front cover of Dunes - Are Alive!
Dunes - Are Alive!
Krysten Dorfman
Michigan Publishing Services, 2022

front cover of Ellie's Log
Ellie's Log
Exploring the Forest Where the Great Tree Fell
Judith L. Li
Oregon State University Press, 2013
Winner of 2013 John Burroughs Association Riverby Award Honorable Mention

After a huge tree crashes to the ground during a winter storm, ten-year-old Ellie and her new friend, Ricky, explore the forest where Ellie lives. Together, they learn how trees provide habitat for plants and animals high in the forest canopy, down among mossy old logs, and deep in the pools of a stream. The plants, insects, birds, and mammals they discover come to life in colored pen-and-ink drawings.

An engaging blend of science and storytelling, Ellie’s Log also features:

• Pages from Ellie’s own field notebook, which provide a model for recording observations in nature

• Ellie’s advice to readers for keeping a field notebook

• Ellie’s book recommendations Online resources for readers and teachers—including a Teacher’s Guide—are available at ellieslog.org.
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Ellie's Strand
Exploring the Edge of the Pacific
M. L. Herring
Oregon State University Press, 2018
Sigrud Olson Nature Writing Award, Notable Children’s Book
Green Earth Book Award, Honor Book

There are days in late winter when the Pacific coast enjoys a brief spell of clear, warm weather. Most of the winter storms have passed and the summer fog has not yet settled in. This is when some coastal communities plan their annual beach clean-ups.  
 
In this sequel to Ellie’s Log and Ricky’s Atlas, Ellie and Ricky travel to the Oregon coast from their home in the Cascade Mountains to help with a one-day beach clean-up. Hoping to find a prized Japanese glass float, they instead find more important natural treasures, and evidence of an ocean that needs its own global-scale clean-up.
 
Ellie and Ricky are amazed by their discoveries at the edge of the world’s largest ocean. Together, they realize the power of volunteering and grapple with the challenges of ocean conservation. In her journal Ellie records her observations of their adventures in her own words and pictures.
 
With charming pen-and-ink drawings and a compelling story, Ellie's Strand makes coastal science exciting for upper elementary school students. It will be a treasured companion for young beach explorers everywhere.
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From the Forest to the Shore
Julia Glassman
Michigan Publishing Services, 2022

front cover of The Great Lakes Adventures with Auntie M
The Great Lakes Adventures with Auntie M
Maite Elizondo
Michigan Publishing Services, 2022

front cover of The Great Peshtigo Fire
The Great Peshtigo Fire
Stories and Science from America’s Deadliest Fire
Scott Knickelbine
Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2012

On the night of October 8, 1871, a whirlwind of fire swept through northeastern Wisconsin, destroying the bustling frontier town of Peshtigo. Trees, buildings, and people burst into flames. Metal melted. Sand turned into glass. People thought the end of the world had come. When the “tornado of fire” was over, 2,500 people were dead, and Peshtigo was nothing but a smoking ruin. It was the deadliest wildfire in U.S. history.

The Great Peshtigo Fire: Stories and Science from America’s Deadliest Firestorm explores the history, science, and legacy of the 1871 Peshtigo Fire at a fourth-grade reading level. Readers will learn about the history of settlement, agriculture, and forestry in 19th-century Wisconsin. This illuminating text covers a diverse range of topics that will enrich the reader’s understanding of the Peshtigo Fire, including the building and land-use practices of the time that made the area ripe for such a fire, the weather patterns that fostered widespread fires throughout the upper Midwest in the summer and fall of 1871, and exciting first-person accounts that vividly bring the `victims’ stories to life. Connections made between the Peshtigo Fire and the history of fire prevention in the United States encourage critical thinking about issues that remain controversial to this day, such as planned burns and housing development restrictions near forested areas. The Great Peshtigo Fire: Stories and Science from America’s Deadliest Firestorm will inform and captivate its readers as it journeys through the horrifying history of the Peshtigo Fire.

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H.O.M.E.S.
Amani Tolin
Michigan Publishing Services, 2023
This book was created as an assignment for the Winter 2022 course “Nature, Culture, and Landscape” taught by Dr. Sara Adlerstein-Gonzalez for the University of Michigan undergraduate department Program in the Environment and graduate department School for Environment and Sustainability. The purpose of this book was to engage children with the biodiversity of the Great Lakes – to raise environmental awareness and encourage children to care about protecting our planet.
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How to Grow a Community
Kyle Lough
Michigan Publishing Services, 2023
This book was created for the course titled “Nature, Culture, & Landscape” taught by Professor Sara Adlerstein-Gonzalez at the University of Michigan School for Environment & Sustainability.

The objective was to create a book that uses the topic of urban gardening to teach young readers about the importance of environmental stewardship— respecting and caring for Earth and the diversity of life it sustains.

Through art and science, we can better understand complex environmental issues like access to food and water, loss of biodiversity, and land-use. Any reader, of any age, can make a difference in their community through forming stronger connections with people and the earth.
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If Trees Could Talk
Stories About Wisconsin Trees
R. Bruce Allison
Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2009
Inside the pages of If Trees Could Talk, Allison gives readers aged 7 to 12 fascinating stories that introduce them to noteworthy trees, both past and present, across Wisconsin. From Kenosha's buried forest on the shores of Lake Michigan to the Wyalusing maple that saw the last of the passenger pigeons; from Aldo Leopold's "good oak" to the disappeared elms of State Street in Madison, these stories open up a fascinating ecological and social history of Wisconsin to young readers. Other stories showcase the state's history: readers will encounter Chief Black Hawk hiding in a hickory, Civil War soldiers enlisting for battle under "sign-up" trees, and trees used to hang criminals without a trial. They will also learn of large and unusual trees like the Columbus Cottonwood, which was over 26 feet around or, in the words of the author, so large that "it would take you and eight of your friends with your arms outstretched to reach all the way around it!"
 
Told in a compelling narrative style and supplemented with historic photographs and illustrations, these stories instill a sense of place and understanding of the rich heritage of our trees and forests. The book also carries an environmental message encouraging children to appreciate and manage natural resources wisely and respectfully. The highly accessible format includes a map of historic trees locations, a glossary of tree terms, a tree identification chart, and a list of suggested books and websites for further reading.
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front cover of KEEP BOOKS Digital Editions Kindergarten Science Set 1
KEEP BOOKS Digital Editions Kindergarten Science Set 1
Weather-Related Concepts
Marsha Levering
Keep Books, 2020
This set of four books offers engaging stories that combine features of early literacy learning while exploring weather-related concepts from Common Core State Standards and Next Generation Science Standards.
Stories include: Spring, Summer, Fall, & Winter.

Stories include: Spring, Summer, Fall, & Winter.

Age Level: 5/6
Grade Level: Kindergarten
Reading level: not leveled

KEEP BOOKS digital editions include text features and design elements that give beginning readers what they need to start reading on their own with high interest titles that they can easily manage.

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front cover of KEEP BOOKS Digital Editions Kindergarten Science Set 2
KEEP BOOKS Digital Editions Kindergarten Science Set 2
Weather-Related Concepts
Marsha Levering
Keep Books, 2020

This set of four books offers engaging stories that combine features of early literacy learning while exploring weather-related concepts from Common Core  State Standards and Next Generation Science Standards.

Stories include: May, Rain, December, & Is It Hot or Cold?

Age Level: 5/6
Grade Level: Kindergarten
Reading level: not leveled

KEEP BOOKS digital editions include text features and design elements that give beginning readers what they need to start reading on their own with high interest titles that they can easily manage.

[more]

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Learning from the Land
Wisconsin Land Use; 2nd Edition
Bobbie Malone
Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2011

How has the landscape of Wisconsin affected its history? How have people living here changed that landscape over time? What are the implications for the future? The second edition of Learning from the Land addresses these and other questions, asking elementary and middle school readers to think about land use issues throughout Wisconsin's history. This revised edition includes expanded chapters on logging and the lumber industry, land use and planning, and agriculture in the 20th century from farmers' markets to organic farming. New profiles of Gaylord Nelson, pioneer of Earth Day, and Will Allen, founder of Growing Power in Milwaukee, round out this history of land use in Wisconsin.

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Little Otter Learns To Swim
Artie Knapp
Ohio University Press, 2018
In this endearing and beautifully illustrated picture book, a baby river otter learns to swim, dive, and play in her natural habitat. Encouraged by her mother, the little otter soon sets out to explore on her own, quickly learning to escape shoreline predators and to find her way back to the security of home. From children’s author Artie Knapp and wildlife artist Guy Hobbs, Little Otter Learns to Swim is an entertaining and colorful tale for ages four and up. The story is followed by two pages of fun facts about river otters as well as information and resources from the River Otter Ecology Project.
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Mandy's Prairie Home
Gillian Moore
Michigan Publishing Services, 2023
This book was created for the course titled “Restoration Ecology” taught by Sara Adlerstein at the University of Michigan School for Environment & Sustainability. The objective was to create a book that uses the topics learned in class to teach young readers about the importance of environmental stewardship—respecting and caring for Earth and the diversity of life it sustains.
[more]

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The March Wind
Inez Rice
Bodleian Library Publishing, 2017
Every child knows that costumes are magical. Put on the right hat, add some imagination, and you can be anyone.

That's what happens to a little boy in The March Wind. Finding a large black hat lying in the street, he tries it on . . . and instantly becomes a host of exciting characters: a soldier marching proudly through puddles, a cowboy galloping on his steed, a bandit fleeing the law under cover of night, a circus ringleader entertaining the crowd. But then the owner of the hat returns, and the boy finds himself face to face with the March Wind. Is this part of his imagination, too, or is something bigger happening?   

This charming children’s book, first published in 1957, is brought to life by the timeless illustrations of Vladimir Bobri, whose wonderfully imaginative renderings of the boy’s flights of fancy are endearing and captivating. It will charm parents and children alike.
 
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Mary's Wild Winter Feast
Hannah Lindoff
University of Alaska Press, 2014
When winter rain washes away Mary’s chances for a sledding day, she thinks there is no hope for excitement. But with a little imagination and a brimming pantry she soon finds herself caught up in a colorful journey.  Together with her father she relives five Alaska adventures, each uniquely inspired by a jar in her pantry. From salmon to blueberries, each lively tale introduces young readers to Mary’s homeland and invites them to learn about how different places can produce different foods.

Featuring brilliant collages from artists Nobu Koch and Clarissa Rizal, Mary’s Wild Winter Feast is a celebration of food, family, and finding fun in unexpected places.
[more]

front cover of A Meeting at the Mighty Mac
A Meeting at the Mighty Mac
Alia Kirsch
Michigan Publishing Services, 2023
This book was an assignment for the Winter 2022 course "Nature, Culture & Landscape" offered by Dr. Sara Adlerstein at the University of Michigan's School for Environment & Sustainability. The charge was to create a children's book related to the theme of the Great Lakes with the goal of inspiring children to care and make environmentally sound choices.
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Meg
Jenni Fuller
Michigan Publishing Services, 2021

front cover of Mizhibizhu and the Black Snake
Mizhibizhu and the Black Snake
Esha Biswas
Michigan Publishing Services, 2022

front cover of My Trip with the Great Plants of Lake Michigan
My Trip with the Great Plants of Lake Michigan
Jacob Napier
Michigan Publishing Services, 2022

front cover of Nessie Visits the Great Lakes
Nessie Visits the Great Lakes
Anna Urso
Michigan Publishing Services, 2022

front cover of One North Star
One North Star
A Counting Book
Phyllis Root
University of Minnesota Press, 2016

Five toads hop, four brook trout swim, three elk graze, two loons call, and one beaver gnaws on a paper birch tree, all under one North Star. Through bog and marsh, along river and lake, across prairie and into the woods, children learn what lives where by counting the creatures on foot or in flight, swimming or perching in exquisite woodcut and watercolor illustrations created by Beckie Prange and Betsy Bowen in an artistic collaboration. For those looking for more about the pictured wildlife, Phyllis Root includes fascinating facts and information on the state’s ecosystems and the plants and animals that make their homes there.

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One Winter Up North
John Owens
University of Minnesota Press, 2022

A picture-book journey through the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in winter, snowshoeing the frozen lakes and silent forest with family, encountering the wonders of northern wildlife in the cold season
 

In winter the Boundary Waters, way up north in Minnesota, is not the same place you canoed last summer—but still it beckons and welcomes you. Grab a pack, strap on snowshoes, make a path (Oh! they take some getting used to!), and venture out across the frozen lakes and through the snowy woods. The vast wintery world here is so still and quiet, you might think you’re all alone—but no! Who made these tracks? A deer? A hare? A fox? And far off there’s a musher, making tracks with his sled dogs.

It’s a magical place. The bright sun brilliant on the snow, the sparkling silence—wait, is that a wolf calling? Try to answer! And when the dark descends, the stars and pine trees holding up the night, your nose gets cold and it’s back to camp, to your warm winter tent, where Father feeds the stove with wood you gathered, Mother snuggles into her big sleeping bag, and you curl up in the fire’s glow and know that in your dreams and memories you will return again and again to this one winter up north. 

A wintery adventure that unfolds in pictures, John Owens’s delightful book gives readers a chance to discover—or rediscover—another season full of wonder in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

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Penguin's Way
Johanna Johnston
Bodleian Library Publishing, 2015
With a new children’s book imprint, the Bodleian Library brings beloved classics back into print, beginning with a beautiful storybook about the life of a fascinating Antarctic species. Originally published in 1962, Penguin’s Way by Johanna Johnston tells the surprising story of these creatures, complete with colorful artwork by award-winning illustrator Leonard Weisgard.

In Penguin’s Way, a playful colony of emperor penguins lives on the edge of a faraway secret sea. During the summers, the penguins are content to fish and swim in the icy waters. But, when the seasons change, they must travel more than one hundred miles to the snowy lands surrounding the South Pole. All across the snow plain, the penguins sing songs to welcome newly hatched chicks into the world, but how will the fluffy newborns survive the freezing winter?

Few things pique children’s curiosity about the world around them better than a good book. Brought back for a new generation of young readers, Penguin’s Way offers a fun and creative introduction to these fascinating animals.
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Plant a Pocket of Prairie
Phyllis Root
University of Minnesota Press, 2014

Author Phyllis Root and illustrator Betsy Bowen last explored the vast, boggy peatlands of northern Minnesota in their book Big Belching Bog. Now, in Plant a Pocket of Prairie, Root and Bowen take young readers on a trip to another of Minnesota’s important ecosystems: the prairie.

Once covering almost 40 percent of the United States, native prairie is today one of the most endangered ecosystems in the world. Plant a Pocket of Prairie teaches children how changes in one part of the system affect every other part: when prairie plants are destroyed, the animals who eat those plants and live on or around them are harmed as well. Root shows what happens when we work to restore the prairies, encouraging readers to “plant a pocket of prairie” in their own backyards.

By growing native prairie plants, children can help re-create food and habitat for the many birds, butterflies, and other animals that depend on them. “Plant cup plants,” Root suggests. “A thirsty chickadee might come to drink from a tiny leaf pool. Plant goldenrod. A Great Plains toad might flick its tongue at goldenrod soldier beetles.” An easy explanation of the history of the prairie, its endangered status, and how to go about growing prairie plants follows, as well as brief descriptions of all the plants and animals mentioned in the story.

With Betsy Bowen’s beautiful, airy illustrations capturing the feel of an open prairie and all its inhabitants, readers of all ages will be inspired to start planting seeds and watching for the many fascinating animals their plants attract. What a marvelous transformation could take place if we all planted a pocket of prairie!

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Ricky in the City
Where the Wildlife Live
Judith L. Li
Oregon State University Press, 2019
It’s early fall when Ricky and Ellie travel to Portland from their homes in the Cascade Mountains for a weekend school exchange.  Much to their surprise, they find an astounding variety of wildlife in the city. With the help of their new friends, Jenny and Marcus, they explore Portland’s habitats, from its streets and gardens to woodlands, streams, and river banks. Ellie tests her bird-watching skills while Ricky learns ways to count fish in streams. Together they are fascinated by stunning wildlife in the city’s restored wetlands.

The kids find insects and reptiles moving about garden patches and bioswales, song birds and squirrels in neighborhood tree canopies, falcons and eagles crossing spacious river floodplains. As they record and map how wildlife and people are connected in these city spaces, they become community scientists, contributing to actual regional databases. After they see the young trees Marcus planted in his neighborhood, the feeders Jenny tends for hummingbirds, and the fascinating wildlife underpasses built in the wetlands, Ricky and Ellie realize there are many ways people actively care for the city’s wildlife.

In this fourth and final story of their award-winning children’s series, M. L. Herring’s vivid pen and watercolor illustrations complement the engaging storytelling of Judith Li. Readers will delight in the journal pages and maps “hand drawn” by Ricky and Ellie at the end of each chapter, while the “Dear Reader” section offers further tips for budding citizen scientists.
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Ricky's Atlas
Mapping a Land on Fire
Li
Oregon State University Press, 2016
American Association for the Advancement of Science / Subaru SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books, Best Hands-On Science Book 2017

In this sequel to Ellie’s Log: Exploring the Forest Where the Great Tree Fell, Ricky Zamora brings his love of map-making and his boundless curiosity to the arid landscapes east of the Cascades Mountains.  He arrives during a wild thunderstorm, and watches his family and their neighbors scramble to deal with a wildfire sparked by lightning. Joined by his friend Ellie, he sees how plants, animals, and people adjust to life with wildfires. 
 
While hiking across a natural prairie, climbing up a fire tower, and studying historical photos and maps, Ricky and Ellie learn about the role of fire in shaping the landscape of the semi-arid plateau east of the mountains. They experience the scary days of wildfire in progress, explore a gritty site after a wildfire, and discover how some plants and animals depend on fire to survive.
 
Color pen-and-ink drawings accompany the text and vividly illustrate plants, animals, and events encountered in this exciting summer adventure. With his friend Ellie, Ricky creates a brightly colored diary of the fire, with maps, timelines, and sketches of what they see in this fire-prone land.  Ricky’s notebook about his summer visit to his uncle’s ranch becomes an atlas of fire ecology, weather patterns, and life in the rain shadow.
 
Upper elementary kids will enjoy the mixture of amazing adventures with actual historical, physical, and ecological data about the region.  Woven into the story are the small pleasures of ranch life, intriguing histories of Native Americans and early settlers, and almost unbelievable views of ancient fossils.  Ricky and Ellie’s explorations, accompanied by their hand-written notes, introduce readers to a very special landscape and history east of the mountains.
 
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Seeds in Soil
Planting a Garden and Finding Your Roots
Susan Apps-Bodilly
Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2022
Take learning outdoors and empower young readers to plant their own gardens while digging deeper into related science and history lessons in this “soil to supper” book designed for kids and adults to use together. Packed with hands-on activities, fun projects, and fresh recipes, this colorful gardening guide provides opportunities for kids to observe, explore, and ask questions while engaging their
natural curiosity about nature. Seeds in Soil includes all the details to start planting and growing, whether working with a whole yard, a community or school garden, or just a balcony.

Chapters feature advice for selecting the seeds and tools to get started; ideas for planning and being creative in the garden; and tips for harvesting, storing, and cooking with fresh produce. Written by a second-grade teacher, the book includes engaging lessons about the science of climate, soil, and pollinators; and connections to history through the stories of First Nations and immigrant gardeners. Told through the author’s family stories and experience, Seeds in Soil will get kids having fun in the garden while digging, planting, growing, and finding their roots.
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Super Creatures of the Huron River
Sara Adlerstein-Gonzalez
Michigan Publishing Services, 2021

Super Creatures of the Huron River aims to teach children about stream ecology, with a focus on the fascinating “bugs” that can be found in the Huron River. State and national inventories record one hundred dams on the Huron River system, which is typical of rivers and tributaries in the Great Lakes Basin. What was once a free-flowing system is now interrupted by dams on both the river’s main stem and its tributaries. Although dams can provide some benefits, they produce severe negative impacts on the rivers they harness. Dams alter a river’s chemical, physical, and biological processes, including fragmenting and blocking the natural movement of fish and other aquatic species. Although these negative impacts have become more obvious over the past two decades, the environmental costs of dams have only recently captured scientific attention.

Super Creatures of the Huron River is a project conducted by a team of University of Michigan (UM) faculty and students, in collaboration with Huron River Watershed Council (HRWC) researchers. Sara Adlerstein developed the project. Working closely with her were Carolyn Berge, Jeffrey Evans, and Mike Wiley from UM and Paul Steen and Pam Labadie from HRWC. Illustrations for the book were created by master of science student Jennifer Fuller. The picture book will be used as a tool to support streamside activities led by the HRWC.

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What Am I?
By Mary Neel Green
University of Texas Press, 1999

In the dense, shady rain forest, it's easy for a little guy to get lost from his mother. When a young okapi wanders away from his mom, he discovers the world of people and learns that he is a very special animal, different from all the rest. But still he misses his mother and their home in the forest. How can he get back?

This heartwarming tale with a happy ending introduces children from ages three to eight to the okapi, a graceful, elusive animal native to the Ituri Forest of Congo-Zaire. Based on the true story of an okapi calf that escaped from captivity, it is sure to delight young animal lovers, while teaching them basic facts about the family life of the okapi. A brief afterword provides more information for parents and older children.

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A Woodland Counting Book
Claudia McGehee
University of Iowa Press, 2006
Towering oak and hickory woodlands once fringed the tallgrass prairie of the Midwest. In a wondrous mixture of plant and animal life, big mammals like black bears and cougars thrived alongside gray foxes and ovenbirds. But as more people arrived, the woodlands, like the tallgrass prairie, were cleared with amazing speed. Now only small portions of this special habitat remain, and many of its animals and plants are endangered or extinct. Despite the great loss, many people are working to restore and enlarge what remains so that woodlands can continue to support a rich wildlife community. And so we can all enjoy a walk in the woods. A Woodland Counting Book helps children learn about the woodland family. From one splendid white oak to fifty busy carpenter ants, illustrator Claudia McGehee counts the wonders of the woodlands in this beautifully illustrated companion to her previous children’s book, A Tallgrass Prairie Alphabet. As she follows spring to summer to fall to winter, returning at the book’s end to springtime in “one woodland community,” McGehee introduces more than twenty species of plants and animals. From the white oaks that tower overhead to shelter the woodland citizens to the delicate showy lady’s-slipper orchid and from the barred owls with distinctive hoots and calls to tiny evening bats which roost in hollow trees, we meet a wild world of woodland life. We find luna moths and serviceberries, shagbark hickories, blue spotted salamanders, wild turkeys, red squirrels, orchard orioles, and a host of other familiar and not-so-familiar plants and animals. A section of woodland notes gives common and scientific names of and interesting information about all featured species. These vibrantly colored scratchboard illustrations reveal the beauty of our woodland communities, guiding nature lovers and children of all ages through a much-loved landscape.
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