Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2021 i Book Links

CLASSROOM CONNECTIONS Grades 2 to 5 Unearthing Science Standards Delve into the world beneath our feet with this list of nonfiction titles that explore the mysterious underground and its denizens. By Kathleen McBroom illustrated by Jason Chin. Alot of people take the ground for granted, but kids know better. They’re always poking and digging and wondering, What’s going on down there? Who lives down there? Scientists know better, too, and like kids, they ask the same kinds of questions about the history of the earth, its systems, its place in the universe, its organisms, eco-systems, and habitats. We get to the bottom of it all by collecting recent titles that look at what’s happening down below. Some tell about places far, far beneath our everyday world, and others talk about…

BOOK LINKS BOOK HOOKS Tropical Rain Forests By Angela Leeper Over and Under the Rainforest. By Kate Messner. Illus. by Christopher Silas Neal. Chronicle. K-Gr. 2. 591.734. The eyelash palm pit viper is a small but extremely venomous snake in Central American rain forests. Because it’s arboreal, spending much of its time coiled around trees, you never want to grab trees while hiking in the rain forest! Into the Forest. By Christiane Dorion. Illus. by Jane McGuinness. 2020. 64p. Bloomsbury. K–Gr. 3. 634.9. Sloths rarely touch the rain forest floor. Instead, they hang upside down from branches and sleep most of the day. Green algae grow on sloths’ thick fur, helping to camouflage them. Anteaters, Bats and Boas: The Amazon Rainforest from the Forest Floor to the Treetops. By Roxie Munro.…

CLASSROOM CONNECTIONS Kindergarten to Grade 8 Our Fragile Planet Nonfiction books for young and middle readers highlight the overarching impact that climate change has on different ecosystems and the steps humans can take to bring change to their world. By Sonja Cole illustrated by Rebecca Gibbon. The planet is warming more rapidly than scientists previously thought, with consequences being suffered all over the globe. These books highlight some of the ecosystems that hang in the balance, the plants and animals who depend on them for life, and ways humans affect and are affected by life on a changing planet. Younger Readers Animal Homes. By Mary Holland. 2020. 32p. Arbordale, o.p. Gr. 1–3. 591. Full-page photos show the homes of select bugs, birds, and mammals, highlighting the importance and fragility of…

CLASSROOM CONNECTIONS Preschool to Grade 6 Books That Rock On Readers will find new appreciation for rocks and their place among Earth’s inhabitants in this list of rock-centric fiction and nonfiction titles. By Angela Leeper illustrated by Katie Kath. Forming for millions of years, often in one place, rocks can seem dull. We drive over them, walk past them, and kick them without thinking about their stories. Astronaut Neil Armstrong knew their value, however, when he stated, “Geologists have a saying: rocks remember.” Many of the books in this article showcase the value of rocks and the history of the earth they “remember” and reveal to us. Other books recognize that rocks can be appreciated simply for the way they skip across water, sparkle in the light, or serve as…

CLASSROOM CONNECTIONS Kindergarten to Grade 12 Blazing Wildfires These fiction and nonfiction titles reveal scientific facts about wildfires and the climate change that causes them to worsen year by year, as well as the social and economic fallout that comes in their wake.  By Pat Scales illustrated by Danny Popovici. The immense wildfires that have blazed their way through parts of California, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington in 2020 and 2021 are believed to be fueled by climate change. According to one report, the wildfires in California alone burned 4.3 million acres last year. Though the national news has done an excellent job of informing the public about these fires, many people still don’t grasp the shear magnitude of the devastation caused by the smoke and flames. Entire communities have…

COLUMN Teen Links Speeding Up and Slowing Down by Heather Booth My daughters are about two years apart, with one year separating them in school. It was just days after my younger daughter’s tenth birthday party when schools closed. Her sister, at a wizened 12-and-a-half years old and in junior high, was pulling away from her, getting her first tastes of adolescent freedom. They were in different schools, had different friends, different schedules, and different hobbies. And then, overnight, all of that was gone: they had only each other. In the liminal spaces of lockdown and social restrictions, I observed something interesting. My 12-year-old embraced the loves that she had eschewed once she became a junior-high-schooler. And my 10-year-old exhibited a grace and maturity more like that of her sister’s…