Nonfiction Mondays: Extreme Scientists by Donna M. Jackson

Sorry this is a late. We were so busy yesterday that I did not have a chance to write a post for Nonfiction Monday on Monday. Tons of 9th grade history students running around the library, kids finishing up pamphlets, lots of questions to answer about bibliography citations, and of course, controlling and preventing our students from taking over the labs with March Madness mayhem!!!

Today's selection is Extreme Scientists: Exploring Nature's Mysteries from Perilous Places by Donna M. Jackson

What Caught My Eye: I have really enjoyed the last book I read, The Frog Scientist, from the Scientists in the Field series published by Houghton Mifflin, and saw that we had this at the public library's New Books shelf and picked it up. Plus I am part of Generation X so you know, if it says "extreme" I have to read it. Just kidding!

Why I Didn't Put It Down: This book was a great introduction to some really dangerous and exciting careers in science. There are 3 types of scientists Jackson covers (1) a hurricane hunter (pilot) (2) a cave (land and sea) exploring microbiologist and (3) a tree canopy exploring, tree scaling botanist. It is filled with color photographs of the scientists, the environments they study and their equipment. It also contains a great glossary of words for the 3 disciplines and some helpful links and bibliography in the end.

Who Would I Recommend This To: Anyone interested in reading about science. Kids, adults, teens...if you just want to gain a little insight into what these people do this book is definitely worth picking up.

Nonfiction Mondays: Life in the Boreal Forest by Brenda Z Guiberson

Happy Nonfiction Monday!! I'm happy to host this week's Nonfiction Monday! so..thank you for stopping by! Don't forget to check out all the great reviews linked below.

What Caught My Eye: I liked this painting by Gennady Spirin who illustrates this wonderful book, Life in the Boreal Forest by Brenda Z. Guiberson. The bobcat going after the ermine just made me want to pick it up.

Why I Didn't Put It Down: This a really fun read-alound book. As Guiberson goes through a year in a boreal forest, she includes sounds like "plish! plosh!" for a loon diving into a lake and "swoosh!" for when an owl snaps up it's prey. The paintings have a lot of things going happening but in a silent, minimal way. For example, on the owl painting, there is a great horned owl in the foreground, the forest is covered with snow and in the background is the river with a white rabbit listening for danger. Farther back is an image of a lone moose walking through the quiet forest. You just want to keep reading and looking at all the images to see what happens next in the forest.

Who Would I Recommend This To: It is filled with interesting facts about the boreal forest, like there are over 200 species of birds that migrate to the boreal forest and that it grows acrous Alaska, Canada, Scandinavia and Russia. Kids would love having this read to them and will enjoying looking at the paintings. Also, kids having to write about the boreal forest for their 2nd or 3rd grade class.