite part is at the end where Laura points out that we don’t have six legs or antennae or wings or any of the buggy attributes they do. So … who’s the real weirdo? What’s more, this board book has Back Matter! Two spreads present additional information and photos of each insect featured. Laura will be one of the guests at the Annual Arthropod Roundtable over at the GROG on Earth Day, April 22nd.  (Review copy from the author)

What's the oddest bug you've ever seen? 

A spiky caterpillar? 

A moth the size of  a hummingbird? 

This summer, draw pictures of the truly odd bugs you find around your neighborhood.

Big Brain Puzzles: Plant Pandemonium! 

created by Camille Pichon 

10 pages; ages 6 and up

Twirl, 2026

Flowers, butterflies, earthworms … all in puzzles that mix things up. Spin the dials on a lily pad, pull butterfly tabs, slide worm parts through the soil to match the challenges. Five puzzles times nine different ways to play makes a total of 45 different challenges – adding up to complete pandemonium! Great for logic and problem-solving. (Review copy from Blue Slip Media)

Have fun!

Explore Outdoors ~ a salt marsh

 One of the things I try to do wherever I am is to find a bit of wild. Even if - especially if - I'm in an urban area. So the other day we drove down the shore drive to a small natural area in Quincy, MA: Passanageset Park at the Broad Meadows Marsh.

 

Passanageset Park boasts flat trails to and around the marsh, and signs that tell of the history of the Massachusett people who lived there long before European settlers arrived. Others describe the ecology and wildlife ... but on a windy day in late March there weren't any birds clinging to tall stems and calling.

A salt marsh is a coastal wetland that is flooded and drained by the tides. We were clearly there at low tide. 

 

 

 

This week find a piece of the wild where you are. 

 

Two Dinosaur Books

When I was a kid, one of my favorite books was my dad’s college geology text. I loved the drawings of dinosaur fossils and the renderings of how scientists (back in the last century) thought they might look. And now look – today I have two new(ish) books about dinosaurs and the scientists who study them.

theme: Dinosaurs, nature, fossils

Mary Morland in the Time of Dinosaur Discovery

Jane Kurtz, illus. by Giselle Potter

48 pages; ages 4-8

Beach Lane Books, 2026 

Mary Morland was born in a time of ribbons and lace, when small girls were seen as dainty, delicate decorations to make a room pretty.

But she was not one for sitting in a parlor – not when the whole wide world was waiting outside. She spent her days looking closely at plants and rocks … and drawing her observations in a journal. She collected fossils and shells, sent specimens and letters to Georges Cuvier (a famous French scientist). She drew pictures of bones from a Megalosaurus – the first dinosaur to have a name. Did she stop studying and drawing once she got married and had kids? No, she did not.

What I like about this book: I love that Jane Kurtz brings another woman of early dinosaur discoveries to the page. Mary Morland was a contemporary of Mary Anning, and yet few people have heard her name. Not surprising; in the 1800’s, women didn’t get credit for their discoveries. I like the emphasis on how Mary observed the plants and animals she saw, and how she drew her observations in her journal. And I like the back matter that tells more about Mary, and provides resources for curious young dinosaur hunters.

Dinosaur Secrets Revealed! How High-Tech Tools Spark Discoveries (Sandra Markle's Science Discoveries) 

by Sandra Markle 

48 pages; ages 9-12

‎Millbrook Press, 2025 

Are you ready to discover dinosaur secrets? If so, Sandra Markle invites you to dive in and follow the discoveries she reveals. Because, as she notes, new technology and high-tech tools not only allow scientists to study ancient bones in a new way, but allows scientist to ask new questions. Like…

How powerful was T. Rex’s bite? Load sensors, like those found in bathroom scales, combined with digital models and computer animation were put to use to solve the problem. Seven chapters address seven questions and introduce the technology used by modern paleontologists and their engineering partners. People are still digging bones out of rock millions of years old, but the technology to evaluate the bones continues to evolve! Back matter includes more dino information and resources for kids who want to dive deeper.

Beyond the Books:

Does your state have an official State Dinosaur? What about a State Fossil? Find out and create a stamp celebrating your state dino or fossil. My state has a fossil (yay!) but not a dino – and I want to know why not!

Draw what you see: an interesting leaf, a snail, a rock or a shell… something you can observe close up. You’ll need a sketch pad or some plain paper, and a good pencil. Colored pencils or crayons are great for adding colorful details.

Learn more about women paleontologists (scientists who study fossils) at this Museum of the Earth page.

Create your own dinosaur name  - and then make a picture of you as a dinosaur. Here’s a dino-name cheat sheet from PBS. 

Thanks for dropping by today. 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 ~ First Spring Rain

 Spring officially started this past weekend, and I've been waiting for sunshine and warmer weather for so long! So of course, it rained. And so, of course, I went walking outside between showers  ... 

What do you see when you go outside after rain?

Saving Seeds For the Future

Just in Case: Saving Seeds in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault

Megan Clendenan, illus by Brittany Cicchese 

32 pages; ages 5-8

Charlesbridge, 2025  

theme: nonfiction, conservation, seeds, food

Only eight hundred miles from the North Pole, away from wars and weapons, safe from earthquakes, fire, and even an asteroid, buried deep in the Earth on an island in Norway, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault holds priceless treasure.

That treasure is seeds … more than 580 million of them, frozen and held for the future “just in case.” Seeds are the foundation of our food supply, says Megan Clendenan, but they are also our history. People have been planting seeds for thousands of years! Seeds are also our future, providing genetic material for future crops in case of a disaster. In this book, Megan takes us into the designing and construction of this seed vault. 

What I like about this book: I like how Megan describes a walk down the aisles of the vault as “a walk through the world.” There are seeds from almost every country. I like the short sidebars that take a deeper dive into some aspect of the vault (visits from polar bears and Arctic foxes) or practical use of the seeds (restoring crops to fields after a war). And I like the back matter, in which Megan explains in more detail why having “backup copies” of seeds and a diversity of varieties is so critical to the future of agriculture. Or, as I call it, “food.”

Beyond the Books:

Save your own seeds. “The best way to save seeds for the future is to grow them yourself,” writes Megan. And saving some kinds of seeds is pretty easy – especially seeds from lettuce, beans, peas, and flowers. 

Does your library have a “seed library?” Many libraries do, and it’s fun to “check out” seeds, plant them, and “return” a packet of saved seeds.

Make seed envelopes for seeds you save. Check out my activity guide for The Pie that Molly Grew for how to fold an origami seed envelope. Remember to label them with the kind of plant and the date you collected the seeds. 

Swap seeds with your friends. If you buy a pack of seeds, you might only need a few. So divide those extra seeds into home-made seed envelopes and host a seed swap event this spring.

Megan is a member of the STEAM Team Books group. You can find out more about her at her at her website www.meganclendenan.com. You can find more about recently released STEM and STEAM at www.steamteambooks.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 copies provided by the publishers.

Explore Outdoors ~ the last acorn

 

While walking around a park in Salt Lake City a couple weeks ago, I noticed all the scrubby oaks had empty acorn caps attached at the ends of the twigs. It makes sense - jays and other animals would have snacked on the yummy nuts all winter.

 

But why did the acorns fall without their caps on?

 

 

The oaks are getting ready for spring, even as this particular tree holds onto a few leaves and this one last acorn.

 

 

 

This week as you walk around your neighborhood, look at the trees. Are any of them still holding tight to last year's leaves or nuts?  

A Tale of Two Butterflies

 

Monarch and Mourning Cloak: A Butterfly Journal 

by Melissa Stewart; illus. by Sarah S. Brannen 

48 pages; ages 4-8

‎Beach Lane Books, 2026

themes: nature, butterflies, art

 Look, a monarch!

 Bright orange wings

 keep it safe.

The first spread opens with a comparison and contrast of two butterflies you might find in your backyard: the monarch and the mourning cloak. The monarch is bright orange – a warning to predators that it is poisonous and they should stay away. The mourning cloak is brown – it blends in with the bark of trees so predators have a hard time finding it.

Monarch and mourning cloak are as different as two butterflies can be: one flies south in the winter and the other one snuggles under bark to hibernate. And yet they are surprisingly similar: they hatch from eggs, eat leaves, and undergo metamorphosis.

But this book is more than just an ordinary butterfly book. It’s a nature sketch book, a poetry journal, and an invitation to observe nature more closely. An invitation to engage with the world outside your door. An invitation to grab a sketchbook and head outside.

What I like love about this book: So Many Things! Beginning with the end pages: On the front end pages we meet the Monarch: there’s a quick overview of its life cycle, sketches of it in different stages of its life, and a range map showing where you’re likely to find monarch butterflies. The back end pages introduce the Mourning Cloak butterfly. 

Even before you get into the book, there’s front matter – a letter to readers explaining that this book is a collage of poetry and artwork that not only captures the lives of the butterflies, but shows the creative process Melissa Stewart and Sarah Brannen went through over the few years of creating the book.

Spreads reveal the secrets of the two butterflies in poetry and sketches, along with notes about when and where the butterfly observations took place, annotated illustrations, and even some color palates. These are pages that you’ll want to spend time on, because there is so much to discover. I am absolutely astounded by the awesome renderings of the spiky caterpillars.

There’s luscious language. “Changing, rearranging” – what better description of metamorphosis can you think of?

And there’s back matter (which of course I always love!) beginning with a section about “the joy of journaling” and how to create a sketchbook. And of course there’s more about butterflies, caterpillar time, and some great resources for kids who want to know more. This is a book that I would definitely have in my classroom (and I taught high school bio!). I don’t usually give stars, but I give this one 5 Butterflies.

I’ll be chatting with Melissa and other authors about their buggy books over at the Annual Arthropod Roundtable at the GROG  on Earth Day, April 22.

Beyond the Books:

Make a butterfly journal. This is a quick fold and “pamphlet sew” binding – and I usually use a piece of paper bag as a cover for mine. Directions are here.

Draw pictures of the butterflies and caterpillars you see fluttering (or crawling) around your yard this summer. The first ones I see are the mourning cloaks; they emerge from hibernation and are fluttering about before other butterflies. You don’t have to be exact, but if you can color in the wings, it helps you remember what you saw.

Write a poem about a butterfly you observe. Write a poem about a caterpillar you watch. 

Plant some native flowers for the butterflies in your area. An excellent resource is the XERCES Society.

Melissa is a member of the STEAM Team Books group. You can find out more about her at her at her website melissa-stewart.com. You can find more about recently released STEM and STEAM at www.steamteambooks.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 Blue Slip Media.

Explore Outdoors ~ More Galls!

 Last week I was hiking in Wasatch Hollow, a small nature preserve tucked behind a neighborhood in Salt Lake City. It felt like spring was nudging winter out, and we listened to the sparrows and a cooper's hawk. I'd noticed some interesting galls on the oak twigs and at the tips of the rose bushes. These are, as I understand it, galls caused by wasps. 

 

 

 

This one is called a mossy rose gall - and it does sort of look like moss growing at the end, doesn't it?

 

Now, before flower and leaf buds burst open, is the perfect time to see galls on bushes and trees. 

 

Can you find any galls in your neighborhood?

 

Home, Sweet Home

Today I've got a couple books about animal homes to share. Our theme: animals, nature, environment. 

Who Nests Here? 

by Karen Jameson; illus. by Ramona Kaulitzki 

48 pages; ages 4-8

‎Beach Lane Books, 2026 

 Who nests here?

Whose baby bed? 

Whose family home? 

Whose winter shed?

Spread by spread readers are introduced to visual clues and invited to guess the animal that each home belongs to. Constructed from mud and sand, rock and snow, and nests high in trees, they shelter a diversity of insects and crabs, frogs and squirrels, fish and foxes. 

What I like about this book: I like the “nature detective” feel of this book. One spread shows three homes – as in the spread below: a nest of twigs, a swelling on a twig, a nest of leaves. It invites the reader to study and make a guess before turning the page. I like that the rhyming text, and the space on the page that provides room for imagining. And I like the back matter where kids can find out more about animals that nest in mud or water, rocks or snow.

This is such a cute book that I had to ask Karen One Question:

me: Where do you nest? 

Karen: I write lyrical picture books from my cozy treetop “nest” in Southern California. My nest is filled with treasured book friends - George and Martha, Chrysanthemum,  Blue on Blue, Pug and Pig, Over and Under the Snow, Home in the Woods and many more. Baskets, bookcases, bins and shelves overflow with stories waiting to be savored. A big, soft, double wide reading chair is where I oftentimes dream and draft my stories. Other times, it is a story nest for me and a grandchild or two. We settle into books and snuggles as time slips away. 

My window seat is the best spot for gazing at the happenings outside. Sometimes the garden calls to me. I wander downstairs and out to the backyard to drink in the scented air of lemon trees, roses, geraniums, bottle brush, pink crepe myrtle blossoms and buds galore. The bees are visiting too, as are glorious, shimmering hummingbirds. In warm weather, small lizards bask on the planters doing push ups and chasing one another. I gather a few blooms, fill a small vase, and bring this little bit of heaven up to my nest to dream some more.

Thank you, Karen. That sounds positively delightful! After digging around in my book basket, I found another book about animal homes. This one is written in poetry.

Home 

by Isabelle Simler; translated by Vineet Lal 

68 pages; ages 6-9

‎Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2024

Here’s my little house, 

hanging from the tip of a willow branch, 

just like a fruit.

From bird nests to an octopus den, woven webs to shell-covered homes, readers are taken around the world to see how animals build their homes. Each poem offers clues to animal lives, and back matter provides more information about each creature. The intricate illustrations invite one to linger on the page.

Beyond the Books:

Look for places where animals in your neighborhood make their homes. Where do you notice ants? What about wasps? Do you notice squirrel nests in trees or gopher holes in your yard?

Build a fairy house out of natural materials you find outside: branches from an old Christmas tree, dried leaves, twigs, stones…  

Imagine your life curled up in a leaf or under a stone. Write a poem or draw a picture about what that would be like.

Create a cozy den or nest for yourself either inside or outside. I’m partial to pillow and blanket forts!

Karen is a member of the STEAM Team Books group. You can find out more about her at her at her karenljameson.com. You can find more about recently released STEM and www.steamteambooks.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 copies provided by the publishers.

Explore Outdoors ~ Forsythia Galls

 Winter is a great time to take a closer look at shrubs and trees. You might find interesting fungi or lichens or... 

... knobby galls on your forsythia twigs. What makes these galls form? It's a mystery, says Amanda Bratcher at North Carolina State University. As cool-looking as they are, they harm the health of the forsythia. So I'll be pruning those twigs shortly!  

What interesting things do you find when you look closely at the twigs and stems of trees and bushes in your neighborhood?

Tiny, Essential Ocean Creatures

The Ocean's Heart: The Tiny Creatures Essential to Life 

by Jilanne Hoffmann; illus. by Khoa Le 

32 pages; ages 6-10

‎Millbrook Press, 2026

theme: ocean animals, ecology, food web

Far below the ocean’s surface live tiny, restless creatures called zooplankton. They are the ocean’s heart.

Some are so tiny that you need a microscope to see them. Others you can see with your naked eye. The one thing they have in common is they drift along with the ocean’s currents. Like other animals, zooplankton need to eat to survive, and therein lies a problem: to get food, the zooplankton need to rise to the surface where their food supply – tiny plants – thrive. But once in the light, zooplankton are visible to predators! How can these tiny critters eat without being eaten? More importantly, will any of them make it to the end of the book?

What I like love about this book: I love Jilanne’s lyrical language as she takes us on the dangerous journey zooplankton make nightly to get their dinner. And there’s the race – will they get their fill before the larger ocean animals see them and come hunting? Jilanne encourages readers to cheer for the plankton, and to celebrate their success when they make it. There are two perfectly placed book turns where we need vertical pages to see them paddling, rowing, spinning and spiraling up, up, up… and another as they make the return journey, diving and paddling down, down, down to safety. The illustrations bring these tiny creatures to life on the page. And back matter provides more information for curious kids (and adults!) who want to know more about the ocean’s food web. There’s even a list of ways you can help zooplankton! I don't usually give stars, but I'd give this one Five Copepods 

The title of this book is so intriguing that I just had to ask Jilanne One Question:

Me: Can you tell us how you came to view the zoo plankton as the "ocean's heart"?

Jilanne: Great question! I have a tendency to think in metaphor, even when I'm not actively searching for one. My brain suddenly makes a connection and then that metaphor may trigger another one. And sometimes another. This was the case for zooplankton. I had originally written THE OCEAN'S HEART in first person POV from the perspective of the ocean, where Mama Ocean talks about her tiny ones, her children, the ones that are dear to her heart. And I kept that metaphor even as I switched to third person POV, because zooplankton not only form part of the carbon cycle (where they shuttle carbon into the deep ocean after having eating phytoplankton), but those little swimmers (defying their name, they don't just float) also circulate ocean water, sending cold water upward and warm water downward as they migrate each night. 

Scientists now believe that their movement is as important to ocean water circulation (and the circulation of nutrients) as the wind and tides, which is huge! And what does the heart do? It circulates oxygen-rich blood to all parts of the body, and returns carbon dioxide to the lungs that then needs to be exhaled. So, I began thinking of phytoplankton as the ocean's lungs, absorbing that carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen to its waters and the creatures that live there. And then my mind made another leap....whales are like the ocean's muscles...because they pump iron. After eating tons upon tons of zooplankton, effectively concentrating all of the iron from zooplankton in their digestive systems, whales return it to the ocean and to other critters and phytoplankton that need it in the form of poop. The healthier the whale population, the more they pump (poop) iron, the healthier the population of phytoplankton and other critters. So, there you have it, the heart, lungs, and muscles of the ocean. An extended metaphor that will stay with me forever.

Beyond the Books:

Find out more about plankton in this video, The Secret Life of Plankton  and at Woods Hole’s website.

Compare a zooplankton’s nightly migration to your own life. Jilanne compares a zooplankton’s journey to the ocean’s surface to a human swimming 125 miles – and that’s just one way. The zooplankton have to return home, too. Every night! If you traveled 125 miles from your home, where might you end up? For me, that would be close to Russia or Norway – both towns in upstate New York!

How long would it take you to walk 125 miles? The average walking speed of an adult is around 3 miles/hour. Four, if they walk briskly. Think about how far you could walk at a time… and snack breaks. 

Jilanne is a member of the STEAM Team Books group. I reviewed her book, A River of Dust a couple years ago on this very blog. You can find out more about Jilanne and her books at her at her website jilannehoffmann.com. Folks who pre-order her book (before March 3) can get entered in a raffle for amazing prizes. You can preorder a copy here - then direct message her on IG, BlueSky, or Facebook (links at that page) to let her know you'd like to be entered in the raffle. 

 

You can find more about recently released STEM and STEAM at www.steamteambooks.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 ~ Squirrel Snacks

 

I've read that rosehips make great winter snacks for rabbits and squirrels. Bears, too, though I don't expect we'll see any down at the County Courthouse gardens!

Rosehips are full of vitamin C, and they may be a great source of food when other stuff is scarce. But getting to them ... that's a prickly proposition.

If there are any rosehips in your neighborhood, do you ever see squirrels or birds eating them?

Two by Blue Dot Kids

 Every now and then I run across a couple of books that incorporate STEM elements in an imaginative way. Today I’m sharing two new picture books recently released by Blue Dot Kids Press.

theme: nature, imagination, global connection

Moon Sailors

by Naomi Woodward; illus by Rachel Gregg 

32 pages; ages 3-6

Bed sheets billow in solar winds, as we cast our boat adrift…

As a fan of “Wynken, Blynken, and Nod” I was captivated by the idea of “moon sailors in search of treasure…” In this imaginary journey, two children – and their cat – sail off to follow the trails of celestial snails, wake up cockles and crabs, and meet a curious cephalopod. 

What I like about this book: This is a perfect lullaby read-aloud, with a gentle, put-you-to-sleep rhythm. There are wonderful words tucked in: iridescent, tentacles… Presented as an ocean-meets-the-moon adventure, the creatures of sand and sea are anything but imaginary. If you have an opportunity to explore a sea shore or a tide pool, you may meet many of these creatures.

Together, Right Now

by Olga Fadeeva

40 pages; ages 3-7

Right now, you are reading this book. Right now, someone is eating breakfast. Right now, someone is falling asleep.

As you go about your day, doing the things you do, animals and people around the world are doing the things they do. But where they are it might be night, where you have day. They might be planting gardens while you shovel snow. 

What I like about this book: The language is lovely and invites readers to look closely at the place where they live – and then look more broadly at how others are living, from deserts to islands. I like the global connection: eight billion people and millions of species of plants and animals are all breathing and living together on this unique planet. And I like the diversity of color and texture in the artwork.

Beyond the Books:

Listen to the poem “Wynken, Blynken, and Nod” and let your imagination sail with them on their journey. Draw a picture of what you might see on a journey in the night sky.

Visit an aquarium or tide pool to see some of the creatures that the moon sailors might have seen. If you can’t get to a tide pool or aquarium, you can learn about tide pool creatures at Crystal Cove State Park, California, or go on a longer (25 minute) video tour with a marine biologist.

What is it like where you live right now? Is it daytime? Night time? Summer? Winter? And what do you see when you look out a window? 

Find where you are on a globe. Now find a spot on the other side of the Earth – and look for the nearest landmass. Find out who and what lives there. If you were there right now, would it be daytime or night? Warm or cold? What would you see?

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 publisher.

Explore Outdoors ~ Going on a Flea hunt ...

 ... snow fleas, that is. Monday it was so warm (40oF) that I decided to check out the old oak log behind my garden. It’s covered with moss and lichens, and on Monday the snow below it was covered with snow fleas!

Seen from a couple feet away, snow fleas look like specks of pepper. 

Up close, they look like bigger specks of pepper! Unless you have a hand lens, and then you can see their legs. They have six, but they aren’t insects. And they aren’t even fleas. They’re teensy arthropods called Collembola, or springtails. They’re a whopping 1/8 inch long and have two tail-like structures that are tucked under their belly – until they release and catapult the snow flea into the air, flinging them up to 100 body lengths away. It’s a great ride with one problem – the snow fleas have no control over where they land. 

Turns out snow fleas have been around a long time, at least 400 million years. By comparison, the first dinosaur didn’t show up until 240 million years ago, writes Judy Rosovsky. Check out her article at VT Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets.

Snow fleas have been found on Mt. Everest, so finding them in my backyard isn’t unusual. They’ve got a protein that acts as an anti-freeze to keep their cells from freezing, says Judy. And they don’t bite people – or pets. Instead, these tiny-but-mighty jumpers subsist on leaf litter, decaying plants, and fungi. 

This week, if you’ve got snow and a warm day, go on a snow flea hunt!

Music for - and with - the birds!

Today kicks off the Great Backyard Bird Count - you can find out more about that here. Meanwhile,  I can't think of a better way to celebrate than to share a book that includes birds!

Beatrice and the Nightingale 

by Patricia Newman; illus by Isabelle Follath 

48 pages; ages 6-9

‎Margaret Quinlin Books, 2026

theme: music, biography, birds

 No one knew Beatrice would make history.  

Beatrice grew up surrounded by music and learned to play instruments. When she was nine, her mother brought home a cello, and Beatrice dreamed of sharing its music with the world. And she did. Then one night when she was playing her cello in the garden, she heard a nightingale echoing the notes she played. Beatrice played some more notes, up and down the strings – and the bird followed. She wanted to share this miracle like she had shared her cello performances. And then she had an idea: broadcast her cello-nightingale duets on the radio.

What I like about this book: The language is luscious. When Patricia Newman is describing the music surrounding Beatrice, she uses similes like “Violin as lively as a butterfly.” I like how Patricia shows Beatrice figuring out how to share this miraculous musical connection with the world, and some of the logistical problems she had to overcome. And I like the back matter: a timeline of notable moments in Beatrice’s life, and a look at the early days of radio and the controversy over the recording – some people claimed it was a hoax.

Patricia has written many books about STEM topics, from picture books to YA. I wanted to know more about what drives her to write, so I asked her One Question.

Me: What is your favorite thing about writing nonfiction?

Patricia: Nonfiction has the power to change people’s minds and call them to action. I love to connect readers to true nature stories with happy endings. Our news media tends to focus its energy on negative environmental headlines, and our children are listening. The people in my books, whether present-day scientists or historical figures like Beatrice Harrison, inspire hope in readers. In Beatrice and the Nightingale, Beatrice celebrated birds through her musical gift. But she didn’t stop there. She shared her passion with the world, and by doing so, connected millions of people to the miracle of nature. I call Beatrice and the Nightingale a Teach the Hope book.

Beyond the Books:

Come up with some similes to compare the sound of a musical instrument to something in nature. Patricia Newman used “violon as lively as a butterfly” in her story.

Spend time listening to one kind of bird. Try to learn one of its songs. If you play a musical instrument (like a recorder) try to repeat the bird song on that. Then sing – or play – the bird song you learned outside. How do the birds respond? I used to play loon calls on my recorder, and the loons would sing back to me!

When you listen to birds singing, how does it make you feel? If you don’t have any songbirds around, you can listen to a nightingale here. Try to capture how the birdsong makes you feel by painting or drawing or writing poetry or moving…

Patricia is a member of the STEAM Team Books group. You can find out more about her at her at her website www.patriciamnewman.com. You can find more about recently released STEM and STEAM at www.steamteambooks.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 copies provided by the publishers.

Explore Outdoors ~ Three Ways of Looking at a Tree

 This week take your camera or a sketch pad outdoors with you and spend a few moments looking at trees. It should be a bit warmer, so you can actually spend some time observing things in nature!

Look at a tree from a distance.

What do you notice about its shape?

What do you notice about the way its branches come off the trunk?

Get closer.

What do you notice about the bark?

About the twigs?

About buds?

What do you notice about tree shadows?

What Happens when a Lake Disappears?

The Vanishing Sea: The Tale of How the Aral Sea Became the Aral Desert 

by Dinara Mirtalipova 

40 pages; ages 5-8

Chronicle Books, 2026   

theme: ecology, water, nonfiction

 A long, long time ago, there was a lake so vast that the people called her MOTHER SEA.

This lake, called the Aral Sea, sits between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. It was formed by glaciers melting after the last ice age and for centuries it provided the people with fish to eat and water to drink. 

The people flourished. Villages grew into towns, which became cities. The people grew crops. “Like a selfless mother, the sea gave them ALL of her resources,” writes Dinara Mirtalipova. Until there came a time when she had no more to give.

What I like about this book: The spare text, paired with the folk-art illustrations clearly shows how the people’s desire for more riches killed the very thing that gave them life: Mother Sea. Two wordless pages show irrigation of cotton crops, and exporting it away from the community. 

I like that it’s a true story that also serves as a parable. And I like the back matter, which begins with an author’s note about her personal connection to the area, and the intensive cotton cultivation that drained the lake, Another spread provides a timeline of the history if the Aral Sea, from 17,000 years ago to present. Another section dives into the local and global ecological impact of the desertification of the Aral Sea.

Beyond the Books:

Check out what the Aral desert (previously lake) looks like from space at NASA website.

Turn your bedroom into the Aral Sea. Before the irrigation project in 1960, the Aral Sea was home to more than 20 different kinds of fish. Make as many different kinds of fish as you can, and hang them by threads from your ceiling so they look like they are swimming. Here are some ideas for different kinds of fish you can make.

After 10 days, take down half of the fish. How does your lake feel?

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 ~ almost a leaf skeleton

 Beech trees are notorious for hanging on to some of their dead leaves all winter. That trait is called marcescence (mar-SES-ents) . Beech trees do it; so do oaks. When I walk along the road on a windy day, I can hear the beech leaves rattle and shake. The other day I took a closer look at one of the beech leaves. It looked a bit like a stained glass window, but without colored glass.

Next time you're out walking 

look for leaves lingering on limbs. Notice their shape and color, whether they have jaggedy edges, and what kind of tree they are on.

Cute Chameleons!

Behold the Chameleon 

by Suzanne Slade; illus by Thomas Gonzalez

40 pages; ages 4-8

Peachtree, 2025

theme: animals, nature, nonfiction

Amazing chameleon! Four sturdy legs creep and crawl through lush, tall trees…

Many people know chameleons as a lizard that can change color. But did you know that they can move their eyes independently? That means a chameleon can keep one eye on its prey swiveling the other eye to keep a look-out for predators. Pretty nifty! Plus, there are more than 220 different species ranging in size from as small as your thumbnail to as big as a housecat. And then there’s that super-speedy sticky tongue that can zap prey faster than you can take two giant steps.

What I like about this book: Spare lyrical language is paired with layered text providing alternate ways to read this book. Large text focuses on different aspects of chameleons, from their activities (stalking, dining) to attributes (victorious, meticulous) and allows for read-aloud opportunities. Text in smaller font provides more information about each chameleon characteristic and is perfect for older kids or as a fast fact to toss out in a discussion. Back matter provides further considerations of chameleons, and a short bibliography points the way for curious kids (and adults) who might want to read more about some of the studies.

Beyond the Book:

Craft a Color-Changing chameleon – all you need are paper plates, paint, a brass fastener, and a chameleon stencil. Check out this video from PBS for how to do it.

Make a paper chameleon with a blow-out tongue. You’ll need some colored paper and a straw and a couple more easy-to-find things. Here’s a video showing how to do it.

Create some counting and math games for a paper chameleon. Draw and color a chameleon, and tape it to a plastic cup or other container. Then use small pom-poms for flies. You can have kids use a clothespin or tweezers to “feed” flies to the chameleon by dropping them in his cup. You can count flies – or roll a die to determine how many flies to feed the chameleon. Here’s a resource for those games.

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 ~ how snow sticks

 

Walking through the woods on a snowy afternoon I noticed the differences in how snow stuck to things. Tree trunks, for example. 

 

Some trees had thick scaly bark, and falling snow accumulated in the crevices around them. Trees with smoother bark had hardly any. But, given the wind, some had stuck to the tree trunks anyway.

 

 Winter weeds, on the other hand, ended up with Snow Hats!

 

Next Time it Snows: take a walk around your neighborhood and notice where the snow ends up on trees and plants. 

 

Further observation: does where and how snow sticks to trees and winter weeds vary with the water content of the snow? Powdery snow forms in cold, dry air so it doesn't have much moisture. Flakes that form when the temperature is near freezing will have more moisture. That makes them stickier - great for making snowballs - but also heavier.

What Animals Leave Behind...

Scat, poop, dung … whatever you call it, tells a story: about the animal, about its environment, and possibly about the future. These three books look at the things wild animals leave behind, each in its own way. Their themes: animals, poop, nutrient cycle, observation

Scat: The Incredible Science of Wildlife Poop (Books for a Better Earth) 

by Anita Sanchez 

96 pages; ages 8-12

‎Holiday House, 2025

Poop, writes Anita Sanchez, is full of surprises. “It can be food. It can be shelter. It can be life…” Poop carries seeds, helps fertilize soil and oceans, and even carries messages to friends and family. Eight chapters discuss what poop is, how it connects the lives of plants and animals, the kinds of information scientists can gather from studying scat, and why some animals eat their own. 

There are a whole bunch of things I love about this book. First is the sly humor Anita injects into the topic. Take section headings for example: “Thinking like an avocado” or “Does a Bear poop in the forest?” Inquiring minds want to know! There are some truly great photos of animals taking dumps in the wild. For folks who want more, there are sidebars, titled “Scat Science” that dive into such topics as why wildlife poop doesn’t smell bad, dino doo, and moths that look like bird droppings. What’s really fun is the Field Guide to Scat at the end of the book, with photos of droppings from insects, birds, and mammals.

Ready, Steady, Sloth! 

by Justin Anderson; illustrated by Manu Montoya 

32 pages; ages 5-8

‎Candlewick, 2025

High up in the forest canopy, hidden among the leaves, there is a sloth. 

Mama sloth doesn’t move much, but today she needs to go down the tree for a special mission. And she’s taking her baby with her. Down, down, down they go. Oh dear… mama sloth is going so slowly you’re going to wonder whether she’ll make it. This journey is important because sloth has to “go” and the only place she can do that is down on the ground.

What I like about this book: Layered text allows younger readers (or read-alouds) to focus on the story of mama and baby sloth’s adventure down the tree, while introducing some of the other forest creatures – including jaguar! Will he find them? Smaller text provides sloth facts (did you know sloths can’t fart?) and back matter introduces all five three-fingered sloth species and the two two-fingered sloths.

For another book on the topic, check out Kyle Goes Alone 

The Secret of Poo Mountain: Book 4 (Whose Poo Is This?) 

by Song-eui Park; illus. by Duck-Young Kim 

88 pages; ages 7-11

‎Lerner/ Graphic Universe   ‎ March 3, 2026

There are as many ways to write about poo as there are kinds. This book is fourth in an educational comic series that takes readers on a journey to learn about the ecology of animals and the sorts of information that can be derived from the study of poo. Previous books have taken Dr. Egg’s team to the desert and on a boat. In this book, they climb a steep mountain. The three Korean scientists who make up the team learn such things as what an animal eats and where it lives by studying the scat left behind.

What I like about this book: Like other books in the series, this one is structured like a scavenger hunt, with each chapter revealing a new clue. That mystery, and the graphic format help make it appealing to readers who might not want to spend time with a field guide.

Beyond the Books: 

Check out this video, Whose Scat is That? Created by the folks at the Saint Louis Zoo.

Write a list of as many words you can think of (or find) that refer to “poo.”  Don’t forget about dinosaurs…

Create your own story or comic about animals doing something in the wild: making breakfast, going to sleep, combing their fur...

You can find an online “field guide to scat” here. Remember: if you head out on a scat-hunt, look but don’t touch!

https://a-z-animals.com/articles/a-field-guide-to-identifying-wild-animal-scat-in-north-america/

Today we’re sharing Ready, Steady, Sloth! with Perfect Picture Book Friday. It’s a wonderful gathering where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. 

Thanks for dropping by today. On Monday we'll be sharing Scat over at at Marvelous Middle Grade Monday, a hangout for MG book bloggers. It's over at Greg Pattridge's blog, Always in the Middle, so hop over to see what other people are reading. 

This week’s review copies were provided by the publishers.