Solar Power is a book in the series called Energy For The Future And Global Warming. It is awesome. I love, love, love this book. Yeah ok, it is an education book ..but it is in disquise as a fun book. It is hard cover and the pictures , diagrams and layouts in the book are cool.
The book starts off telling what energy and global warming are. It explains the power of the sun. Then, it discusses the carbon cycle and how that contributes to the problem of global warming. The book goes on to tell us all of the different ways that we can use solar power to make our lives easier and to make the earth a better place to live.
There are examples of what solar energy can do and all of the things in recent years that have utilized solar power to do wonderous things.
There are solar ovens made from glass, aluminum foil, wood and cardboard. Countries that have lost too much timber or never had it to begin with can still live wisely by learning to use such ovens to do their cooking…saving what lumber they do have to use for other more important uses. What a fun science project/experiment this would be for a middle school classroom!
It goes on to tell of solar telephones, cars, airplanes and even solar inventions that have been used to power space craft satellites and such. I can so see this book being used to do experiments that would interest children in the world around them.
This book was written by Anne Rooney with Suzy Gazlay, M.A. as a consultant. The book was copyrighted in 2008 and it was published by Gareth Stevens Publishing, a Weekly Reader Company. Their website is: www.garethstevens.com.
Between The Tides, a book for young readers, explains to children in easy to understand terms the eternal push and pull of the tide; and, the effect that it has on the creatures of the sea.
Author Fran Hodgkins wrote a fun book about the survival skills that all sea creatures have adapted to continue to live when the tide comes in and when the tide goes out. The illustrations are beautiful. Jim Sollers illustrated the book.
Between the words and the pictures; it makes a typical day at the seashore much more interesting. A child can use their imagination to wonder what is beneath the water’s cool, blue and green surface. With the information in the book, they can understand how everything in the sea can find a way to work with nature and survive when their environment changes.
At the end of the book, it tells the story behind the story, of the moon and earth’s tug of war which causes the changes in the tide every 12 hours. Very fun and interesting book for young readers.
The book was copyrighted in 2007 and was published by Down East Books; their website is : www.downeastbooks.com.
Rain Forests was written by Colleen Sexton and published in 2008 by Bellweather Media. It is a part of the Learn About The Earth series put out by Scholastic, Children’s Press.
Rain Forest has many wonderful, colorful pictures of the life included in the variety of life forms in the rain forest. In simplistic words and pictures this book gives an overview of the types of plants, animals and people who live in the forests.
It talks about the ways that the rain forest adds to the fullness of the world. It tells of the medicines that are made of the plants and trees in the rain forest and it also tells of the need to protect the resources in the rain forest.
Seymour Simon wrote the book, Hurricanes, for his grandchildren. This book is a complete book about what hurricanes are, how they are formed, what happens when they form and what to do to protect yourself when you know that one is coming to your area.
After hurricane Katrina’s devastation, the news was plastered with all of the trauma that those who lived in the area had to deal with. Children watching any kind of television were exposed to all sorts of horrors; they were left feeling vulnerable and fearful. The fear that those news reports inspired caused untold trauma for a whole generation of children.
However, people need to understand the danger that these types of storms can unleash. It is best to be informed and prepared when faced with a possible hurricane.
This book explains things in a non-threatening way. It is very informative and the pictures realistically show the damage. I believe the book also empowers children and adults into understanding that; while we can’t control the forces of nature, there are things that a person can do to help themselves when faced with an unpredictable hurricane. I very much enjoyed learning from this book.
A couple of very interesting facts i learned included the knowledge that hurricanes can last days or weeks, every second… a large hurricane releases the energy of 10 atomic bombs,and, hurricane weather forecasts can save lives. I also learned that even after a hurricane passes the danger is not done; flooding occurs for quite a time even once the actual hurricane has moved on. Hurricane season starts in June and goes until the end of November.
Also included in this book was a link to the national weather service radios; it can be found at: www.weather.gov/nwr/. Communication is very important during this time; and, the radios can help prevent a family from becoming more endangered by allowing them to get information from the authorities.
Another source of information can be found at the National Hurricane Center, their website is: www.nhc.noaa.gov/.
The book Hurricanes was copyrighted in 2003 & 2007; it was published by HarperCollins Children’s Books a division of, HarperCollins Publishers. Their website is : www.harpercollinschildrens.com.
Stonehenge is a book that was written for children by Matt Doeden. It has many fascinating pictures and lots of facts about the mysterious monument in England. The monument is composed completely of extremely large stones. No one knows for sure exactly how these stones were placed one on top of the other due to their large size.
The book is a fun look at Stonehenge; but, it doesn’t answer the obvious questions like who built it for sure; or how was it built. Nor does the book answer with any kind of final word on what Stonehenge was built for…what purpose did it serve.
Still, the book is an enjoyable look at a historic place that many of us never will have the opportunity to see in person.
The publisher is Capstone Press. The book was copywrited in 2007 and you can visit the publisher at : www.capstonepress.com.