Saturday, November 21, 2009

Books of the Week

November 21, 2009

The Barn Owls, by Tony Johnston
image This book is illustrated by Deborah Kogan Ray, whom I’ve never heard of before reading this book.  The illustrations are what I love about The Barn Owls.  I was mesmerized on every page by the subtle shadings and beautiful autumn colors.  The pictures were done with transparent watercolors and watercolor pencils.  They are really very beautiful.  The story is very good too, and tells of 100 years of barn owls who have lived, hunted, and flown in the area of the barn which is their home.  Baby barn owls are shown hatching in the rafters of the barn, and an adult owl is shown hunting in a golden wheat field.  The story is very dream-like and poetic, I read it very slowly and softly to M, and he really seemed to enjoy it that way (me too!). :)


What Makes the Seasons?, by Megan Montague Cash
imageThis book does a great job of explaining what happens in each season and how one seasons fades into another.  It also talks about how seasons *happen* because of the earth’s orbit around the sun.  This contributed to M’s first real understanding of the idea of outer space.  He’s seen pictures of the earth before, but this time we really talked about how the stars are in outer space and if we were up there with them this is what our world would look like – a green and blue ball because of the grass and water.  And we talked about how the earth moves in a circle around the sun and how that makes day and night.  There was a great illustration in the book that was a good aid to our discussion.   Another picture in the book was very interesting to M – a window with 4 panes and through each pane a different season is shown of the outdoor scene.  We looked and talked about this picture for quite a long time.  I LOVE books that interest him (both of us really) like this!
For more book reviews, go here!
Have a beautiful day! :)

5 comments:

  1. Such a great time to read about the changing seasons. We read one last week.

    It has been beautiful this Nov. Hasn't it? So many days in the upper 50's. I am dreading snow. ISH!

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  2. These look terrific! I've been looking for science books that appeal to toddler/preschoolers...

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  3. These really sound like good books, I will have to look for them.

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  4. Thanks for joining again this week. I really wanted to get the second book on your list when we were talking about weather in early fall. Unfortunately, our library didn't get it. Now I am motivated to go and get it through our extended Link + system. The first book looks fantastic too - I am adding it to my reading list.

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  5. That Barn Owls book sounds really interesting - I love the illustration on the cover!

    I wonder if the seasons book would help me convince Emma that she shoudl wear warm clothes without fussing now that it is autumn?

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