Creatures Great and Small Boutique

DK Canada is having a wonderful boutique for all creatures great and small.   From the tiny insect to the biggest animal on the planet, DK Canada has the book to spike the interest of your child in discovering everything about animals.  

 

Smithsonian Wildlife of the World

Wildlife of the World takes you on a journey through some of the most scenic and rich animal habitats — from the Amazon rain forests to the Himalayas, the Sahara to the South Pole — meeting the most important animals in each ecosystem along the way.

In Wildlife of the World truly spectacular portrait-style photography brings you "face-to-face" with individual animals in up-close and engrossing profiles on how the animals interact with their environments, mate, survive, and even play.

From the shaggy musk ox foraging in the Canadian high arctic to the angered Scottish wildcat prowling the Highlands to the rock-climbing gelada monkey of Ethiopia, each animal featured in Wildlife of the World plays a key role in its environment. An additional eighty-page illustrated reference section on the animal kingdom explains the animal groups and profiles additional species.

This book is impressive by the quantity and quality of the information within the pages.   The information in this book is divided into eight sections:

Animal habitats: forest, grasslands, extreme environments, aquatic environments.

North America: peaks and prairies, Canadian arctic, Yellowstone, central great plains, Sierra Nevada, Mojave desert, Florida Everglades.

Central and South America: land of the jaguar, Costa Rican rainforest, Andean Yungas, Amazon rainforests, the Pantanal, Andean altiplano, Argentine pampas, Galapagos islands.

Europe: plains and peninsulas, Norwegian fjords, Scottish highlands, the Camargue, Tagus valley, the Alps, Bavarian forest.

Africa: a sunbaked land, Ethiopian highlands, great rift valley lakes, Serengeti savannas, Congo basin, Okavango delta, Kalahari desert, Madagascan dry forest.

Asia: land of extremes, Arabian highlands, Terai-Duar savannas, Eastern Himalayas, upper Yangtze forests, Gobi desert, Nihonkai Montane forests, Bornean rainforests, Sulu-Sulawesi seas.

Australasia: the red continent, New Guinea Montane forest, North Australia savannas, great Sandy-Tanami desert, East Australian forests, great barrier reef, New Zealand mixed forests.

Antarctica: land of ice and snow, southern ocean islands, Antarctic peninsula.

Already I have plenty of use for this book.   The Olympics being in Rio this summer I will discover the animals of the Amazon rainforest with the kids.  I also plan to use this book next year for our Oceania unit with our homeschool coop.   I will also direct our readings toward the China habitats since we covered this region as part of our coop last year.

The pages are packed with stunning photos and informative data on the animals found throughout the world.   The fact that it is divided into regions of the world is interesting because you can tie the reading of the pages with your study in geography.   It is always nice to have a book that is a bit different than other ones you might have and this book is definitively unique by the fact that the information is classified based on a specific habitat found somewhere on a specific continent.   I really think this is a great book to own in your personal library.

Smithsonian Eyewitness Explorer Bird Watcher

In Eyewitness Explorers: Bird Watcher, young bird lovers can discover all they need to know about these winged wonders. In the book you will find over 30 hands on activities that allow budding ornithologists to build a birdfeeder, make a nest box, birdbath, and bird garden; plus uncover tracks and trails, study nests, explore different kinds of bird feathers and eggs, and learn migration patterns.

This book encourage hands-on learning with 30 easy activities that help children observe, explore, and learn about the natural world. The book explains the science behind the activities, laying the essential groundwork for contextualizing the experience to come. But at the heart of the books are the activities themselves — a chance to learn by doing with experiments that can be carried out right at home. Most can even be completed with materials already on hand, so there's no complicated preparation or specialized equipment needed. Simply choose one of the projects and follow the step-by-step photographically illustrated instructions.  It will be really simple to do with your kids.  Besides, in the end you will have the opportunity to observe fabulous creatures – the birds.

 

I truly believe that bird watching is an activity that can be enjoyed by every one in a family.   Once you learn more about birds, you will enjoy the observations even more as you try to identify the birds.   Then you can venture your family in the forest or fields around your house in order to see which birds live in your area.  Bird watching is a great homeschool activity that can be done throughout the year.

Smithsonian Everything you need to know about birds

Have you ever wondered how birds fly or what's inside an egg? You can find out the answers to these questions and more in Everything You Need to Know About Birds.

From nocturnal owls to flightless penguins, learn about the different evolution and habitats of birds from around the world. Discover how almost everything about a bird's anatomy is designed for flight, yet how its skeleton is also similar to that of a human. See how golden eagles are used for fox hunting in Kazakhstan, and try to find the differences and similarities between an ostrich and the dinosaur Eoraptor.  This book is definitively packed with information about different types of birds all across the world, their habitats, breeding habits, anatomy, and oddities. You will also read about shocking trivia.  The book is perfect to learn more about everything that is bird related.   For example through the pages of this book you will discover the different types of birds that hunt, dive, swim, run, and dig, including vultures, crows, parrots, chickens, and more. 

   

The book contains numerous close-ups, an engaging text, as well as an innovative, high-quality design.   It could be the tool to have for in-depth research or a quick dip for fast facts on these amazing creatures that fly above our heads. 

 Smithsonian Super Bug Encyclopedia

Following on the success of Super Nature Encyclopedia and Super Human Encyclopedia comes Super Bug Encyclopedia — a look at the 100 most amazing insects on the planet!

Using macro photography and brand-new CGI artworks, Super Bug zooms right in to reveal the secrets of the most successful creatures on our planet. With incredible facts and stats for every bug, Super Bug showcases the superstars of the insect world. Find out which insect can snap a pencil in half, how a tiny moth can fly up to 70 miles an hour, and meet a dung beetle that can pull over 1,100 times its own body weight. Young readers will be wowed by what goes on inside the tiny world of ants, spiders, butterflies, moths, crickets, and other creepy crawlies.

Lively, informative, easy-to-access text based on the latest discoveries and scientific research showcases incredible feats of endurance, defense, strength, and speed while graphic, dashboard-style panels provides information at a glance.  You will be able to visualized with incredible 3-D models with cross-sections and strip layers.  It is the perfect book to explore every essential detail of the world of insects.

 

The book is divided into five sections: Amazing Anatomy, Animal Athletes, Fearsome Hunters, Tiny Terrors, and Life Stories.   Each of these sections will highlight a specific bug that can be found around the world.  For example, on the two pages about the emperor scorpion you will get a quick overview of the bug, see its cross-section with advance graphic, meet its deadly relative, learn  more about it and get all the stats and facts on the bug.   Did you know that a female scorpion may give birth to as many as 100 live young and that she will carry them on her back.   Impressive!  If your child desire to learn more about bugs, this is definitively a book to discover with him or her.

If these titles do not grab your interest or if you are looking for something more specific, head over to the Creatures Great & Small Boutique at DK Canada to discover other titles like The Bee Book or Everything You Need to Know About Sharks for example.   All the titles I have seen in the boutique would make a great addition for your personal library when you homeschool or for a quick reference for a school project.

Each of these four books can be found at your favorite bookstore, even on amazon.ca and amazon.com.

 

 

 

 

Disclaimer: Thanks to DK Canada for allowing me to promote this book. I was not monetarily compensated for this post . Please note that the post was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.