Nicholas Nirgiotis

The book talks about volcanoes, how they form, and how they erupt. They also talk about volcanic eruptions that actually happened. The give very detailed descriptions about volcanoes. I think this would be a great book to use to start a lesson. It is simple but gives a lot of information and detail about volcanoes. I would pair this lesson along with having the students create a volcano with a partner. In making a volcano and pairing it along with books, it would incorporate science, reading, and art. It would be a wonderful addition to a classroom library or school library. The illustrations are great, the information is through and accurate. Overall, a wonderful book.… (meer)

This book starts as a fictional story with a zookeeper trying to keep killer ants away from the zoo animals with dry leaves and kerosene. As the book progresses, the author writes informational facts about many species of ants and how they’re different. I liked the style of starting off an informational book first with fiction and then using real facts later on in the book. That particular style is one that I have not come across yet while reading children’s books. One fact I found in this book to be very interesting is that there are more than thirteen thousand species of ants. I also liked this for its detailed illustrations. The illustrator used fine line work and detail to show the differences in ants’ appearances. For example, the honey pot ants store honey in their abdomen and hang from the ceiling looking like jars of honey. The illustrator drew these ants with round abdomens hanging upside down. I found the illustrations helpful because I have never heard of most types of these ant species and seeing the pictures helped me build connections with the words. The main idea of this book is to familiarize the reader with different ant species and inform the reader on different characteristics of ants as a whole.… (meer)