Back by popular demand! This book is back in print and better than ever, with expanded main text, more endmatter about various species of sea turtles, and new illustrations. It was named as one of the best children’s books of the year by the Bank Street College.  It was recently featured as a book of the week at the wonderful CCBC, Cooperature Children’s Book Center. Hurray! It was also reviewed on the terrific resource site, Planet Esme

How can a leaf become a fish? Join two young children and two adults to find out, as they observe life in and around a stream. Energetic collage art and simple, lyrical text depict the ways plants and animals are connected in the food web. Back matter provides information about the trout life cycle as well as conservation efforts that kids can do themselves. It’s a natural choice for Earth Day.

Kate Endle has done a great job of illustrating this book with a bright, rich collage of paper and fabric. It reminds me of beautiful quilt art. I think Kirkus Reviews best understood the art. They said, “The illustrations, done in mixed-media collage, are a testament to the fact that wondrous new things can be created out of the pieces of other things, and thus, they reinforce the theme of interconnectedness…”

This book would be a great tie-in to Trout, Trout, Trout, a Fish Chant. See below for instructions on entering the contest related to this book.

See standards here.

Vulture View, a Theodor Geisel Honor Book, American Library Association. I am so excited about this book! It explores the life of vultures, surely some of the most underappreciated cleaners in the world. It also teaches kids about warm air rising and cooling air sinking. Steve Jenkins has created gorgeous art for this book. The text is young, lyrical, with a push, pull, and refrain that kids will love. It works for surprisingly advanced audiences. Older kids seem to like the gritty facts of a vulture’s life.

Personal note:  I have had plenty of interactions with turkey vultures. When I was in high school I worked at Pete Conroy’s raptor rehabilitation center at Furman University in Greenville, SC. We took care of a young, rather clueless turkey vulture. I learned then just how shy and retiring these birds are in comparison with hawks and owls. I also learned how to gather roadkill. Yes, whenever I saw a dead opossum, I would pull my little blue King Cab to the side of the road and go pick up the carcass. This involved grabbing its long pinkish tail and swinging the thing into the back of the cab. This was dinner for the turkey vulture. When you are taking care of animals, you do whatever is necessary. Actually, it’s not a messy job, at all, thanks to that sturdy opossum tail. Jeff and I have also seen turkey vultures migrating through Panama. I will try to post some photos of those turkey vulture kettles another day. We saw them swirling by the hundreds and thousands. Now when I see turkey vultures I think of the words of the book. I think of the lovely illustrations by Steve Jenkins. Wait until you see the vulture faces! Why, they are positively attractive! It is amazing what art and some cut paper can do.

Curriculum Standards can be found here.

Bird, Bird, Bird is follow-up to the wildly popular Trout, Trout, Trout: A Fish Chant celebrates American birds and bird diversity in general through a wild chant of their common names. This nonfiction text—illustrated whimsically by Gary Locke, an extraordinary illustrator—will make you laugh. Backmatter includes fun facts about each kind of bird featured.

For English/Language Arts and Science Standards see the standards page.

A native bee, the bumblebee. takes a starring role in this nonfiction picture book about the bumblebee’s life cycle and natural history. Learn how a queen bumblebee digs out of the ground and starts her year all alone yet builds a colony by summer’s end.

Patricia is a highly skilled scientific illustrator. This book has been a big hit for elementary read alouds. Young children enjoy learning about small creatures such as the fuzzy bumblebees. Educators particularly like the tidbits of information in the small sidebars on each page.

Standards are here.  

This book is being released with expanded, updated text and new illustrations in 2009.