Science Poetry: 80+ Children's Books

from The Honeybee (2018). Illustration by Isabelle Arsenault

1. Atkins, Jeannie. (2017). Finding Wonders: Three Girls Who Changed Science. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers.
2. Blackaby, Susan. (2010). Nest, Nook & Cranny. Illustrated by Jamie Hogan. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge.
3. Brown, Skila. (2016). Slickety Quick: Poems about Sharks. Illustrated by Bob Kolar. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.
4. Bruchac, Joseph. (1998). The Earth under Sky Bear's Feet: Native American Poems of the Land. Paintings by Thomas Locker. New York: Puffin Books.
5. Bruchac, Joseph. (1997). Thirteen Moons on Turtle’s Back: A Native American Year of Moons. Paintings by Thomas Locker. New York: Puffin Books.
6. Bulion, Leslie. (2016). At the Sea Floor Café; Odd Ocean Critter Poems. Illustrated by Leslie Evans. Atlanta, GA: Peachtree Publishers.
7. Bulion, Leslie. (2008). Hey There, Stink Bug! Illustrated by Leslie Evans. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge.
8. Coombs, Kate. (2012). Water Sings Blue: Ocean Poems.  Illustrated by Meilo So. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books.
9. Dotlich, Rebecca. (2016). What is Science? Illustrated by Sachiko Yoshikawa. New York: Square Fish.
10. Fleischman, Paul. (2004). Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices. Illustrated by Eric Beddows. New York: HarperCollins.
11. Flemming, Candace. (2016). Giant Squid. Illustrated by Eric Rohmann. New York: Roaring Brook Press. 
12. Florian, Douglas. (2012). Unbeelievables: Honeybee Poems and Paintings. New York: Beach Lane Books.
13. Florian, Douglas. (2009). Dinothesaurus. New York: Beach Lane Books.
14. Florian, Douglas. (2007). Comets, stars, the moon, and mars. Orlando, FL: Harcourt, Inc.
15. Florian, Douglas. (2005). lizards, frogs, and polliwogs. Orlando, FL: Harcourt, Inc.
16. Florian, Douglas. (2004). mammalabilia. Orlando, FL: Harcourt, Inc.
17. Florian, Douglas. (2002). insectlopedia. Orlando, FL: Harcourt, Inc.
18. Florian, Douglas. (2001). in the swim. Orlando, FL: Harcourt, Inc.
19. Florian, Douglas. (2000). on the wing. Orlando, FL: Harcourt, Inc.
20. Franco, Betsy. (2008). Bees, Snails, & Peacock Tails, Patterns and Shapes... Naturally. Illustrated by Steve Jenkins. New York: Margaret K. McElderry Books.
21. George, Kristine O'Connell. (2007). Old Elm Speaks: Tree Poems. Illustrated by Kate Kiesler. New York: Clarion Books.
22. George, Kristine O'Connell. (2004). Hummingbird Nest: A Journal of Poems. Illustrated by Barry Moser. Orlando, FL: Harcourt, Inc.
23. Gerber, Carole. (2013). Seeds, Bees, Butterflies and More! Poems for Two Voices.  Illustrated by Eugene Telchin. New York: Henry Holt and Company.
24. Graham, Joan Bransfield. (2003).  Flicker Flash.  Illustrated by Nancy Davis. New York: HMH Books for Young Readers.
25. Graham, Joan Bransfield. (2001). Splish Splash. Illustrated by Steven M. Scott. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.
26. Hall, Kirsten. (2018). The Honeybee. Illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers 
27. Harley, Avis. (2006). Sea Stars: Saltwater Poems. Photographs by Margaret Butschler. 
28. Harley, Avis. (2008). The Monarch’s Progress: Poems with Wings.Honesdale, PA: WordSong.
29. Harrison, David. L. (2007).  Bugs: Poems about Creeping Things. Illustrated by Rob Shepperson. Honesdale, PA: Front Street.
30. Havill, Juanita. (2006). I Heard It from Alice Zucchini: Poems About the Garden. Illustrated by Christine Davenier. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books.
31. Hoberman, Mary Ann & Linda Winston. (2009). The Tree That Time Built: A Celebration of Nature, Science, and Imagination (A Poetry Speaks Experience). Illustrated by Barbara Fortin.  Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks.
32. Hopkins, Lee Bennet, Ed. (2002). Spectacular Science: A Book of Poems. Illustrated by Virginia Halstead. New York: Simon & Schuster.
33. Hubbell, Patricia. (2000). Earthmates: Poems. Illustrated by Jean Cassels. Cavendish Square Publishing. 
34. Katz, Bobbi. (2007). Trailblazers; Poems of Exploration.  Illustrated by Carin Berger. New York: Greenwillow Books.
35. Larios, Julie. (2006). Yellow Elephant: A Bright Bestiary.  Illustrated by Julie Paschkis. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 
36. Latham, Irene. (2016). When the Sun Shines on Antarctica: And Other Poems about the Frozen Continent. Illustrated by Anna Wadham.  Minneapolis, MN: Millbrook Press.
37. Latham, Irene. (2014). Dear Wandering Wildebeest: And Other Poems from the Water Hole. Illustrated by Anna Wadham.  Minneapolis, MN: Millbrook Press.
38. Lewis, J. Patrick. Ed. (2015). National Geographic Book of Nature Poetry: More than 200 Poems With Photographs That Float, Zoom, and Bloom!  Washington, DC: National Geographic.
39. Lewis, J. Patrick. Ed.  (2012). The National Geographic Book of Animal Poetry. Washington, DC: National Geographic.
40. Lewis, J. Patrick. (2005). Galileo’s Universe. Illustrated by Tim Curry. Creative Editions.
41. Lewis, J. Patrick. (2004). Scien-trickery: Riddles in Science. Illustrated by Frank Remkiewicz. Orlando, FL: Harcourt, Inc.
42. Lin, Grace & Ranida T. McKneally (2016). Our Food: A Healthy Serving of Science and Poems. Illustrated by Grave Zong. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge.
43. McAllister, Angela. (2018). Wild World. Illustrated by Hvass & Hannibal. Minneapolis, MN: Wide Eyed Editions.
44. Mordhorst, Heidi. (2009). Pumpkin Butterfly; Poems from the Other Side of Nature. Illustrated by Jenny Reynish. Honesdale, PA: Wordsong.
45. Rosen, Michael J. (2018). The Horse's Haiku. Illustrated by Stan Fellows. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.
46. Rosen, Michael J. (2009).  The Cuckoo’s Haiku and Other Birding Poems. Illustrated by Stan Fellows. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.
47. Ruddell, Deborah. (2015). The Popcorn Astronauts: And Other Biteable Rhymes Illustrated by Joan Rankin. New York: Margaret K. McElderry Books. 
48. Ruddell, Deborah. (2009). A Whiff of Pine, A Hint of Skunk. Illustrated by Joan Rankin. New York: Margaret K. McElderry Books. 
49. Ruddell, Deborah. (2007). Today at the Bluebird Cafe.  Illustrated by Joan Rankin. New York: Margaret K. McElderry Books.
50. Salas, Laura Purdie. (2016). And Then There Were Eight: Poems About Space. Minneapolis, MN: Capstone Press.
51. Salas, Laura Purdie. (2008). Chatter, Sing, Roar, Buzz: Poems About the Rain Forest. Minneapolis, MN: Capstone Press.
52. Salas, Laura Purdie. (2008). Seed Sower, Hat Thrower: Poems About Weather. Minneapolis, MN: Capstone Press.
53. Sayer, Alice Pulley. (2016). Best in Snow.  New York: Beach Lane Books.
54. Sayer, Alice Pulley. (2016). Squirrels Leap, Squirrels Sleep. Illustrated by Steve Jenkins. New York: Henry Holt.
55. Sayer, Alice Pulley. (2015). Woodpecker Wham! Illustrated by Steve Jenkins. New York: Henry Holt.
56. Scieszka, Jon. (2004). Science Verse. Illustrated by Lane Smith. New York: Viking Books for Young Readers.
57. Sidman, Joyce. (2014). Winter Bees & Other Poems of the Cold. Illustrated by Rick Allen. New York: HMH Books for Young Readers.
58. Sidman, Joyce. (2011). Swirl by Swirl: Spirals in Nature. Illustrated by Beth Krommes. New York: HMH Books for Young Readers.
59. Sidman, Joyce. (2010). Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night. Illustrated by Rick Allen. New York: HMH Books for Young Readers.
60. Sidman, Joyce. (2010). Ubiquitous: Celebrating Nature’s Survivors. Illustrated by Beckie Prange. New York: HMH Books for Young Readers.
61. Sidman, Joyce. (2006). Butterfly Eyes and Other Secrets of the Meadow. Illustrated by Beth Krommes. New York: HMH Books for Young Readers.
62. Sidman, Joyce. (2005). Song of the Water Boatman and Other Pond Poems. Illustrated by Beckie Prange. New York: HMH Books for Young Readers.
63. Sidman, Joyce. (2002). Eureka! Poems about Inventors. Illustrated by K. Bennet Chavez. 
64. Singer, Marilyn. (2015). A Strange Place to Call Home: : The World's Most Dangerous Habitats & the Animals That Call Them Home. Illustrated by Ed Young. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books.
65. Singer, Marilyn. (2003). How to Cross a Pond: Poems about Water. Illustrated by Meilo So. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
66. Singer, Marilyn. (2002), Footprints on the Roof: Poems about the Earth. Illustrated by Meilo So. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
67. Singer, Marilyn. (2001). On the Same Day in March: A Tour of the World's Weather. Illustrated by Frane Lessac. New York: HarperFestival.
68. Spinelli, Eileen. (2004). Feathers: Poems About Birds.  Illustrated by Lisa McCue. New York: Henry Holt. 
69. Spinelli, Eileen.(2004).  Polar Bear, Arctic Hare; Poems of the Frozen North. Illustrated by Eugenie Fernandes. Honesdale, PA: WordSong.
70. Vardell, Sylvia and Janet Wong. (2015). The Poetry of Science: The Poetry Friday Anthology for Science for Kids. Illustrated by Frank Ramspott & Bug Wang. Princeton, NJ: Pamelo Books.
71. VanDerwater, Amy Ludwig. (2016). Every Day Birds. Illustrated by Dylan Metrano. New York: Orchard Books.
72. VanDerwater, Amy Ludwig. (2013). Forest Has a Song: Poems. Illustrated by Robbin Gourley. New York: Clarion Books. 
73. Walker, Sally M. (2018). Earth Verse: Haiku from the Ground Up. Illustrated by William Grill. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.
74. Weatherford, Carole Boston. (2007).  I, Matthew Henson: Polar Explorer. Illustrated by Eric Velasquez. New York: Walker Childrens.
75. Winters, Kari-Lynn & Lori Sherritt. (2018). Hungry for Science: Poems to Crunch On. Illustrated by Peggy Collins. Toronto, ON: Fitzhenry and Whiteside.
76. Wolf, Allan. (2008). The Blood-Hungry Spleen and Other Poems about Our Parts. Illustrated by Greg Clarke. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.
77. Wong, Janet. (2011) Once Upon A Tiger; New Beginnings for Endangered Animals. Illustrated by Sladjana Vasic. OnceUponATiger.com.
78. Yolen, Jane & Heidi Stemple. (2018). Fly With Me: A Celebration of Birds through Pictures, Poems, and Stories. Illustrated by Adam Stemple & Jason Stemple. Washington, DC:  National Geographic Children's Books.
79. Yolen, Jane. (2017). Thunder Underground. Illustrated by Josée Masse. Honesdale, PA: Wordsong.
80. Yolen, Jane. (2016). The Alligator's Smile: And Other Poems. Illustrated by Jason Stemple. Minneapolis, MN: Millbrook Press.
81. Yolen, Jane. (2012). Bug Off! Creepy Crawly Poems.  Photographs by Jason Stemple. Honesdale, PA: Wordsong.
82. Yolen, Jane. (2011). Birds of a Feather. Photographs by Jason Stemple. Honesdale, PA: Wordsong.
83. Yolen, Jane.  (2005). Snow, Snow: Winter Poems for Children. Photographed by Jason Stemple. Honesdale, PA: Boyds MIlls Press. 
84. Yolen, Jane. (2003). Least Things: Poems About Small Natures. Photographs by Jason Stemple. Honesdale, PA: Wordsong.

#PoetryBreak: Dirt by Kwame Dawes

from my art journal (May 2016)

Dirt

Kwame Dawes

I got one part of it. Sell them watermelons and get me another part. Get Bernice to sell that piano and I’ll have the third part.
—August Wilson

We who gave, owned nothing,
learned the value of dirt, how
a man or a woman can stand
among the unruly growth,
look far into its limits,
a place of stone and entanglements,
and suddenly understand
the meaning of a name, a deed,
a currency of personhood.
Here, where we have labored
for another man’s gain, if it is fine
to own dirt and stone, it is
fine to have a plot where
a body may be planted to rot.
We who have built only
that which others have owned
learn the ritual of trees,
the rites of fruit picked
and eaten, the pleasures
of ownership. We who
have fled with sword
at our backs know the things
they have stolen from us, and we
will walk naked and filthy
into the open field knowing
only that this piece of dirt,
this expanse of nothing,
is the earnest of our faith
in the idea of tomorrow.
We will sell our bones
for a piece of dirt,
we will build new tribes
and plant new seeds
and bury our bones in our dirt.

#PoetryBreak: Bogland by Seamus Heaney

Fieldwork (M.A. Reilly)

As we come to the close of Poetry Month, this one feels right. 


Bogland

 - by Seamus Heaney


               For T.P. Flanagan


We have no prairies
To slice a big sun at evening--
Everywhere the eye concedes to
Encrouching horizon,

Is wooed into the cyclops' eye
Of a tarn. Our unfenced country
Is bog that keeps crusting
Between the sights of the sun.

They've taken the skeleton
Of the Great Irish Elk
Out of the peat, set it up
An astounding crate full of air.

Butter sunk under
More than a hundred years
Was recovered salty and white.
The ground itself is kind, black butter

Melting and opening underfoot,
Missing its last definition
By millions of years.
They'll never dig coal here,

Only the waterlogged trunks
Of great firs, soft as pulp.
Our pioneers keep striking
Inwards and downwards,

Every layer they strip
Seems camped on before.
The bogholes might be Atlantic seepage.
The wet centre is bottomless.

8 Recent Nonfiction Science Picture Books that Ask Questions

from The Deadliest Creature in the World. 

Guiberson, Brenda Z. (2016). The Deadliest Creature in the World. Illustrated by Gennady Spirin. New York: Henry Holt. Questions and first person responses.

from Moon Bear

Guiberson, Brenda Z. (2016). Moon Bear. Illustrated by Ed Young. New York: Square Fish.

Questions and poetic answers.

Guiberson, Brenda Z. (2013). The Greatest Dinosaur Ever. Illustrated by Gennady Spirin. New York: Henry Holt. Questions and first person responses.

from Fossil by Fossil

Levine, Sarah. (2018). Fossil by Fossil: Comparing Dinosaur Bones. Illustrated by T.S Spookytooth. Minneapolis, MN: Millbrook Press.
Rhetorical questions and direct address.

from Bone by Bone

Levine, Sarah. (2016). Bone by Bone: Comparing Animal Skeletons. Illustrated by T.S Spookytooth. Minneapolis, MN: Millbrook Press.

Rhetorical questions and direct address.

from Can an Aardvark Bark?  

Sweet, Melissa. (2017). Can an Aardvark Bark?  Illustrated by Steve Jenkins. NewYork: Beach Lane.
Question and Answer format with internal rhyme.

from If Polar Bears Disappeared

Williams, Lily. (2018 - Will be published in August). If Polar Bears Disappeared. New York: Roaring Brook Press

Poses a single question: What would happen if polar bears disappeared from the planet?

from If Sharks Disappeared

Williams, Lily. (2017). If Sharks Disappeared. New York: Roaring Brook Press

Poses a single question: What would happen if this continued and sharks disappeared completely?

#PoetryBreak: Global Warming

Ocean III (M.A. Reilly)

Global Warming

Jane Hirshfield, 2015

When his ship first came to Australia,
Cook wrote, the natives
continued fishing, without looking up.
Unable, it seems, to fear what was too large to be comprehended.

#Poetry Break: Ask Me by William Stafford

Sky Breakage on 9/11 (M.A. Reilly)

Ask Me

by William Stafford

Some time when the river is ice ask me
mistakes I have made. Ask me whether
what I have done is my life. Others
have come in their slow way into
my thought, and some have tried to help
or to hurt: ask me what difference
their strongest love or hate has made.

I will listen to what you say. 
You and I can turn and look
at the silent river and wait. We know
the current is there, hidden; and there
are comings and goings from miles away
that hold the stillness exactly before us.
What the river says, that is what I say.

#PoetryBreak: Prairie Spring

Prairie (M.A. Reilly, South Dakota)

Prairie Spring

Willa Cather, 1873 - 1947

Evening and the flat land,
Rich and sombre and always silent;
The miles of fresh-plowed soil,
Heavy and black, full of strength and harshness;
The growing wheat, the growing weeds,
The toiling horses, the tired men;
The long empty roads,
Sullen fires of sunset, fading,
The eternal, unresponsive sky.
Against all this, Youth,
Flaming like the wild roses,
Singing like the larks over the plowed fields,
Flashing like a star out of the twilight;
Youth with its insupportable sweetness,
Its fierce necessity,
Its sharp desire,
Singing and singing,
Out of the lips of silence,
Out of the earthy dusk.

#PoetryBreak: At the Bomb Testing Site by William Stafford

Looking East (M.A. Reilly)

At the Bomb Testing Site

by William Stafford

At noon in the desert a panting lizard   

waited for history, its elbows tense,   

watching the curve of a particular road   

as if something might happen.

It was looking at something farther off   

than people could see, an important scene   

acted in stone for little selves

at the flute end of consequences.

There was just a continent without much on it   

under a sky that never cared less.   

Ready for a change, the elbows waited.   

The hands gripped hard on the desert.

Stories

Tracks (M.A. Reilly, Alaska)

All stories
Add up to where you are now.

William Stafford, “Pretty Good Day" from Even in Quiet Places

#PoetryBreak: Any Morning by William Stafford

Painting (M.A. Reilly, 2017)

Any Morning
by William Stafford

Just lying on the couch and being happy.
Only humming a little, the quiet sound in the head.
Trouble is busy elsewhere at the moment, it has
so much to do in the world.

People who might judge are mostly asleep; they can’t
monitor you all the time, and sometimes they forget.
When dawn flows over the hedge you can
get up and act busy.

Little corners like this, pieces of Heaven
left lying around, can be picked up and saved.
People won’t even see that you have them,
they are so light and easy to hide.

Later in the day you can act like the others.
You can shake your head. You can frown.

#PoetryBreak: Planet

Vulnerability (M.A. Reilly)

Planet

Catherine Pierce, 2017

This morning this planet is covered by winds and blue.

This morning this planet glows with dustless perfect light,

enough that I can see one million sharp leaves

from where I stand. I walk on this planet, its hard-packed

 

dirt and prickling grass, and I don’t fall off. I come down

soft if I choose, hard if I choose. I never float away.

Sometimes I want to be weightless on this planet, and so

 

I wade into a brown river or dive through a wave

and for a while feel nothing under my feet. Sometimes

I want to hear what it was like before the air, and so I duck

under the water and listen to the muted hums. I’m ashamed

 

to say that most days I forget this planet. That most days

I think about dentist appointments and plagiarists

and the various ways I can try to protect my body from itself.

 

Last weekend I saw Jupiter through a giant telescope,

its storm stripes, four of its sixty-seven moons, and was filled

with fierce longing, bitter that instead of Ganymede or Europa,

I had only one moon floating in my sky, the moon

 

called Moon, its face familiar and stale. But this morning

I stepped outside and the wind nearly knocked me down.

This morning I stepped outside and the blue nearly

 

crushed me. This morning this planet is so loud with itself—

its winds, its insects, its grackles and mourning doves—

that I can hardly hear my own lamentations. This planet.

All its grooved bark, all its sand of quartz and bones

 

and volcanic glass, all its creeping thistle lacing the yards

with spiny purple. I’m trying to come down soft today.

I’m trying to see this place even as I’m walking through it.

Celebrate Earth Day with these 20 Recent Children's Books

from Drawn from Nature 

from  Drawn from Nature

Ahpornsiri, Helen.  (2018). Drawn from Nature. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press.
Informational and visual arts text organized by season. Accurate and aesthetically stunning.

from On a Magical Do-Nothing Day

Alemagna, Beatrice. (2017). On a Magical Do-Nothing Day. New York: HarperCollins.
A child on holiday from the city in an isolated cabin with her mom accidentally drops her electronic game into a pond. She is desolate until she begins to closely look around. When she does, the boring day without electronics becomes one of seeing nature and wonder. Such a good book. Starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly and Booklist.

Cheng, Andrea. (2018). Bees in the City. Illustrated by Sarah McMenemy. Thomaston, ME: Tilbury House Publishers.
Fictional story about a boy (Lionel) who lives in an apartment in Paris. His Aunt Celene resides at a farm outside the city and there she raises bees. when bees begin dying, Lionel wants to help, but he lives in the city. What can he do? A rooftop garden and window boxes are his solution. Illustrations complement and extend the story. Rich backmatter about urban beekeeping and rooftop gardening. (Level P) 
Green Earth Award Book 2018 Short List

Davies, Nicola. (2017). Many: The Diversity of Life on Earth. Illustrated by Emily Sutton. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press.
What might happen if instead of having millions of species we had just one? This picture book answers that question.

from Pedal Power

Drummond, Allan. (2017). Pedal Power: How One Community Became the Bicycle Capital of the World. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux
As he did in Energy Island for Danish island of Samsø, Drummond this time tells about the use of bicycles in the city of Amsterdam where people protested unsafe streets for bike riding and in doing so helped to create a safe biking well beyond the borders of that city.
Green Earth Award Book 2018 Short List

Flynn, Sarah Wassner. (2017). This Book Stinks! Gross Garbage, Rotten Rubbish, and the Science of Trash. Washington, DC: National Geographic Kids. 128 pp. Grade 4+
Everything a kid might want to know about waste!
Green Earth Honor Book 2018 for Children's Nonfiction 

Galat, Joan Marie. (2018). Branching Out: How Trees are Part of Our World. Illustrated by Wendy Ding. Toronto, ON: OwlKids.
In this 64 page informational text, 11 different trees are explored. detailed. Great for grade 5 and higher.

Garland, Michael. (2018). A Season of Flowers. Thomaston, ME: Tilbury House Publishers.
I have long loved Michael Garland's paintings.  This books follows the order that plants arrive from early spring to winter. The illustrations are rich. (Level L)

Gerstein, Mordicai. (2017). The Boy and The Whale. New York: Roaring Brook Press.
Fictional story about a boy and his father who discover a whale tangled in their fishing net. Competing concerns  (livelihood and whale's life) creates tension in this picture book. Paintings are outstanding.
Green Earth Award Book 2018 Short List

Gladstone, James. (2017). When Planet Earth Was New. Illustrated by Katherine Diemert. Toronto, ON: OwlKids.
A visual and informational treat perfect for primary learners about how earth formed. Dioemert's paintings are lush and detailed. (540L)

Martin, Jacqueline Briggs. (2017). Creekfinding: A True Story. Illustrated by Claudia McGehee. (University of Minnesota Press)
Briggs tells the the story of the restoration of an ecosystem in northeast Iowa. Detailed text and illustrations.
Green Earth Award Book 2018 for Picture Book.

from The Bee Book

Milner, Charlotte. (2018). The Bee Book. New York: Penguin/Random House.
Informational text about bees. Attractive.

Newman, Patricia. (2017). Sea Otter Heroes: The Predators that Saves an Ecosystem. Millbrook Press. 56 pp.
Newman reports on a California inlet where seagrass grew in abundance even though there was algae. Why? Turns out the answer was sea otters. Based on Brent Hughes's research,. 56 pp.
Green Earth Award Book 2018 for Children's Nonfiction

from My Busy Green Garden

Pierce, Terry. (2017). My Busy Green Garden. Illustrated by Carol Schwartz. Thomaston, ME: Tilbury House Publishers.
What makes a garden bloom? This lyrical tribute to bees and birds and other living things that make a garden a garden.  Illustrations are detailed as one would expect from Carol Schwartz. Ever since I first saw Thinking about Ants. I have been a fan of Schwartz's art.

Root, Phyllis. (2017). Anywhere Farm. Illustrated by G. Brian Karas. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press.
For the youngest students a picture book to inspire the growth of plants. The book opens, "You can grow your own farm anywhere."
Green Earth Award Book 2018 Short List

Schmalzer, Sigrid. (2018). Moth and Wasp, Soil and Ocean: Remembering Chinese Scientist Pu Zhelong's Work for Sustainable Farming. Illustrated by Melanie Linden Chan. Thomaston, ME: Tilbury House Publishers.
Fictionalized account of Pu Zhelong who taught peasants in Mao's China to grow food without reliance on pesticides during the 1960s and 1970s. He taught the peasants to use parasitic wasps to combat the moths that were destroying crops. An important person for children to know. The illustrations are rich and created through watercolor.

from Out of School

Slade, Suzanne. (2017). Out of School and Into Nature: The Anna Comstock Story. Illustrated by Jessica Lanan. MI: Sleeping Bear Press.
A picture book biography about nature pioneer Anna Comstock (1854-1930) who defied gender norms and studied science at Cornell.
Green Earth Honor Book 2018 for Picture Book.
2018 NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book

from Look at Weather

from Look at Weather

Teckentruop, Britta. (2018). Look at the Weather. Toronto, ON: OwlKids.
This 150 page text is divided into four sections: Sun, Rain, Ice and Snow, and Extreme Weather. Each section is illustrated with paintings by Tchentroup. Originally printed in Germany, this is a lovely and meditative book for primary and intermediate learners. (800L) My favorite of this group.

from The Triumphant Tale of the House Sparrow.

Thornhill, Jan. (2018). The Triumphant Tale of the House Sparrow. Toronto, ON: Groundwood Books.
I can't say enough good about this narrative informational book about the house sparrow. Deeply interesting, amazing artwork, and accurate. The history of the common house sparrow will hold all learners' interest.

Tuttle, Sarah Grace. (2018). Hidden City: Poems of Urban Wildlife. Illustrated by Amy Schimler-Safford.  Eerdmans Books for Young Readers.
18 free verse poems about about plants and insects. Schimler-Safford's collages are outstanding.