The Animal Adventure's Guide by Susie Spikol (Children's Nonfiction Book Review)

 We received a digital copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

The Animal Adventurer's Guide:
How to Prowl for an Owl, Make Snail Slime, and Catch a Frog Bare-handed -- 50 Activities to Get Wild With Animals
by Susan Spikol
Illustrations by Becca Hall
Published by Roost Books
on September 13, 2022
Genre: Children's, Nonfiction
Length: 144 pages
Ages: 5 - 9 years

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Synopsis:
Calling all animal lovers! 50 hands-on activities and adventures that bring you closer to wild animals than you've ever been. 

With 50 interactive activities that include talking like a chickadee, learning to sniff like a snake, and making your own fossils--this is your guide to having fun-filled adventures that will bring you up close and personal with the wild creatures right outside your door. 


Our Thoughts:

A fantastic guide for connecting with nature and wildlife! 

This fantastic guide for kids reminds us to pay attention, practice kindness, stay safe, and to leave nature better than you found it.
It's filled with facts, diy activities, prompts for field journaling, and more, and has chapters specific to birds, mammals, herps, arthropods, and other invertebrates so your child can find and observe their favorite critters! 

The activities range in age group so this would be perfect for multiple age children or kids with differing skill sets. Some are as easy as making toilet paper roll binoculars while others have lengthy instructions and multiple steps. 

This adventure guide is perfect for children and families that love being outdoors or want to get closer to nature, armed with the safest ways to get out, observe, and interact with the wildlife around us. It will definitely prompt you to get out there and to have fun learning! 

"The small things in nature--the things we can hold, touch, or lie down next to and watch closely--these are the things that open our hearts as children. These are what remind us of our connection to one another."

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A Park Connects Us by Sarah Nelson & Ellen Rooney (Children's Picture Book Review)

 We received a temporary digital copy of this picture book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

 

A Park Connects Us
Words by Sarah Nelson
Illustrations by Ellen Rooney
Published by OwlKids Books
on March 15, 2022
Genre: Children's, Picture Books
Length: 32 pages
Ages: 3 - 8 years

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Synopsis:
A celebration of urban parks and the many ways they connect us to community and nature. 

This love letter to public parks depicts an inclusive and accessible space where community flourishes. Without a screen in sight, it gently hints at the adventures to be had offline and encourages readers to venture into nature and connect with their neighborhoods. 



Our Thoughts:

A Park Connects Us is a beautifully inclusive look at public parks and all that they afford us, from a place to play or ride bikes or fly kites to a place to have a family picnic or a wedding.

This picture book has a wide array of verbs included and seems to be focused entirely on what a park can do or be for all of us!

The illustrations show us many of the fun or relaxing things we can do at a park and all the beauty it holds as well. Each page is filled with active and friendly park-goers of all ages, races, cultures, and more, sharing a community space that is welcome to all. 

There's also a beautiful reminder that parks are something that we, as a community, make possible and a bit of information about popular parks around the world and what they mean to those communities. 


Do you have a favorite park that you visit regularly?

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The Ocean Hero Handbook by Tessa Wardley (Children's Nonfiction Book Review)

 I received a temporary digital copy of this nonfiction book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

The Ocean Hero Handbook:
Simple Things You Can Do To Save Our Seas
by Tessa Wardley
Published by Ivy Press
on April 19, 2022
Genre: Nonfiction
Length: 144 pages

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Synopsis:
Focusing on so much more than plastic pollution, this ahead-of-the-curve book exposes the extensive damage being done to the oceans that most of us don't know about, and what simple, everyday changes we can make to help protect our seas.

This book is a necessary call to act and educate ourselves on the damage human activity is having on our seas, and a guide to how you can help to stop it, whether you live on the coastline or hundreds of miles from the ocean. 

Shocking but enlightening, it illustrates exactly what the problems are, how they impact the ocean, why it is so important to keep our oceans healthy for our own benefit, and what we can do individually and collectively to help save our seas. 


My Thoughts:

This call-to-action handbook is perfect for young environmentalists and thalassophiles (ocean lovers). 

The Ocean Hero Handbook is an intriguing nonfiction book with seven chapters that present specific issues that the ocean faces and then shares what we can do to change the issue and why it is important for us to do so. The chapters, which cover an array of issues each, includes 'indoor', 'outdoor', 'transport', 'on holiday', 'at work', 'food & shopping', and 'clothes'. 

Learn how to reduce your carbon footprint and cut back single-use plastics. Find alternatives to waste products that clog up our waterways, learn how to reduce carbon emissions cut back on harmful chemicals.  Learn about what is destroying our land, coastlines, and waterways, and how they directly affect the ocean and the ecosystems of all the above. There's a plethora of topics from all walks of life on this planet, all aimed at helping readers be the heroes and heroines that the ocean is desperately in need of. 

   If you'd like to learn more about how we impact the earth and oceans and what you can do to make a difference, this is a great choice. I recommend it to middle-grade age readers and older. 

MORE BOOKS ABOUT PROTECTING THE OCEAN:

Kids vs Plastic by Julia Beer

Captain Aquatica's Awesome Ocean by Jess Cramp

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Little Homesteader: A Summer Treasury by Angela Ferraro-Fanning (Children's Nonfiction Book Review)

 We received a temporary digital copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

Little Homesteader:
A Summer Treasury of Recipes, Crafts, and Wisdom
by Angela Ferraro-Fanning
Illustrations by Anneliesdraws
Published by Ivy Kids
on May 22, 2022
Genre: Children's, Nonfiction, Nature
Length: 35 pages
Ages: 6 - 8 years

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Synopsis:

Families looking for nature-based fun away from phones and screens will adore this wholesome children's collection of cooking, crafting, and gardening projects, locally printed on 100% recycled paper. 

The latest from the Little Homesteader series, with these books readers can get creative, practice self-sufficiency skills, handcraft items for themselves or as gifts for loved ones, learn about nature and celebrate the best of each season. 


Our Thoughts:

This children's treasury of recipes, crafts, and wisdom is the perfect way to keep your family busy and happy this summer! 

This fun little book includes super cute illustrations that will appeal to little listeners and parents attempting to keep their children busy during the hot, summer months! 

Included are lots of fun activities, recipes, and more to keep you busy and crafting throughout the season. Learn how to grow tomatoes from seed and then make a tomato salad or sun-dried tomatoes from the harvest. Learn about honeybees and butterflies and what flowers to plant in your garden to attract them. Even better, learn the life cycle of a butterfly and how to observe it yourself! 
With several more recipes and activities, this fun and instructive book will keep you busy all summer long! 

This treasury is perfect for homeschoolers, wildschoolers, or just families trying to find something to do during summer breaks!

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It Starts With A Bee by QEB & Jennie Webber (Children's Picture Book Review)

 We received a digital copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.  

It Starts With A Bee
by QED
Illustrations by Jennie Webber 
Published by QEB Publishing
on April 5, 2022
Genre: Children's, Picture Books, Nature
Length: 32 pages
Ages: 6 - 9 years

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Synopsis:
With lyrical text and enchanting illustrations, It Starts With A Bee takes you on a journey through the seasons as you follow a busy bee that pollinates a wild garden. 

Teach your children about the crucial role bees play in the beautiful cycle of life in this charming tale of the workings of the natural world. 


Our Thoughts:

It Starts With A Bee is a beautifully illustrated picture book with poetic text that shares the beauty of the busy bee and the world it lives in. 

Nature lovers will adore this realistically illustrated picture book with its' busy little bees and gorgeous flowers and other lovely sceneries. It highlights a day in the life of a bee, from the hive to the garden and back, from season to season, and shares their most important qualities and the impact they have on our world and the things we eat! 

We loved how this book made us feel like we were right in the garden alongside the buzzing bees! 

Includes a fantastic page about 'the process of pollination' at the end of the book! 

Many thanks to the publisher for the chance to read this beautiful picture book! 

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