A Net in Time

Curriculum and book reviews, faith, homeschooling and more!

Animals

The Truth about Hawks

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You may remember I wrote about The Truth of Crocodiles last week?  Today I have The Truth about Hawks to share with you.  Maxwell Eaton has again created a fascinating, humour-filled book. 

the truth about hawks

What I am Reviewing

The Truth About Hawks.
Maxwell Eaton III (author and illustrator)
Roaring Brook Press.
40 pages, ages 4-8, grades 1-2.
Picture book, hawks, birds, humour, children,
Series: The Truth about Your Favourite Animals.
Book Six.
Reviewed for: Raincoast Books.

Maxwell Eaton III’s The Truth About Hawks is part of his illustrated nonfiction series continuing to enlighten and delight readers. Filled with useful facts about hawks that will make you laugh so hard you won’t even realize you’re learning something!
Did you know that hawks can see four to eight times better than a human?
How about that some hawks even eat other types of birds?
Did you know that hawks use ultra-violet light to find their prey?
Discover these facts and more in this new addition to the popular series that combines raucous amounts of humor with a surprising amount of information on beloved animal friends.

the truth about hawks

The Details

Bright colourful images fill the pages of this picture book.   The natural colours of these magnificent birds are brought into sharp relief. 

the truth about hawks

Scattered throughout the pages is humour.  When we are told that golden eagles knock Dall sheep off mountain tops, and then we see Dall sheep taking parachutes off the cliff with looks and expressions of glee.   It’s funny!  (at least I know it would be for kids right?)  🙂

the truth about hawks

We are introduced to a variety of raptors some of which are golden eagle, vultures, snail kites, bald eagles, and red-tailed hawks.  We learn about mating habits, child rearing, food requirements, migration and threats to their existence.   Mr. Eaton lightly touches on all these areas and more. 

My Thoughts

As much as I like this book I am bothered by eagles, owls etc being called hawks.  They are birds of prey, and given the birds discussed in the book a better title would be “The Truth about Raptors”.   Even with littles, being more accurate is better than being less accurate. 

That said… would I want people to read this book?  YES!  Learning about these magnificent birds is important.  Helping to conserve them means learning about who they are, where they live, what threats they face and everything we can.   Maxwell Eaton does a marvellous job of doing that with a sense of style and well-played humour. 

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The Truth About Crocodiles

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The Truth about Crocodiles is a whirl-wind tour of all things crocodilian. Learn about their cousins, their lifestyle and how to stay safe.  With humour and excellent illustrations, Maxwell Eaton helps children learn about this amazing class of animals. 

The truth about Crocodiles

What I am Reviewing

The Truth About Crocodiles: Seriously Funny Facts about your Favorite Animals.
Maxwell Eaton III (author and illustrator)
Roaring Brook Press
4-8 years
Softcover picture book
Non-fiction, animals, nature study, crocodiles,

From writer/illustrator Maxwell Eaton III, The Truth About Crocodiles is the fifth installment in his hilarous series offering another lighthearted look filled with useful facts about crocodiles that will make you laugh so hard, you won’t even realize you’re learning something!
Did you know that crocs often keep rocks in their stomachs in order to stay underwater longer?
Did you know that baby crocs make sounds similar to kittens when they hatch?
Did you know that crocs have a lot of teeth, but don’t actually chew their food?
Discover these facts and more in this addition to the popular series that combines raucous amounts of humor with a surprising amount of information on beloved animal friends.

The truth about Crocodiles

The Details

As you can see, the fun starts from the time you open the book.   Bold illustrations bring excellent into play as you learn about a large, armoured predator, zipping through life with large teeth.

The truth about Crocodiles

We learn about the types of crocodilians, the food they eat, nesting habits, where they live and what threatens them.  We also learn how to stay safe when around them. 

The truth about Crocodiles

I love the brilliance in the illustrations, the humour… even though this book is geared to younger kids, made me laugh.   Like really… a coon with kitchen utensils coming to feast on crocodile eggs being threatened by mama.. turns away muttering “who put these in my hands?”   I snorted.

Should you Get it?

The truth about Crocodiles is a fun little book.  Full of quips and interesting facts about crocodilians.  If you are doing a study on crocodiles and want to meet their cousins this book will surely help.  The bright images and the humour contained within, while providing good facts… makes this book a winner.

Crocodilians live in a wide variety of locations, you might find this unit study to be a perfect go-along.

If you want to know more about Crocodiles and their cousins.  SchoolhouseTeachers.com has a course called the world of animals and one of their units focuses on this remarkable part of the animal kingdom. 

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The Superpower Field Guide: Beavers

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OH!  What a fun book to review.  Seriously, just a hoot.  Learning about Beavers and seeing all the remarkable things about them.  Just a delightful read.  The book: The Superpower Field Guide: Beavers.

From the Cover

The first book in a new series, Beavers is a humorous, informative, and highly illustrated field guide written for middle-schoolers.  Take a look at an unsuspecting animal hero The Beaver.

What you Get

Humour written around highly informative text.  Elmer the beaver has 10 superpowers which we are given in lots of detail.   Some of his powers are his unstoppable fur, his ever-toiling tail, and his winter survival skills.

Each page shows colour in the illustrations.  I was delighted to see the colours suit a book about beavers.   We don’t find pinks and yellows, but rather the blues, greens and browns that would naturally pervade a beavers habitat. 

Every so often you’ll come across a quiz, making sure the reader is paying attention for after all, the goal is to learn about an amazing animal.  So pay attention and rock those quizzes!  🙂   They aren’t hard, but they do cover the super power at hand.

My Thoughts

When I first clapped my eyes on Beavers I thought WOOHOO!   A book about a quintessential Canadian animal!   It’s even on our nickel!  You know what I discovered?  Beavers aren’t just an animal for Canada!  (yeah, I kinda knew that but now I know the nitty-gritty details).  🙂 

If you have a love of Canada, an interest in beavers, or perhaps you are studying mammals… check out Beavers. Learn their superpowers and be amazed, because beavers are really interesting critters!

Beavers
Rachel Poliquin
Nicolas John Frith (illustrator)
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Series: The Superpower Field Guide
96 Pages, hardcover, 9 years +
Biology, Science, Canada, Beavers, North America
Reviewed for Raincoast Books.
Click image for Amazon Link
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Sharks Never Sleep

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HEY!   Did you know that sharks never sleep?   I know… weird eh?  But seriously, sharks need to keep moving in order to breathe. This is one of many fascinating facts about sharks that you will learn in Sharks Never Sleep.  You will also learn about real life shark attacks, how people are trying to protect both sharks and people and the varied opinions about sharks that abound.  

From the Cover

A Gripping Investigation into our complex relationship of fear and fascination with sharks.  In an attempt combat fear with facts, author Brendon McAloon, takes us on a journey around the world in search of true stories of extraordinary first-hand encounters with these oceanic predators.  Travel from Australia to the United States, South Africa and beyond.  Meet with scientists, conservationists, shark-attack survivors, shark lovers and shark haters.  Meet fear with fascination. 

What You Get:

Four parts make up the contents of this tome.  

Part one focuses on shark attacks.  Fear rides these pages. 

Part two presents us with not only the shark haters, but those who love sharks as well.  I was delighted to see the Shark Lady profiled. 

Part three profiles encounters that people had with shark.  This section also contains photos pertaining to details given in this book.   

Part four helps us to further understand there are no easy answers.  How does one protect a fierce predator, and yet defend those who use the waters those predators live in?   No easy answers.  Culling, Shark Nets, Hunting bans, Beach closures, and Monitoring sharks.  More research is needed to determine what will work best.

My Thoughts

Mr. McAloon presents us with many cases of shark attacks, show-casing well the need to more study into the whys of increased shark attacks.   He helps us to understand why there is such a divide between protecting these apex predators and simply culling them. 

He shows well why the divide exists… if only because there is no simple answer to “the shark problem” at waterfronts throughout the world.  Human activity doesn’t help either. 

Do I recommend it?   

This book would be a great addition to a study on sharks.  Helping the student see in stark detail why this is such a divisive topic.   It’s not what I call an easy read.  It’s not fun to read about men who hunt sharks with delight, nor to read about sharks that kill. Is it necessary?   Yes, because that is how we broaden our understanding of the issues surrounding sharks and shark attacks. 

Sharks Never Sleep: first-hand encounters with killers of the sea
Brendan McAloon
Hardie Grant Books
240 pages, middle school, trade paperback
Sharks, Ecology, Marine Life, Animals, biology
Reviewed for Raincoast Books.

Click on image for amazon link.
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Dinosaur Museum

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Do you have a person in your life who likes dinosaurs?  Well.. I have this GREAT book for you today.   Seriously, Lonely Planet Kids has done an amazing job with Build your Own Dinosaur Museum.  In it you will find 5 prehistoric pop-ups to make and display.  Loads of interesting facts pepper the pages as you uncrate dinosaur bones to build your very own dinosaurs.   

Build your own Dinosaur museum

From the Book Cover: 

Calling all dinosaur experts! We need your help.
We have just received a crate of dinosaur fossils – and they need assembling! Fast! Can you find the right room for each skeleton and build them in time for the museum’s big opening? There are five pop-up dinosaurs to put back together, including a Triceratops, Stegosaurus and T-rex. It’s going to be roar some!

Lonely Planet’s Build Your Own Dinosaur Museum is an activity book with a difference, where you get to play chief paleontologist. The museum rooms are ready, but there aren’t any skeletons to display. It’s up to you to figure out which one is which and where they need to go.
Fun, interactive and with lots of facts to discover, this book is perfect for any dinosaur fan, budding biologist or model maker.

What you Get:

When I opened this hardcover book I discovered several pages in the front of the book that were taped securely closed.  Being the curious duck that I am I immediately opened up the tape. By the way, the tape sticks over and over and over again.  I tested it about 15 times and then my lad did a couple more times for good measure. 

Build your own Dinosaur museumThese pieces are colour coded and easy to tear out. They also give instructions so you know which page goes with what display page.  The pieces have bends in them so once you put them in the book they will indeed pop-up. This is excellent for young dinosaur enthusiasts. 

Build your own Dinosaur museumIt does follow the evolutionary theory of the earth’s development, and how animals came into being.  I find this is pretty normal with most dinosaur focused books.  I learned many new facts like did you know there was a triceratops group?  This is a group of dinosaurs with a similar head shape but the horn count was different!  I learned how some dinosaurs found safety in numbers, and some dinosaurs were like ostriches…dependent upon their speed to elude predators. 

Build your own Dinosaur museum

Five of the pages were dedicated to the pop-ups, where-as other pages had spots for adding in interesting details, like this egg. 

Build your own Dinosaur museumThere are so many builds for the dinosaur enthusiast, they should be kept busy learning and playing for a good amount of time.  The great thing is, the text is interesting enough they they’ll keep coming back to it to read it again. 

Build your own Dinosaur museumThe reader gets to learn about 

  • What dinosaurs are
  • Triceratops
  • Dinosaur defense
  • Stegosaurus
  • Plant eaters
  • T-rex
  • Predators
  • Marine Reptiles
  • Liopleurodon
  • Flying Reptiles
  • Pleranodon
  • Where in the World?
  • End of an era

Build your own Dinosaur museum

My Thoughts:

I am enamoured with this book, there is so much information, and so many things to keep busy hands well… busy, it’s just great!   From a homeschoolers’ perspective this book would be an excellent addition to a dinosaur unit.  Helping students to hone their attention on five specific dinosaurs and learn how they were put together. Big bones, small forearms, land moving, earth shakers, flyers and more.

This book is a perfect companion to Dinosaur Devotions that I reviewed last week.  AND.. if you are a member of SchoolhouseTeachers there is a great dinosaurs and the bible program you could work through.  Seriously, you should invest in it, it has so many programs that would be helpful to you and your students it’s amazing.  BUT anyways, Build your Own Dinosaur Museum is a must have for the young dinosaur enthusiast in your home.  It would make an excellent Christmas present don’t you think?

Build your own Dinosaur museum

Build Your Own Dinosaur Museum
Jenny Jacoby
illustrator: Beatrice Blue
Lonely Planet Kids
6-8 years, hardcover, Pop-ups, Build your own
Dinosaurs, history, science, biology
Nature, how it works, archaeology

Reviewed for: Raincoast Books.

Other dinosaur books for you to check into:

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Jack the Police Dog

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Today my son and I joined other members of the HOPE group to see a police dog demonstration.  We got to meet Jack and his Handler Jackie.    She is the smallest dog handler and has the largest dog in this area.  She talked with us about the work that Jack does with her, his training, his likes and dislikes and demonstrated some of his skills.

Police Dog Jack

Jack spends most of his time during general duties – going on patrol, clearing houses, looking for people, and other such normal activities for a police dog.  He has also been trained in drugs and one other thing… bombs I think.  My memory isn’t completely clear.

Came from Czechoslovakia  when one year old $10,000.  They work with European breeders because they need the pedigree of solid working dogs with good noses. 

His handler did all the training with him.  Jack works for his toy (a ball with a rope on it).   His ball is his “good job” marker.   They are trained using positive reinforcement only.  She trained Jack in London and returns there twice a month to maintain training.   

police dog and handler

Carries a gun, pepper spray and a tazer.  Tazers come with an inbuilt confetti that is marked with the number of the tazer.  So forensics can always tell which tazer was used.

The students (and some of the moms) asked good questions that ranged from size of Jack (75-90 lbs), to ammunition needed (carry two clips with 14 bullets), to items they need to carry.  The fun of trying to keep with a dog who can clear a 10 foot fence.   Jack is currently the largest dog in the London, St. Thomas, St. Mary’s and Stratford area.   He is a black German Shepherd.  

He has had 6 apprehensions in his life.  An apprehension is when a dog bites a suspect to hold them.   They are trained to bite and hold rather than to bite and reposition.  This training minimizes damage to the suspect. 

She helped us understand why a police dog can clear a house quicker than a person can.  Having a powerful nose lets them know if a person is hiding in a room even if a door is shut and locked.   Means the officer doesn’t have to wait for a key to gain entrance nor do they have to search every cubby, closet or even the ceiling. 

His handler was pleased to show us some of Jack’s skills.  He SO loves his ball and watched it eagerly be tossed away and did everything he was supposed to before he finally was able to keep it.  He ran through his exercise twice showing off different skills I only caught the first part on camera. 

His handler ended up being called back to duty, but before she headed off, we were shown a secret from the police car.  She has a button on her suit that can remotely open the back door of the vehicle.  Jack is trained to burst out in full protection mode.   Unfortunately Jack got the protection sleeve off his handler before I got the camera out and snapping a pic.  

emergency releaseWe learned that Jack lives with his person 24/7.  At night he has an outdoor kennel that keeps him comfortable.  The police vehicle is equipped with Jack in mind, with a temperature controlled environment and everything.

It was a great demonstration and I’m glad we went. 

For the Love of a Stink Bug

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My son has this thing for bugs.  He thinks they are such interesting little critters.  Today he was researching flies since he found one that was green!  He learned that the iridescent ones I am catching on the fly paper in the rabbitry are bot flies.  We haven’t figured out what type of fly it is yet. 

We were fascinated by a tiny spider we discovered Monday, that looked a bit like sparrow poop!  It was a fascinating little spider and I tried mightily to get a video of it but just couldn’t get it to come in clearly.  

Anyways, this lad has shown me his heart in the care he bestows upon these wee ones of creation.  He researches and studies, he’s learned where to ask questions, and he spends so much time looking and watching and learning.  He’s lately starting to gravitate toward ants and recently captured a wild carpenter ant colony.  He’s checking it regularly to see if he can find the queen. If he has the queen he’ll have a long working colony.

This post isn’t about ants though!  🙂  It’s about my lad’s heart and his love of the creepy crawlies in our world.

Stink Bug on red string

I saw this clearly when he had discovered a stink bug in the house last fall.  They don’t stay over the winter and tend to die off fairly quickly when frost hits.  Occasionally they make their way into the house and we find them when we step on them (don’t do that by the way, they will live up to their name). Knowing this my son argued about the need to keep him in the house where it was warm.  He didn’t bite, just a harmless fellow, so I said “sure, do what you can for him.”   He found an old crate that we got some Easter bears in added popsicles sticks, bottle caps, felt and string to make a nice living area for a climbing bug. 

stink bug habitat

Anyways, this green fellow intrigued my lad, so he figured out how to care for him, and built it a habitat.   He fed it a variety of food – predominately apples, oranges, some pomegranate, tomatoes and lettuce. That wee stink bug kept going over most of the winter. 

When finally Stink Bug bit the dust there was much sadness in our house as he was the perfect house guest.  He made no fuss, and NO STINK, and ate a good variety of feed.  My son loved watching him climb around in his habitat. Toward the end of his days he found ways to escape his habitat but never ventured far much to my lad’s delight.  Isn’t that what we want for ALL our pets?  🙂

stink bug habitat

Interested in doing your own insect research?  Discover the fascinating world of insects!

SchoolhouseTeachers.com also has a bug class.  Did you know that right now if you become a member you can get two years for the price of one?  I KNOW!  It’s an amazing deal.  School for your whole family for one low price!

schoolhouseteachers bugs