Hip-Pocket Papa
By Sandra Markle. Illustrated by Alan Marks. Charlesbridge, 2010. Ages 5–7.
As with seahorses and emperor penguins, the Australian hip-pocket frog papa is the parent that raises the kids. Markle’s text follows a father frog through the process, from guarding the eggs to watching baby frogs set out on their own. After eggs hatch, the tadpoles wiggle up Dad’s legs to pockets on his hips, where they remain safely while he searches for water and food to sustain them. As Markel relates the frog’s story, she introduces other creatures who share the frog’s habitat, identifying each and describing them all more fully in a glossary. In Finding Home, Markle tells the heartwarming tale, based on a true story, of a displaced koala and her joey who wandered into an Australian residential neighborhood.
Hook
By Ed Young. Illustrated by the author. Neal Porter, 2009. Ages 4–6.
A Native American boy finds what he thinks is a chicken egg and brings it home for a hen to nurture. What emerges is definitely not a chicken; its beak is curved, and its wings are strong. Mother Hen knows that Hook, as the bird is called, is meant for “a higher place” than a hay-strewn barnyard; she knows this chick is meant to fly. But who will teach him? After Hook’s own attempts at flight fail, the boy takes Hook, who turns out to be an eagle, to a canyon, where the bird is able to soar. The power here is in the pictures, especially those of magnificent Hook with wings spread wide.
How Groundhog’s Garden Grew
By Lynne Cherry. Illustrated by the author. Blue Sky Press, 2003. Ages 5–7.
When Squirrel catches Little Groundhog stealing vegetables from his garden, he decides to teach Little Groundhog how to grow them himself. Together they collect the seeds, store them until spring, plant them, and harvest them. The resulting garden is so lush that they are able to share what they’ve grown with the other animals in the neighborhood. Cherry intertwines the facts and vocabulary of gardening into an entertaining story, illustrated with a combination of pictures related to the tale and that convey information about the plants and animals that make an appearance in the story.
How Things Work in the Yard
By Lisa Campbell Ernst. Illustrated by the author. Blue Apple, 2011. Ages 4–6.
How does a sprinkler work? How do dandelions grow? What do ants do? Ernst asks and answers twenty-one different questions about ordinary things children see in their backyards. She devotes one double-page spread to each topic, presenting a few sentences of basic explanation along with multiple illustrations with further commentary. Squirrels and butterflies are among the subjects included in this pleasing book, which encourages children not only to ask questions but also to look closely around their own world. A companion, How Things Work in the House, covers items such as soap, toilets, scissors, and bananas.
How to Heal a Broken Wing
By Bob Graham. Illustrated by the author. Candlewick, 2008. Ages 4–6.
In an unnamed city a pigeon falls to the pavement, its wing broken. Busy grown-ups pass by the bird. What does a small, injured bird matter to them? But a little boy and his mother do stop, and they take the injured bird home. They care for it, hoping it will someday fly again—and in a heart-lifting climax, it does. A tender story that children will want to read again and again. “The Trouble with Dogs…” Said Dad and “Let’s Get a Pup!” Said Kate show the Australian writer/illustrator’s more comical side.
How Many Baby Pandas?
By Sandra Markle. Illustrated with photos. Walker, 2009. Ages 5–7.
Baby pandas, most from the China’s Wolong Giant Panda Breeding Center, are the focus of this book, which provides counting practice while it takes a look at an endangered species. It begins with the birth of one panda, tiny, pink, and naked. Then more pandas are born, with photos tracking their development as they grow into cubs. Suddenly there are six; then there are eight. The final page shows sixteen cubs, an exceptional number to arrive during the course of a single year. Markle closes with more facts about pandas and some information on the breeding center. Follow up with Nick Dowson’s Tracks of a Panda.
Hurry and the Monarch
By Antoine Ó Flatharta. Illustrated by Meilo So. Knopf, 2005. Ages 4–6.
Hurry, an old tortoise, slow and steady, strikes up a conversation with a monarch butterfly on her way from Canada to her winter home in Mexico. Life changes little for the tortoise as the seasons pass. In spring, the monarch returns, and Hurry watches as she lays her eggs on some milkweed, then flies away toward the end of her life. In spring Hurry is there to watch caterpillars emerge and see the cycle start again. On the endpapers, a map of North America shows the 2,000-mile route monarchs take to their winter home, and more information about these amazing insects is appended. Sam Swope’s Gotta Go! Gotta Go! offers another glimpse of the monarch’s remarkable stamina. In the Monarch and Milkweed poet Helen Frost pays equal attention to the butterfly and to the plants that nurture it, while Lois Ehlert shows colorful butterflies of different kinds in Waiting for Wings.
In the Trees, Honey Bees
By Lori Mortensen. Illustrated by Cris Arbo. Dawn, 2009. Ages 4–6.
From “Morning light, / Warm and bright” to “Chilly night, / Cluster tight,” simple rhyming couplets and photo-realistic, full-bleed illustrations track the life and work of honeybees, with additional facts placed at the bottom of each page. Close-ups of the inside of a hive—where various kinds of bees dance, bring pollen, care for their queen, and feed larvae—help give young children a solid understanding of what bees do as well as why they should care about the tiny creatures.
Insect Detective
By Steve Voake. Illustrated by Charlotte Voake. Candlewick, 2010. Ages 4–6.
The cover of this book is a clear invitation to explore the outside world, and the words on the pages will further pique kids’ curiosity: “Lift up a stone and you might see an earwig scuttle out.” In similar fashion, Voake encourages children to look for moths, bees, caterpillars, beetles, and other insects, presenting just enough detail to help them understand a little bit about the habits of their quarry and recognize it when they see it. For the preschoolers who want photos of creepy crawlies instead of drawings, ask your librarian for a copy of Charlotte Guillain’s Bug Babies, which has plenty of amazing pictures as well as a text appropriate for younger children.
An Island Grows
By Lola M. Schaefer. Illustrated by Cathie Felstead. Greenwillow, 2006. Ages 4–6.
Geology is an unusual subject for a picture book, but Schaefer manages not only to make it compelling but also accessible to preschoolers. “Magma glows. / Volcano blows. / Lava flows / and flows / and flows. / An island grows.” Schaefer’s text is quite brief, but it still gives children enough information to make clear how islands are born and how they gradually evolve into a community that supports people, other animals, and plants. An afterword describes the evolutionary process in more detail.
Leaf Man
By Lois Ehlert. Illustrated by the author. Harcourt, 2005. Ages 4–6.
“Leaf Man used to live near me,” begins this whimsical invitation to go into the backyard or to the neighborhood park to collect fall leaves. Ehlert uses dozens of leaves in this book, artfully arranging them on the pages to create clever collages to suggest an assortment of familiar objects—chickens, carrots, and Leaf Man. With acorn eyes and maple-leaf head, Leaf Man floats across fields and forests and mountain, all shaped from different kinds of leaves. In her author’s note, Ehlert talks about collecting leaves wherever she goes, and she includes a page showing the leaves she uses in the pictures, identifying each one so preschoolers will know what they find on their own leaf hunts. Ehlert is also the author of the award-winning picture book Waiting for Wings, which follows the life cycle of four different kinds of butterflies.
Leaves
By David Ezra Stein. Illustrated by the author. Putnam, 2007. Ages 4–6.
Young Bear lives on a tiny island, which he shares with flowers, butterflie
s, rabbits, squirrels, and some trees. He loves his life. One day he sees a leaf fall to the ground. What’s going on? More leaves fall! He tries to stick them back on the branches, “but it was not the same.” As he watches and worries, he grows sleepy. So he finds a cave, snuggles into a pile of leaves, and dreams away the winter. When he wakes he sees tiny leaves on the trees and joyfully bids them welcome. Use this tender story to open discussion about seasonal changes but also about animals that hibernate.
Looking Closely along the Shore
By Frank Serafini. Illustrated with photos by the author. Kids Can, 2008. Ages 5–7.
City kids won’t be as likely as children who have visited the shore to guess the objects showcased in this guessing game. Even so they’ll still enjoy this book; they’ll have fun learning about something strange and new. A mysterious object appears in partial photo on one page. Children are asked to “look very closely. What do you see? A flower? A fossil? What could it be?” The next page shows the full photo of and supplies some facts about the sea star, coconut palm, mussel, sea anemone, or other seashore inhabitant. The book is part of a series, including Looking Closely in the Rain Forest and Looking Closely around the Pond.
National Geographic Little Kids First Big Book of Animals
By Catherine D. Hughes. Illustrated with photographs. National Geographic, 2010. Ages 4–6.
Animals are a very popular subject among preschoolers, and this is a zoo in a book. It’s also nicely designed for parent-child sharing, taking inspiration from National Geographic Little Kids magazine. Hughes has chosen thirty mostly familiar species and assembled the kinds of facts that will most interest young children (a zebra foal “can walk when it is only 20 minutes old”). The photos, numbering more than one hundred, are dazzling. They transport kids to grasslands, forests, deserts, and mountains around the world to meet butterflies, frogs, giraffes, lions, spiders, and more. The pictures are so appealing children will want to “read” this book on their own. National Geographic Little Kids First Book of Why and National Geographic Little Kids First Book of Dinosaurs follow the same format and are just as engaging as this book.
No One but You
By Douglas Wood. Illustrated by P. J. Lynch. Candlewick, 2011. Ages 4–6.
Wood and Lynch encourage children to use their senses to experience the small miracles of the natural world: the feel of walking barefoot in a rain puddle; the slurpy tickle of a puppy’s tongue; the chatter of a squirrel high in a tree. “No one but you can listen with your ears to…wind in the pines.” Soothing words pair smoothly with realistic pictures that make immediate connections between children and nature.
Ohio Thunder
By Denise Dowling Mortensen. Illustrated by Kate Kiesler. Clarion, 2006. Ages 4–6.
It’s a hot, sunny day on an Ohio farm. Soon clouds gather, and the sky darkens. The wind blows, lightning strikes, hail beats down on the tall corn, and cows bend their heads against the pouring rain. Mortensen tells this story of a thunderstorm in concise rhyming verse that makes each shift in the weather a sensory experience. “Marble hail / pelting crops. / Goosebump shiver, / icy drops,” which all gives way to sunshine again as the storm passes through. Storm-shy kids will see that scary stuff eventually goes away.
Old Bear
By Kevin Henkes. Illustrated by the author. Greenwillow, 2008. Ages 4–6.
Snowflakes fall outside. “Old Bear slept and dreamed,” then slept some more, dreaming whimsical dreams about all the wonderful things he experienced while he was awake. In his dreams, he looks forward to each season. In winter, the stars mingle playfully with snowflakes. In spring, a giant flower is his cozy bed. In summer, the sun is a daisy, and blueberries fall from the sky like rain. And in fall, red and yellow fish jump from the stream. When Old Bear finally wakes, he discovers a glorious new spring, with lots of new things waiting for him to explore.
Older Than the Stars
By Karen C. Fox, Illustrated by Nancy Davis. Charlesbridge, 2010. Ages 5–7.
In energetic yet informative language, Fox presents current theories about the origin of the universe. After pointing out, “You are as old as the universe itself,” she explains how the universe evolved from a speck of cosmic dust, and follows the course of its evolution through the formation of our sun and the Earth. Younger listeners may need help with terms such as proton and even universe; a glossary will equip adults with all the information they need to answer children’s questions; and a timeline concisely visualizes the enormity of the idea. For a lovely look at our emotional connection to stars, read Mary Lyn Ray’s joyous, contemplative Stars.
Pierre the Penguin: A True Story
By Jean Marzollo. Illustrated by Laura Regan. Sleeping Bear Press, 2010. Ages 4–7.
At the age of fourteen, a penguin named Pierre is transferred to an aquarium at the California Academy of Sciences museum to spend his last years. Unfortunately, he becomes ill. He recovers, but he has lost feathers on both his back and his chest, and although he is otherwise healthy, other penguins begin to shun him. Inspired by the raincoat occasionally worn by her dog, aquatic biologist Pam Schaller, who cares for Pierre, comes up with the idea of creating a wetsuit for him, like the protective suits worn by divers. With no more than a few lines per page, Marzollo tells Pierre’s sweet story of illness and recovery, at the same time divulging a few secrets about what it’s like to work in a museum.
Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors
By Joyce Sidman. Illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski. Houghton Mifflin, 2009. Ages 4–6.
The colors of the changing seasons are a favorite topic for children’s book writers, but poet Sidman’s book approaches the subject in a fresh way. The colors she associates with the seasons aren’t always those that come first come to mind. Spring brings green buds, but red birds sing in the treetops as well, and in winter pink “prickles: / warm fingers / against cold cheeks.” There’s a color surprise on every beautifully illustrated page of verse.
Sea Horse: The Shyest Fish in the Sea
By Chris Butterworth. Illustrated by John Lawrence. Candlewick, 2006. Ages 4–7.
“Every day at sunrise, Sea Horse swims slowly off to meet his mate. They twist their tails together and twirl gently around, changing color until they match.” This is only one of the amazing facts that Butterworth assembles in his investigation of a day in the life of one of the ocean’s most curious creatures. Using Barbour’s seahorse as his model, he explains physical attributes (“a head like a horse, a tail like a monkey”), habitat, behavior, reproduction, the role of the father in caring for the young, and how young develop. Pair this with Eric Carle’s Mr. Seahorse.
Swirl by Swirl: Spirals in Nature
By Joyce Sidman. Illustrated by Beth Krommes. Houghton Mifflin, 2011. Ages 4–6.
Sidman, the author of Red Sings from Treetops (above), is known for looking at the natural world in unexpected ways. In this book, she explores a lovely shape that appears in both the plant and animal kingdom. One can see it in the snail, in the lady fern, in a ram’s horns, in a spider’s web, and in the ocean’s waves. Even the copyright page is designed in a spiral form. Each section of concise, free-verse text opens with the words “a spiral,” and then goes on to characterize the shape as strong, clever, growing, or reaching out. The pictures are precise and amazing; each animal and plant is clearly identified, and final pages provide more information for parents to share.
Time to Eat
By Steve Jenkins and Robin Page. Illustrated by Steve Jenkins. Houghton Mifflin, 2011. Ages 4–7.
Birds peck seeds, rabbits nibble carrots, and the family dog eats his dinner, sometimes without bothering to chew. But how do other animals eat? For that matter, what do they eat, and how do they find it? Ostriches eat rocks to help their digestion. Shrews must eat every few hours or they’ll die; anacondas, which can open their jaws wide enough to accommodate a pig, digest their food so slowly they only eat a few times a year. The facts are fascinating, and there are
more in an illustrated appendix. The author-illustrator team takes much the same approach in Time to Sleep and Time for a Bath. Older children able to handle books with more scientific details will like What Do You Do with a Tail Like This? and How to Clean a Hippopotamus.
Turtle, Turtle, Watch Out!
By April Pulley Sayre. Illustrated by Annie Patterson. Charlesbridge, 2009. Ages 5–7.
Using the title as a refrain, Sayre explains the various hazards a single sea turtle might encounter during its development from egg to mature egg layer. The book unfolds as a series of suspenseful encounters. Raccoons and herons eye the hatchling as a possible snack. Gulls and sharks and fisherman’s nets threaten it in the water. Each time, the turtle, shown gradually increasing in size, escapes. The book sends a clear message to kids to think about animal survival away from the zoo or the barnyard.
Under the Snow
By Melissa Stewart. Illustrated by Constance R. Bergum. Peachtree, 2009. Ages 4–7.
The author of the A Place for…science book series explores various ways creatures cope when snow covers the ground. Ladybugs crowd together to keep warm; centipedes winter in rotting logs; frogs sink down in the mud; beavers retreat to their lodges. Some animals spend cold months frozen solid! An award-winning writer with numerous books to her credit, Stewart knows how to make the natural world seem both fascinating and fun.
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