Children's Books for Parents and Teachers - book reviews and suggestions for parents and teachers.
Science and Nature

Summer is over and excitement builds as students prepare to start learning again after a long break. To ease them into the new year, bring out a collection of books that blend fiction with nonfiction. These are books that tell a story — or offer a poem — while simultaneously teaching a concept about science or nature. Add them to your science bookshelf, or read them aloud for entertainment!

Summer Skills: Grade 5

Keep Learning Alive All Summer Long!
School is out for the summer, but keeping your child engaged in learning through the break will prepare him or her to excel during the next school year. This Summer Skills workbook reviews topics learned in pre-school and introduces skills that will be introduced in the kindergarden, helping your child to transition seamlessly from one grade to the next. Children will love the beautiful full-color illustrations and interesting activities on each page, and he or she will feel more confident about learning when school is …


The Emperor’s Egg

In Antarctica, the coldest spot on the planet, male Emperor penguins perform one of the most difficult tasks in the natural world. For two months, in the middle of winter, they take care of the eggs laid by females who are out at sea hunting for food. This book explains this phenomenon with simple, fact-filled text and beautiful blue-tinged illustrations. It is a wonderful study in natural history as well as an eye-opening lesson for students about male and female parenting roles in nature.


The New Way Things Work

In this award-winning book, a traveling woolly mammoth helps demonstrate how things work, from levers and plows to zippers and microchips. With colorful, kid-friendly illustrations on almost every one of its 400 pages, this engaging reference covers electricity, computers, machines, motors, magnetism, and more!


The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group

One Sunday a very hungry caterpillar hatched. He eats his way through a variety of foods that are boldly and colorfully illustrated. The story progresses with the caterpillar spinning a cocoon and waking up into a butterfly, illustrating one of nature’s common but lovely marvels.


There’s an Owl in the Shower

Borden Watson’s father is a logger in Northern California and he has lost his job because logging in that region has been halted to protect the endangered spotted owl. When Borden brings home an abandoned baby owl, his father yells, “Shoot him!” But calmer heads prevail and the owl is allowed to remain in the house. Before long, the presence of the owl causes a turn-around in the lives and attitudes of the people who live there.


Until I Met Dudley: How Everyday Things Really Work

This book is packed with information about how common household items really work, but its real treasure is the imaginative explanations that the children in the story concoct before being told the truth.