Visit Alyson Beecher on Wednesdays for Non-Fiction Picture Books at Kidlit Frenzy. From Alyson and others, you will discover terrific non-fiction books!These four books all can become jumping off points for further research and learning. Some are appropriate for young learners; some seem better for older middle-grade students. I enjoyed each one.
I'm first celebrating that my "hold" at the library was rather short to get this wonderful new book by Melissa Sweet and Steve Jenkins. Learning about all the sounds numerous different animals make - bark, grunt, squeal, roar, whine, bellow, growl, and laugh - creates a fun connection especially for young readers. They can make all those sounds, too! The end page asks that question of the reader, "Can you?" The format repeats as in "Can an aardvark bark? No, but it can grunt?" The next double-page spread shows other animals who grunt, too, like river otters and, a surprise, an oyster toadfish! While each part shows familiar animals, the unfamiliar is interesting too. As a collection, we're taught that these sounds are used for various reasons, warnings of danger, invitations to mate, while fighting and/or greeting. Jenkin's collages show the animals realistically, but habitat is not considered except in some text. It's a stepping off point for further study.
There is additional backmatter that explains the geologic background of the forming of an island, but I'm unsure if this is really non-fiction. It's cleverly rhymed, showing the beginning uprising of lava from an undersea volcano, all through the evolutionary aspects of an island over thousands of years. The beginning: "Deep, deep/beneath the sea . . . / Stone breaks/Water quakes/Magma glows/Volcano blows."
It too can be a stepping off into a study of geology and evolution. The illustrations are collages, become even more detailed as the island begins to be inhabited.
