The Children's Literature Nook's Top 100 Books
for Science Instruction
"Hitch Your Wagon to a Star"
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
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What follows is an annotated bibliography for my favorite children's books to integrate within your science curriculum.
Astronomy
Cole, Johanna. The Magic School Bus Lost in the Solar System. Scholastic, 1990.
Audience: 2-4
Kerrod, Robin. The Children's Space Atlas.
This book is ideal for all junior space explorers and enthusiasts who have questions about our galaxy and the worlds beyond it. The voyage begins with an explanation of how, when, and why our solar system came into being. It ends with an account of telescopes, probes and rockets which help us learn about space with a look at what the future may bring.
Usborne Young Scientist Series. Stars and Planets.
This is a beginner's guide to the universe we live in. Its clear text and detailed pictures take the reader on a journey through familiar sights of the night sky and on to the frontiers of the unknown.
An Usborne Guide. The Young Asronomer.
Designed for the beginning astronomer, this book introduces the fascinating study of the night sky.
Vancleave, Janice. Astronomy for Every Kid.
Yolen, Jane. Mother Earth Father Sky
Yolen, Jane. Owl Moon
Suggested Technological Resources
MARSBOOK CD
This impressive CD-ROM takes you on an amazing tour through NASA's planned Mars habitat and spacecraft for the upcoming Mars mission. Take a virtual walk through both levels of the habitat module-see the astronaut's living quarters, work stations and get a feel for what it would be like to live in the habitat for months at a time.
Where in Space is Carmen San Diego?
Learn astronomy while solving detective cases in this fun and educational game. As a detective for the ACME Deatective Agency, Intergallactic Division, you are responsible for nabbing the notorious thief, Carmen and her band of 14 alien outlaws using facts about the palnets and the solar system as your clues.
Biology
Balkwill, Fran. Cells Are Us.
Balkwill, Fran. Cell Wars.
Oxlade, Chris and Stockley, Corrine. The World of the Microscope.
VanCleave, Janice. Microscopes and Magnifying Glasses.
Chemistry
Earth Science
Vancleave, Janice. Earth Science for Every Kid.
Dinosaurs
Aliki. Digging Up Dinosaurs. Harper & Row, 1981.
Aliki. Fossils Tell of Long Ago.
Geology
Brown, Marcia. Stone Soup. Scribner, 1975.
Audience: Primary
Cole, Johanna. The Magic School Bus Inside the Earth.
Audience: 2-6
This book takes the crazy and wonderful Ms. Frizzle and her class on a field trip to the center of the earth.
Cottonwood, Joe. Quake! A Novel. Scholastic, 1995.
Grades 4-8
Description of the earthquake that struck the San Fransisco Bay Area in 1989 as seen through three children who witness the quake and its aftermath.
Hooper, Meredith. A Pebble in My Pocket./ Viking, 1996.
Audience; Grades 3-6
An engrossing, fact-laden nonfiction picture book; children are treated to a trip back in geological time to trace a pebble's origin 480 million years ago in a volcanic eruption and then traces its subsequent development.
Kehert, Peg. Earthquake Terror
Audience: Grades 4-7
A peaceful camping trip becomes an exercise in survival for 12-year-old Jonathan. This gripping novel provides a companion to several units including: survival, disasters, geology, and earthquakes.
Seymour, Simon. Volcanoes.
Awe-inspring photographs and easy-to-read text tells the dramatic story of volcanoes.
Stieg, William. Sylvestor and the Magic Pebble. Simon & Schuster, 1969.
Audience: Primary
Usborne Understanding Geography: Earthquakes and Volcanoes.
VanCleave, Janice. Janice Vancleave's Earthquakes.
VanCleave, Janice. Rocks and Minerals.
VanCleave, Janice. Volcanoes.
Weather and Seasons
Barrett, Judi. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. Atheneum Books, 1978.
Audience: K-6
Bauer, Caroline Feller. The Windy Day. Lippincott, 1988.
A collection of facts, stories, and poems about the wind.
Coleride, Sara. January Brings the Snow: A Book of Months
Audience: Primary
Each month brings something unique and exciting in this book with a classic rhyming text and beautiful illustrations about the changing seasons.
Cosgrove, Brian. Eyewitness Weather
How do clouds form? Why does it rain? What causes tornadoes? Aspiring meteorlogists will enjoy these photos and the text desribing different aspects of weather and how it is forecast.
Hulpack, Vladimir. Ahalyute and Cloud Eater. Harcourt Brace, 1996.
Polacco, Patricia. Thunder Cake. Philomel Books, 1990
This book tells the story of how a young girl's fear of thunder is removed through her grandmother's help.
Reddix, Valerie. Dragon Kite of the Autumn Moon. Lothrop, 1991.
Audience: All Ages
In this magical picture book, Tad-Tin must set free the beautiful dragon kite his grandfather made him.
Robbins, Ruth. How the First Rainbow Was Made. Parnassus, Press, 1980.
Audience:K-6
The people ask the Old Man above for a sign that the rain will end soon.
Shaw, Charles G. It Looked Like Spilt Milk. Harper & Row, 1947.
Kites on the Internet Web Site
"It is our task in our time and in our generation to hand down undiminished to those who come after us, as was handed down to us by those that went before, the natural beauty which is ours."
Allison, Linda. Blood and Guts.
Aesop. Aesop's Fables
Bancroft, Henrietta. Animals in Winter
Carle, Eric. Eric Carle's Animals, Animals
Yolen, Jane. Alphabestiary
Lobel, Arnold. Frog and Toad Are Friends.
This delightful book contains five short stories about the amusing adventures of Frog and Toad. A winner of the Caldecott Honor Award.
Schertle, Alice. Advice for a Frog
Bonners, Susan. A Penguin Year. Dell, 1981.
Heller, Ruth. Chickens Aren't the Only Ones. Scholastic, 1981.
McLerran, Alice. The Mountain That Loved a Bird. Picture Book Studio, 1985.
Carle, Eric. The Very Busy Spider. Philomel. 1984.
Carle, Eric. The Very Lonely Firefly
Carle, Eric. The Very Quiet Cricket
Duncan, Lois. The Magic of Spider Woman. Scholastic, 1996.
White, E.B. Charlotte's Web. Scholastic, 1952.
Charlotte the Spider saves the life of her friend Wilbur the pig by weaving words in her web. When Charlotte dies and is replaced by her children, Wilbur's young owner learns of the cyclical nature of life and death.
Baylor, Byrd. Amigo. Collier Books, 1963.
Byars, Betsy. Midnight Fox.
Byars, Betsy. Wanted...Mud Blossom.
Heinz, Brian J. The Wolves. Dial, 1996.
Hutchins, Pat. Hunter
Kipling, Rudyard. Just So Stories.
Audience: All Ages
Kipling, Rudyard. The Jungle Book
London, Jack. The Call of the Wild.
London's tale of survival in the Klondike. A German Shepard is stolen from his home and transported noth, having fell victim to the cruelty and greed incited by gold fever. With the help of his new owner, he adapts to the harsh life of a sled dog and overcomes the hazards posed by nature, man, and beast to fulfill his ultimate destiny as the leader of a wolf pack.
London, Jack. White Fang.
The tale of a ferocious wolf-dog's transformation from a creature of the wild to tyhe faithful companion of a caring and compassionate young man. Set amongst the Klondike Gold Rush of 1897-1898 in Canada's Yukon Territory, the story touches on the timeless themes of human-animal friendship and human-nature interaction.
Paulsen, Gary. Dogsong.
Seymour, Simon. Animal Fact, Animal Fable Crown, 1979.
Yolen, Jane. All in a Woodlawn, Early
Carle, Eric. A House for Hermit Crab
Hesse, Karen. The Music of the Dolphins. Scholastic, 1996.
Lionni, Leo. Swimmy.
This beautifully illustrated book pictures life in the sea through the eyes of one little fish who devises a plan to survive in his undersea world.
Pfister, Marcus. The Rainbow Fish
Rainbow Fish learns that being beautiful is not as important as the joy of giving and having friends.
Podendorf, Illa. Animals of Sea and Shore. Children's Press, 1982.
Carle, Eric. The Mixed-Up Chameleon. Harper & Row, 1975.
A wonderful, spooky story of hope, healing, and spiritual renewal in a haunted house with a withered garden.
Dazzling, colorful, collage illustrations and a simple dramatic text tell the story of a flowering plant's life cycle through the seasons.
After her father coughs his life away, 14-year old Mary Call Luther struggles to protect her sisters and brothers from adults who would put then in an orphanage. A Newbery-award winning book, this novel depicts how Mary and her siblings try to keep their father's death a secret while "wildcrafting"-gathering medicinal herbs to sell-in North Carolina's Smoky Mountains.
This delightful story follows Arnold through the year as he watches the seasons change his favorite apple tree.
Silverstein, Shel. The Giving Tree.
Audience: All Ages
The touching story of a tree who loves a boy so much that the boy's happiness is more important than her own. Bring out the hankies-this one is quite moving!
"Today I have grown taller from walking with the trees."
-John Dos Passos
Bender, Lionel. Eyewitness Invention.
Caney, Steven. Invention.
Clements, Gillian. The Picture History of Great Inventors.
Lionni, Leo. Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse. Pantheon Books, 1969.
Macaulay, David. The Way Things Work.
Audience: Grades 3-6
Parker, Steve. The Random House Book of How Things Work.
Vancleave, Janice. Electricity.
VanCleave, Janice. Machines.
VanCleave, Janice. Janice Vancleave's Magnets.
Verne, Jules. Around the World in Eighty Days.
General Audience: Grades 4-6
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Usborne Science & Experiments: Weather & Climate.
Van Allsburg, Chris. The Stranger
Audience: 4-6
VanCleave, Janice. Weather.
Related Links
Environmental Science
-John F. Kennedy
Health Education
Includes information and activities that explain how the human body works.
Life Science
The Animal Kingdom
Audience: All Ages
A compilation of over fifty poems illustrated by Carle.
Animal Poetry
Amphibians
Audience: Primary
Birds
Hamilton, Virginia. When Birds Could Talk and Bats Could Sing. Scholastic, 1996.
Collection of eight folktales centering around birds and bats.
Stanley, Diane. Birdsong Lullaby. Morrow, 1985.
Fish
Insects and Spiders
Carle, Eric. The Grouchy Ladybug. Crowell, 1977.
Audience" Primary
Carle, Eric. The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
This is the classic story of a small and very hungry caterpillar who eats and eats and eats and eventually becomes a beautiful butterfly through the process of metamorphosis.
Concepts: The life cycle of a butterfly and metamorphosis
Audience: Grades 3-6
Mammals
Brown, Margaret Wise. Big Red Barn. Harper & Row, 1989.
Grades 2-5
Illustrated with somber moonlit oils; follow Pahtow and his pack of wolves as they hunt down elk,
Audience: Grades 4-8
Audience: Grades 4-12
Audience: Intermediate-High School
Audience: Grades 3-6
Ocean Life
Grades 5-8
Rescued from the sea, Mila, raised by dolphins after her family's plane was lost at sea; she attempts to being with humans yet longs to return to her dolphin past.
Audience: Primary
Audience: Primary
Reptiles
Audience: Primary
Plants
"In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous."
-Aristotle
Burnett, Frances Hodgson. The Secret Garden.
Audience: Intermediate
Carle, Eric. The Tiny Seed.
Audience: Primary
Concepts: Types of seeds; growth cycle of plants
Cleaver, Vera and Bill. Where the Lilies Bloom.
Audience: Intermediate-Middle School
Ehlert, Lois. Eating the Alphabet:Fruits and Vegetables from A to Z HBJ, 1987.
Ehlert, Lois. Growing Vegetable Soup. HBJ, 1987.
Audience: Primary
Ehlert, Lois. Planting a Rainbow. HBJ, 1988.
Gibbons, Gail. The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree.
Audience: Primary
Heller, Ruth. The Reason for a Flower. Putnam, 1983.
-Karle Wilson Baker
Physical Science
The chilly December day
two shivering bicycle mechanics
from Dayton, Ohio,
first felt their homemade contraption
whittled out of hickory sticks,
gummed together with
Arnstein's bicycle cement,
stretched with muslin they'd
sewn on their
sister's sewing machine in their ow
backyard on Hawthorne Street in
Dayton, Ohio,
soar into the air
above the dunes and the wide
beach at Kitty Hawk.
This book will captivate and motivate children with creative minds! Bender presents excellent illustrations to challenge the scientists of the future. This volume of photos and text explores such inventions as the wheel, gears, levers, clocks, telephones, and rocket engines.
Besides featuring projects to start now, plus 35 great American invention stories, this book explains each step of the process of being an inventor. It siscusses the fundamentals of setting up a workshop, building models of invention, creating a name for it, plus record keeping, planning, packaging, and marketing. This book leads children ages 10 and up into the world of creativity.
Everything around us was invented by someone. Clements chose 60 inventors who met the challenge of solving problems and who found new or better ways of doing things.
Also available on CD-ROM, the book comes to life, the CD helps children comprehend the workings of machines, inventions, and technology.
This book presents the priciples and workings of commonly used machines and inventions. Carefully drawn illustrations aids in understanding the text.
This comprehensive and highly visual guide takes the mystery out of more tahn 300 everyday machines and mechanisms. Filled with hundreds of cutaways, illustrations, and diagrams thattake you right inside each machine and show you how the parts move and what goes where.
Audience: 4-8
Science in General
Cassidy, John. Explorabook.
I received this book from my husband John one Christmas but I had a difficult time keeping it out of the hands of my own children!!
This is a 99-page hands-on-science museum designed for kids. It's meant to be interacted with, since it's full of activities and exhibits. It's not just a book-it's a tool; covers a wide-range of science topics.
Headlam, Catherine. The Kingfisher Science Encyclopedia.
This encyclopedia brings today's science principles within the grasp of children's knowledge. A wide-rang of topics is presented in alphabetical order and cross-referenced, this single volume provides an unbelievable reference source for home or school.
Seymour, Simon. Einstein Anderson Tells A Comet's Tale. The Viking Press, 1981.
Adam Anderson, who has received the nickname Einstein for his intelligence in science, explains scientific facts. Each chapter is a puzzle for children to solve. They then check their conclusions with Einstein's.
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