Children's Books,  Nature Study

Wetland Read Alouds

We’ve been reading lots of books about wetlands this week, learning about the interrelationships in hopes of sharpening our observations at a local nature preserve. I didn’t have time to post yesterday, but I wanted to share a few of our discoveries anyway. I’m narrowing this post down to the top three books.

Squish! by Nancy Luenn pairs poetic impressions of a child’s wetland walk with gorgeous illustrations by Ronald Himler. There is plenty of information packed in as well, and we enjoyed seeing some of the same sights we’ve observed at our own freshwater wetland. It’s a perfect blend of beautiful text and pictures.

Here Is the Wetland, by Madeleine Dunphy, is written in a “house that Jack built” style to build a sense of the relationships among the wetland animals. It’s fun to read, especially toward the end when the list of animals following one another is quite long and I have to read through it at top speed to get it all in a single breath. The pictures by Wayne McLoughlin are absolutely glorious, so luminous that the light seems to radiate from each page.

Wetlands by Ronald Rood is a simple chapter book illustrated by Marlene Hill Donnelly. Like the other two books, it provides sensory description and a more thorough and comprehensive explanation of the plant and animal life in a wetland. I learned that a dragonfly nymph has an extendable jaw, that a damselfly holds its wings upright when it’s at rest, and that a mayfly’s above-water life is so short, many mayflies don’t even have a stomach. There are also instructions on how to build your own microscope. Very readable and informative.

You can see some pictures of our recent wetland explorations here and here. I totally missed yesterday’s Read Aloud Thursday, but for news about what other families are reading together, click the button below. Happy reading!

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