New Books

Greetings! I found a wonderful book that you will want to purchase for your library. It is called “If You Lived Here: Houses of the World” by Giles Laroche, published by Houghton Mifflin Books for Children 2011. The illustrations are done in cut paper relief which gives shadows and a three dimensional feel to the pages. Each two page spread is on a different type of house that people live in. There is text to explain the type of home, and below is smaller text to give more information about the type of house, the materials used for building it, the location of the home and other interesting facts about the house. One fascinating fact about cave dwellers is that children growing up in villages with cave dwellings believe everyone lives in caves and are surprised to learn that most people live in houses with four walls and roofs! You might be as surprised as I was to learn that there are 45 million people living in caves today and they are often quite modern in their interiors.

The kinds of houses we learn about in this book include dog trot log house, mountain chalet, pueblo, connected barn, cave dwelling, palafitos (houses on stilts), Venetian palace, chateau (looks like a castle with a moat), Fujian tulou, half-timbered town houses, whitewashed village in Greek islands, decorated houses in Ndebele, South Africa, yurt, Airstream trailer, floating house, and tree house. The back page has a blank map of the world depicting where the different houses are located. Do you have students who are interested in nature and love to learn about it? What if they could be part of a scientific experiment and contribute to scientific studies? How cool is that? “Citizen Scientists” by Loree Griffin Burns, published by Henry Holt and Company 2012 is a book that explains how citizens are already helping scientists and how you can get involved. Four different activities are described, one for each season. Fall Butterflying, Winter Birding, Spring Frogging, and Summer Ladybugging. The last six pages are resources for more information. This book will excite the nature lover and even be interesting to indoor types.

If you teach about the body and particularly the heart, one new book is called “Henry’s Heart” by Charise Mericle Harper published by Christy Ottaviano Books, a division of Henry Holt and Company. The illustrations are drawings that are a little childish, but still attractive. A lot of information about the heart is given in a fun way. When Henry runs, the heart beats faster, and slows down when he slows down. Henry’s heart even falls in love – with a puppy! On each page there is the main text and other thought and conversation bubbles to read.

I hope you enjoy these books. I really love finding new books and am happy to pass them on to you. I love my job! Have a great week. Audrey