A Website and a Book

Hello,
I have some things that you might be interested in, but they don’t really go together. The only thing they have in common is that they are both new to me!

One is a website that has information, activities and cool things to do in respect to climate. I looked over the Carbon Travels section and did notice one place that mentions ‘millions of years ago’, but the information is updated and interesting. At first I thought the site was for young children since it is brightly colored and has font that is somewhat juvenile, but it looks like it will work for grades 3 – 8. The review on Common Sense Media says Grades 3 – 6. There is a lot of reading, so children will need to be able to read fairly well or work with a partner.
Subjects include Weather and Climate, Air, Ocean, Fresh Water, Carbon’s Travels, Energy, Plants and Animals, Technology and Big Questions. Big Questions discusses “What is ‘global climate change?”, “What is the Greenhouse Effect?”, What is happening in the ocean?”, “What else do we need to find out?”, “What is the big deal with carbon?”, “How do we know the climate is changing?”, and “What can we do to help?”

http://climatekids.nasa.gov/


The other is a book about a few people who helped establish our National Parks. My husband and I are ‘collecting’ National Parks, and when I saw a preview of this book, I requested a galley to look it over.

The title is Mountain Chef: How One Man Lost His Groceries, Changed His Plans, and Helped Cook Up the National Park Service by Annette Bay Pimentel. It is the true story of Tie Sing, a Chinese American mountain man who fed thirty people for ten days in the wilderness. He was hired by Stephen Mather to cook for his group of influential men on this camping trip hoping to influence them to help create our National Parks. Tie Sing planned diligently, but he could not know that problems with the donkeys carrying the food would happen causing Tie to completely change his menus not once but twice. Tie creatively made fortune cookies on the last night with fortunes reading “Long may you search the mountains” or Long may you build the paths through the mountains” and more. This is a picture book with watercolor paintings throughout. At the end is more information including photos of the people on the camping trip plus little bios of some of the men. If you visit Yosemite National Park, you can hike to Sing Peak which is named for Tie Sing.

Look for this book coming out on August 2, 2016. It is a great tribute to the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service created by Congress on August 25, 1916.

Have a great week!
Audrey

Currently reading:
A New Song by Jan Karon (Book 5 of the Mitford series)
The Indiscretions of Archie by P. G. Wodehouse
The Year of Living Danishly by Helen Russell (Audible book)
It Ain’t So Awful, Falafel by Firoozeh Dumas