Back from the Brink ~ Saving Animals from Extinction

 Back from the Brink: Saving animals from extinction
by Nancy F. Castaldo
176 pages; ages 10-12
HMH Books for Young Readers, 2018

"We are not alone on this great spinning planet," writes Nancy Castaldo. "Alongside us are countless creatures with whom we share the earth's space and resources. Sometimes we collide, and when we do, it's usually the animals that lose out."

In the introduction, Nancy discusses preservation, the Endangered Species Act, and how humans can work together to help repair some of the damage done to wildlife populations. Individual chapters highlight whooping cranes, gray wolves, bald eagles, the giant Galapagos tortoises, American alligators, California condors, and American bison.

Having never had the opportunity to visit the Galapagos, I was intrigued to learn about the tortoises. They are big - weighing 500 or more pounds - and live a long time. One tortoise, owned by Charles Darwin in 1835, died in 2006! These tortoises are crucial member of their ecosystems, Nancy writes. They help distribute seed for plants that, in turn, provide food for birds and lizards.

 The problem: goats. Goats introduced to the islands have destroyed the forests that provide important shade and moisture for the tortoises. People brought goats to the island; people can help remove them so the island ecosystem can recover and provide a safe home for the tortoises. Nancy shows how that is happening on one of the island, allowing tortoises to come back from the brink of extinction.

I love the way Nancy ends with a Call to Action. There are specific things that people - even kids - can do to help preserve wildlife. For example, planting native plants could help save endangered butterflies. Making sure your microtrash (bottle caps and other small plastic bits) ends up in the trash bin keeps plastic out of the mouths of wildlife. Preserving wetlands in your area will help the birds and other wildlife that depend on those habitats. Reducing the use of herbicides and other pesticides will keep birds - and humans - healthier.

Today we're joining the STEM Friday roundup. Review copy from publisher.

Wednesday Explorers Club ~ rainy day maze

One afternoon, the kids in the Lego Club at the local library constructed marble mazes. This one is a garden maze, but there was a fruit stand, a bridge, a tall maze, and an underground maze.

Cool thing #1: all you need is a bunch of blocks, a base, and a marble. And when you get tired of the maze, you can move the blocks to create a new maze. Here's one in motion.

Cool thing #2: if you don't have Legos, you could raid the recycling bin for cereal boxes, corrugated cardboard, or maybe the cover of a discarded hardback book. Instead of clicking blocks on a base, you'd need to glue maze walls. Or use a stapler or duct tape.

Cool thing #3: if it's a sunny day, you can make a maze outside for your friends to follow. Think about how you might get help mowing a maze, or lining up hay bales (or boxes), or using stones or cement blocks - even pine cones - to outline a maze.

The hard part: creating the maze so you (or a marble) can travel from one end to the other, and including false trails that end in a road block.

Activity books for emerging scientists, engineers, and explorers

Summer is here! If you've got a road trip planned - and even if you don't - you may be looking for a fun activity book that keeps kids involved in STEM exploration over the summer. Here are three that provide for lots of open-ended investigation.

Iggy Peck's Big Project Book for Amazing Architects
by Andrea Beaty; illus. by David Roberts
96 pages; ages 5-8
Abrams, 2017

 Do you like to build things? Doodle? Dream up new creations? If so, this book is for you! Graph-paper-ruled pages are filled with engineering and architectural challenges, ideas, and things to imagineer (that's like imagining and engineering all smooshed together).

The book introduces the story of Iggy Peck and then gets you started with a list of things that might be useful for architectural designs - from rubber bands and paper clips to boxes, plastic bottles, and a T-square. There's a great show-and-tell about balance, rhythm, and movement in design, and then you're on your own to design a new city hall, school, or haunted house. There's a similar book for emerging engineers called,  Rosie Revere's Big Project Book for Bold Engineers.

My Steam Notebook
by Darcy Pattison
156 pages, ages 6-10
Mim's House, 2017

Don't let the subtitle, "150 years of primary source documents from American scientists" fool you - at its heart, this is an activity book. There are indeed documents, photos of pages from scientists' notebooks and photos. One scientist loved to keep lists, another went on an ant safari and drew maps. As for STEAM, that refers to Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math.

After introducing a scientist and his or her notebook, there are a few pages that are blank on one side and graph-paper-ruled on the other for you to jot notes, draw observations, make maps, record data... in effect, turn this book into your own scientist's notebook. There's a fill-in-the-blank table of contents at the front, and a make-your-own glossary at the back, for new words you discover as you explore your world.

Doodle Journeys
by Dawn Devries Sokol
160 pages; ages 8-12
Amulet Books, 2018

This fill-in journal is just the right size for tucking in a travel bag or backpack, which makes it the perfect thing to take along whether traveling by car or plane (or sail boat, canoe, bicycle, foot). It's designed to dip in anywhere, and use during more than one trip.

Introductory pages include items you might want to pack in a "travel tool kit" - things like pens, colored pencils, glue stick, tape, small scissors, a small ziplock to collect stamps, receipts, candy wrappers, etc. for collage.... stuff that could easily fit into a pencil pouch.

The book is divided into three chapters: Doodle Drills to get you going; Imaginary Trips for the creative mind; and Real Journeys for in-real-life adventures - even if it's just a walk to the library. You can fill the pages with drawings and observations of plants, animals, buildings, and other things you see, as well as use Dawn's prompts.

So go. Get a journal or an activity book. Explore new ideas, new places, and fill the pages. Review copies provided by publishers.