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Miranda Ritts writes: The name of the book is Biodiversity of Coasts by Grey Pyers. This book is very educational. I think it is great that it talks about things that are going on in the world such as oil spills. This is a great book for research. It would be good for topics such as oil spills, biodiversity, and coasts. I enjoyed the pictures in this book because they gave a great example of what the book was talking about.

Diane writes: An excellent resource to have on hand, not only for biodiversity and biomes, but also to address issues of pollution, oil spills, etc. You need Biodiversity of Coasts immediately, but go ahead and get the entire series. Each title has unique information at a depth I haven’t seen focusing on biodiversity and relationships.

Have you ever held a book in your hand and tried to go online to find more information, but there was nothing on the web? You begin to wonder if you are losing your mind or not. I have been searching the Marshall Cavendish website, including their MC Benchmark imprint, but cannot find this new series BIODIVERSITY listed. The publisher did send me this set to review along with a slip of paper saying the publication date is August 15, 2010. Each title is under $20 and they contain information not found in other biome themed books. I hope Marshall Cavendish Benchmark folks fix this fast!

I’ll go ahead and give you ISBN information so you can order your books now:

• Biodiversity of Coasts 978-1-60870-069-1
• Biodiversity of Coral Reefs 978-1-60870-070-7
• Biodiversity of Deserts 978-1-60870-071-4
• Biodiversity of Polar Regions 978-1-60870-072-1
• Biodiversity of Rain Forests 978-1-60870-073-8
• Biodiversity of  Woodlands 978-1-60870-074-5

After further checking, I saw that the series was first published in Australia in 2010 and FINALLY found information on the www.macmillanlibrary.com.au site with information that this is the International Year of Biodiversity as declared by the United Nations.

The publishers description states: Biodiversity describes the variety of living things in a particular place or ecosystem. It is essential to the survival of plants and animals but human activities have upset biodiversity and it is not under threat. The series examines the biodiversity of habitat types and ecosystems. It looks at threats and efforts to conserve biodiversity, and identifies biodiversity hotspots.

Take a look at the table of contents to see some of the diversity being studied:

Contents

• What is biodiversity?
• Why is biodiversity important?
• Coasts of the world
• Coastal biodiversity
• Coastal ecosystems
• Threats to coasts
• Biodiversity threat: Urbanisation (spelled Urbanization in my U.S. copy)
• Biodiversity threat: Invasive species
• Biodiversity threat: Pollution
• Biodiversity threat: Climate change
• Coastal conservation
• Case study: The Mediterranean Coast
• What is the future for coasts?
• Glossary
• Index

I wish I had my scanner connected so I could show you a double-page spread and you could see just how much information is presented in these 32 pages. The information is spot-on for middle schoolers with small text chunks perfect for the reader who becomes easily terrified of too much

Miranda Ritts shares her review of Watch Out World – Rosy Cole Is Going Green!  The book is written by Sheila Greenwald. This book has a great storyline. It really shows how anyone big or small can do their part to go green. I really enjoyed how the book gives great ideas on how to do things for the world such as recycling and using worms for composting things. These are only two of the ideas in this book that anyone could do. The cover on this book is great. It was a good way to get my attention with the bright colors and large print.

Diane’s notes: View this creative video   Make Like a Tree and Leave we made for a workshop on Videos and Podcasting. We decided to pretend we were students and based a tree-planting activity upon the Watch Out World – Rosy Cole is Going Green book.

If you could see the white letters around the cover, you’d read “Rosy Cole’s bright, though not exactly popular, ideas about garbage, worms, dirt, and other gifts of nature. ”

When I read the inside cover of this book, I thought it would focus on planting trees and taking steps to be more earth-friendly like using the energy-saving lightbulbs. Instead, Rosy Cole’s new adventure has her learning about nature while respecting insects.  I particularly enjoyed her research into Blattella Germanica and red wiggler worms.

My favorite Rosy Cole quote from the book:  

“Because the museum is where I found out going green is about respecting and protecting the earth and all its creatures. Even the ones that aren’t as pretty as butterflies or as cute as ladybugs can teach us important lessons.”

Can you believe that we have been reading the adventures of Rosy Cole for 26 years?  I remember my first Rosy Cole book – Write On, Rosy! (A Young Author in Crisis).  This newest edition to Sheila Greenwald’s early chapter books will be a popular choice for science units and Earth Day studies.

Miranda Ritts reviews Doubles Troubles by Betty Hicks and illustrated by Simon Gane. One of the main things I like about this book is how it tells true things about sports and competition. I liked that the kids in this book did and went through things that every kid playing sports would go through. Another thing I enjoyed was the illustrations in the book.

This is a good example of why you don’t need color to have good illustrations because in this case, shading does the trick. One thing I disliked about this book is how it left us hanging. I would have liked to have known what happened at the other tennis matches even though Henry wouldn’t have won the trophy.

Publisher’s Description:  Henry wants to win the doubles tennis trophy more than anything. He knows he’s good enough, but he’s not sure his partner Rocky is. The advantage goes to new readers as they follow Henry as he helps Rocky  train and, at the same time, works on his history project. Can Henry serve up an ace on and off the court?

Diane writes: This newest edition to the Gym Shorts series for beginning chapter books (second & third graders) continues to integrate sports with positive attitudes beyond the court. There is much in this title that parents can discuss with their children. I wish more parents would take time to sit with their 1st-4th graders and listen to them read these beginning chapter books. Betty Hicks has provided many opportunities for questions and discussions.

Readers know that I believe teachers and librarians MUST read a variety of books to their students, not just fantasy & sci-fi, but sports fiction & nonfiction, also. Many teachers are not as enthusiastic about sports so when they read sports books aloud, they make the experience boring and painful. Please do your students a favor and give the Gym Shorts series a try.

Here’s an illustration from Simon Gane’s blog and from Doubles Troubles. I appreciate seeing a wider variety of the illustrator/artist’s work in addition to their children’s illustrations. Plus learning that the illustrations were done with Indian ink on Bristol board helps me appreciate the artist’s work even more. See his blog post for Simon’s comments on Wacom tablets.