Parents' Choice Awards : Books : Doing & Learning
Explore Winter! 25 Great Ways To Learn About Winter
Fall 2007 Doing & Learning
Ages: 4 - 8 yrs.
Author: Maxine Anderson
Illustrator: Alexis Frederick-Frost
Publisher: Nomad Press
ISBN: 9780978503758
Hardcover Price: $12.95
Review:
This entertaining, ecology-conscious book (printed on 50% post-consumer recycled paper) has enough facts and fun inside to keep budding scientists from getting cabin fever through an entire winter season. From the explanation of "why we have winter, anyway" to the cool facts about snow and plenty of indoor projects using water and ice, it presents ideas in a logical order and supports them with hands-on activities and experiments.
Written for curious kids who obviously want to learn more about this subject, each chapter is introduced with a simple scientific explanation, then highlighted with cartoon-ish illustrations, bold-faced call-out words, jokes, and amazing facts. The effect is like surfing the Web, with lots of pop-ups to read as you please.
The activities and experiments are fun and interesting, with just enough of a "Wow" factor to make kids want to do them. Anderson doesn’t tell readers what their end result should be. Most experiments are designed to test a hypothesis; by treating the reader like a real scientist, Anderson challenges him to draw his own conclusions. This smart twist was enough to make me learn-by-doing several times over.
Wendy Smolen ©2007 Parents' Choice
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http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0978503759/parentschoice-20
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