Hawk Mother: The Story of a Red-tailed Hawk Who Hatched Chicks

Title:   Hawk Mother:  The Story of a Red-tailed Hawk Who Hatched Chickens
Author:   Kara Hagedorn
Series:   —
Recommended for:   students in grades K-4, either as a class read-aloud, one-on-one sharing or for independent reading
Pages:   unpaged
Call Number/Link:  E 598.944 HAG

Rating:   ****

 

Synopsis:

What happens when two baby chickens find themselves in a nest with a hawk? Don’t hawks usually eat chickens? Sunshine, a red-tailed hawk, can no longer fly free. But her instinct to be a mother is so strong that she builds a nest in her aviary every spring and lays two infertile eggs. One year, Kara, her caretaker, decides to try something different. She gives Sunshine two chicken eggs. Join zoologist Kara Hagedorn and Sunshine to find out what happens in this delightful story of interspecies cooperation.

Comments:

This book is both informative nonfiction for children and an interesting read-aloud.  Win-Win!  I think kids in kindergarten and up would be able to understand it best.  (And enjoy it most due to “getting” it.)

 

 

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John Deere, That’s Who!

Title: John Deere, That’s Who
Author: Tracy Nelson Maurer
Series: N/A
Recommended for: K-3 grade
Pages: 40 pages
Call Number/Link:  E B DEERE, J.

Synopsis: 

Back in the 1830s, who was a young blacksmith from Vermont, about to make his mark on American history? John Deere, that’s who! Who moved to Illinois, where farmers were struggling to plow through the thick, rich soil they called gumbo? Who tinkered and tweaked and tested until he invented a steel plow that sliced into the prairie easy as you please? Long before the first tractor, who changed farming forever? John Deere, that’s who!

Comments:  This is a simple read for your young John Deere lover.  It has nice pictures and simple text on how John Deere, a blacksmith, changed farming.  I liked how it brought up his failures, but he didn’t give up.

 

Rhino in The House

Title: Rhino In the House: The True Story of Saving Samia
Author: Daniel Kirk
Series: N/A
Recommended for: K-3 grade
Pages:40
Call Number/Link: E 599.668 KIR 

Synopsis: This is a nonfiction picture book for young children. It tells the true story of Anna Merz, a wildlife protector in Africa, and Samia, a black rhinoceros she saved after it was abandoned by its mother.

Comment: The pictures are great, especially of Samia. The story is sweet, and informative.   I think this is a great book for kids to learn about conservation, and social behaviors of animals.

 

Forest Life and Woodland Creatures

Title: Forest Life and Woodland Creatures
Author: DK
Series: Practical Facts For Little People
Recommended for: Preschool – 3rd grade
Pages: 32
Call Number/Link:  E 591.73 FOR

Synopsis: Packed with fun activities, crafts, reading games, and amazing facts, kids can meet all the cuddly creatures and amazing sights found in the woods—from bunnies to bears to bugs—in this educational project book.

Comments: This book is marketed towards parents looking for nature information and crafts to read together with their children. It has all the great DK illustrations that make it appealing to kids, with facts that make it educational enough for parents. I even learned a new word; squirrel nests are called dreys. There are usually a few pages of illustrations, with small chunks of information, then a spread on doing a nature craft like pine cone owls. The “reading games” are things like “count the bugs in the log” and “help the bunny through the maze. It does make it a bit more interactive, but is more of a one on one reference book than something you would read aloud to a group. My only caveat is that we’ve only had a the book for a few months and pages are already pulling apart from the spine. Also, it is easily confused with another Easy Non-Fiction DK book, Woodland and Forest, that has many of the same pictures, but is smaller and for slightly older kids.

 

Baby Dolphin’s First Swim

Title:   Baby Dolphin’s First Swim
Author:   American Museum of Natural History
Series:   not applicable
Recommended for:   a primary audience of preschoolers and early elementary school students, although it will also appeal to older kids and adults due to its clear appealing photos and interesting information
Pages:   approximately 25 p.
Call Number/Link:   E 599.53 BAB

Rating:   ****

Synopsis:

After a baby dolphin is born in the vast ocean, his mother and other dolphins help him as he learns and grows.

Comments:

How could you go wrong with baby dolphins?  Preschoolers can browse the book’s photos happily – and have fun learning a bit about dolphins.

i would guess that the book is actually intended for students in grades K-3, although it will appeal to a much wider audience.

 

 

 

Becoming Bach–New

 

Title: Becoming Bach
Author: Tom Leonard
Series: N/A
Recommended for: Pre-schoolers and up, especially for homeschoolers looking for an arts supplement.
Pages: 40
Call Number/Link:  E B BACH, S.

Synopsis:

“Highlights the life and achievements of the eighteenth-century German composer and musician, and examines the development of his most important compositions.”

 

My thoughts:

This beautifully-illustrated biography of J.S. Bach does a good job of presenting a great composer to young children. I was nearly mesmerized by the lovely pictures, and just wanted to keep staring at them!

One note: the book describes the deaths of his parents as “after mother and father went to heaven…” Death is definitely a difficult subject for some families, and would be a great discussion point for this book.

The historical notes in the back of the book were also quite interesting; I’ve read some biographical material on Bach that seems to disagree with some of the author’s assertions (eg, my own research seems to indicate that Bach was asked to leave Arnstadt because he took a very long unapproved leave of absence from his position; insulted a student; and engaged in a physical fight with the man, rather than writing music that upset the Church authorities as the author asserts. However, verifying this would take more time than the desk really allows!) but the book itself is lovely and highly recommended! –Rebekah

 

Hatching Chicks in Room 6

Title:   Hatching Chicks in Room 6
Author:   Caroline Arnold
Series:   —
Recommended for:  grades K-4 as a readaloud, grades 2 and up for children to read by themselves.  Could work for older preschoolers for one-on-one reading.
Pages:   36 p.
Call Number/Link:  E 636.5 ARN

Rating:   ****

 

 

Synopsis:

Kindergartners learn about the life cycle of a chicken, incubating eggs, watching them hatch and raising them until they are old enough to go to the chicken coop.

 

Comments:

It is no surprise that I enjoyed learning more about this process.  Getting to watch the eggs hatch is one of my favorite things at both the County Fair and the Museum of Science and Industry.

This book is written in a way that is interesting to children and includes clear photo illustrations that enhance the text.  The photos make the book more interesting and eye-catching.  They also help children understand how the chicks develop.

This book would be a great classroom readaloud for grades K-2, but it could also be fine to read it out loud to kids in grades 3-4.  Older preschoolers could also enjoy it one-on-one, especially if they are fascinated by chickens, eggs or farm life.