GO WILD! PANDAS
By: Margie Markarian
Published: June 1, 2021
Publisher: National Geographic Kids
Non-Fiction
Getting even the youngest readers excited about learning can be a challenge, but this Go Wild series can do it! Written specifically for preschool to lower elementary-aged kids, the books read like a story with uses of literary devices like onomatopeias, large font sizes, bold colors, and amazing photography. Little ones won’t even realize they are learning.
Pandas are called Giant Pandas for a reason, they are large animals, weighing between 200-300 pounds and measuring as large as a typical couch in your home. Every part of their body is made the way it is for a purpose. Their fur helps them hide and keeps them dry and warm. They have strong claws and jaws and large teeth for grabbing and chewing bamboo. Their padded paws help to prevent slipping in the wet forest. Since most of us have never seen a panda up close, it’s fun to learn about this amazing animal.
Your child might relate to the panda bear based on its eating habits. If you have a child who will only eat pizza for every meal, then you can tell them they are like a panda who only eats bamboo for every meal of the day! Baby pandas spend two years with their mother before they are sent off to be on their own, literally. Pandas typically like to be on their own and live a mostly solitary life.
Besides pandas, the author also shares the other bears in the panda family. Then, since pandas are decreasing in the wild, the author also shares how sanctuaries and researchers are helping to protect the pandas and how we can help too.
The end of the book includes a fun quiz and activities to learn more about pandas.
GO WILD! SEA TURTLES
By: Jill Esbaum
Published: May 11, 2021
Publisher: National Geographic Kids
Non-Fiction
Getting even the youngest readers excited about learning can be a challenge, but this Go Wild series can do it! Written specifically for preschool to lower elementary-aged kids, the books read like a story with uses of literary devices like onomatopeias, large font sizes, bold colors, and amazing photography. Little ones won’t even realize they are learning.
Kids began to get excited about sea turtles when the movie “Finding Nemo” first came out many years ago. One of Nemo’s friends, Squirt, was a character my kids loved. So, of course, they wanted to learn more about sea turtles.
Most kids don’t live in areas where there are sea turtles, unless they travel to Hawaii or Mexico for a vacation, they may never see them in real life. Even though sea turtles vary in size, they are all quite heavy, weighing between 70-100 pounds. Of course, weight doesn’t matter as much in the ocean as everyone feels weightless while floating and swimming.
No part of the sea turtle’s body is taken for granted. The back flippers help with turning and stopping in the water. Their hard shell is made to protect their soft body. They can see really well underwater, but can’t see well out of the water. Sea turtles have a beak instead of teeth to break their food into smaller pieces. But, even though they are sea turtles, they still need to breathe air every few minutes, especially while swimming and using energy.
When learning about the various sea turtles, kids will be amazed at the various patterns on the shells of each of the different turtles. I was surprised at how different they all were. Kids will also learn about the delicate nesting process and quick release of the hatchlings back to the ocean. At just two months old, baby turtles are released to the ocean and live in seaweed until they are three.
If your family has traveled to beaches, you have maybe seen signs about keeping your lights off or curtains drawn at night. I knew it had to do with turtles, but didn’t understand why. I learned that they are naturally born to race to a far-off light, where the sky meets the water. But, if your hotel or condo light is shining, they may mistake that for the light they are to go toward. We want the baby turtles to go to the ocean, so keep those lights off during nesting season!
The end of the book features ways to help with ocean pollution and to help keep sea turtles safe. Activities to do with your kids to reinforce their learning like going out and picking up trash on the beach, making turtle bread, or making a sea turtle are also included.
To purchase a copy of GO WILD! PANDAS or GO WILD! SEA TURTLES, click the photos below:
All summer I’ll be sharing books for kids of all ages on topics that will interest them or offer them a new interest to learn about. Most of the time these will be nonfiction books, but sometimes we can learn how to be better people or learn empathy from fictional stories too.
So, I hope you will stay tuned to these posts. They will always have Summer Read-to-Learn in the title and in the tags. There will be books from some of my favorite publishers like National Geographic, plus, some from independent publishers. See them all, HERE.