Aspasia Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 I'm considering using all the money I might have spent on a pricey all-inclusive science curriculum to expand our home science library. We have several Peterson's First Field Guides. We also have a few Lets-Read-and-Find-Out books, which we love. We have Handbook of Nature Study and some animal, dinosaur, human body, and space encyclopedias. What are some must-haves you would recommend? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmilyGF Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 If there is any interest in birds, the books by Sophie Webb. Here's one: Season with the Penguins. I think books like these are more important for understanding how science works than fact-based encyclopedias. This is about researching penguins in Antarctica. I've been really impressed by books that focus on scientists doing science. There is a lot of scientific information built into a framework of how scientists work. The Scientists in the Field series is good for that, but you should check a few out at the library before deciding to buy them. I've picked up a lot of books at used book sales on the cheap. I focus on adult books with hand-make pictures (watercolors, pen and ink, etc) and my kids will copy the pictures and then work on the text on their own. I just found a series of drawings of flowers my 7-yo daughter made that way. Unless the text is striking, I sky away from books with photographs because they tend to be poorly written and quickly slapped together. The boys in the cub scout troop referenced on the other thread sort of viewed science like magic explosions. Science in the Field really counters that. Emily Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kfamily Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 Here are some ideas from our library: biographies of all sorts....Scientists in the Field series, books about inventors, naturalists, etc. books by Kathryn Lasky...she has an assortment but if you look through them you will find many for science Fabre's Book of Insects nature books by Jim Arnosky books by Silverstein One Small Square series Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chelli Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 We recently discover The Adventures of Riley series about animal conservation. They are very well done and kept both my 6 year old and 10 year old entertained. Riley joins his Uncle Max, a biologist on adventures around the world to protect endangered or threatened animals. There are 12 books in the series. I'm linking to the first one below. Adventures of Riley: Safari in South Africa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jar7709 Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 Books that have received a lot of use here:Scientist in the Field series Women's Adventures in Science series books by Seymour Simon Horrible Science series Magic School Bus series (the original ones, not the chapter books or easy readers) a good atlas that includes landforms, seafloor, climate zones, etc. Usborne internet-linked Science Encyclopedia (and when that's outgrown, a good visual encyclopedia of science) One Small Square series Nature field guides for our region National geographic titles The Elements A Really Short History of Nearly Everything The Way Things Work/The Way Life Works/The Way We Work Eyewitness Books Lots more, really, but many are subject-specific. I check the BFSU recommendations, NSTA lists , and a few other sources to find other titles for our shelves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aspasia Posted January 1, 2014 Author Share Posted January 1, 2014 If there is any interest in birds, the books by Sophie Webb. Here's one: Season with the Penguins. I think books like these are more important for understanding how science works than fact-based encyclopedias. This is about researching penguins in Antarctica. I've been really impressed by books that focus on scientists doing science. There is a lot of scientific information built into a framework of how scientists work. The Scientists in the Field series is good for that, but you should check a few out at the library before deciding to buy them. Emily Yeah, the encyclopedias aren't very readable. I like a lot of the series books like the One Small Square books, Let's-Read-and-Find-Out, and the Take-Along Guides (which are hand illustrated like you said). I'm looking for things that we will want to just read because they're interesting. I've also found that the encyclopedias just have quick blurbs that will just make us want to find other books anyway. I'm looking to purchase those "other books". I will definitely look into the Scientists in the Field books and Sophie Webb's. Thanks so much! ETA: I'm so excited! I just found the Scientists in the Field book about wild horses on Assateague Island! We live in Virginia and dd loves everything about those horses. She'll love this one. Thanks again, ladies! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrunchyGirl Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 LegoMan loves the big Usborne Science Encyclopedia. I went ahead and got the one with the library binding. I have a feeling it's going to get a lot of use over the next few years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BugsMama Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 The David Macaulay books are ah.may.zing. All my kids love them. Perfect for understanding things in a clear, visual way. I plan on using The New Way Things Work as a spine for physics in a year or two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 Besides the ones mentioned my kids all enjoyed the Bernstein's Bear Big Book of Science at that age. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 Thanks to the op, I had started a similar thread a while back as I need to add to our own library and I'm always excited to see the good recs. Really makes me doubt my resolution to take a month off of spending books :) Oh, one that ds has been enjoying lately is: The Kids Book of Weatherforecasting I put it in the book basket and I don't know how many times he has pulled it out to read and try different projects in there, he is always telling us some weather fact that he read in it. It would work great as one to work through with the kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathyJo Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 Here's my reading lists. It has both history and science, divided by time period / branch of science and also by stage. It has a TOC so it's easy to navigate. We've never used a science curriculum, though we have used RS4K books just as reading books. I started to use a "real" science curriculum once my oldest hit high school. He suddenly stopped liking science. I re-evaluated my goals, found "hatred of subject previously loved" was not on the list, and went back to a spine and lots of good science books. I'm always attracted to the actual science curricula, but in the end, the books always win. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scrapbabe Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 Listening in. :lurk5: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 Look for lewelma's posts.... IMO, I invested too heavily in books for the k-4 crowd....magic school bus, LRFO, One Small Square, etc and the like are all very good, and will certainly get lots of use between all of my kiddos, but I wish I had spread out my budget more early on and bought more middle and higher level stuff. Kingfisher Science encyclopedia, usborne science microscope, and some of the Rey astronomy stuff are being enjoyed by my 6th grader. I am just starting to look into higher level stuff....I have a huge stack from amazon coming my way... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aspasia Posted January 2, 2014 Author Share Posted January 2, 2014 Here's my reading lists. It has both history and science, divided by time period / branch of science and also by stage. It has a TOC so it's easy to navigate. We've never used a science curriculum, though we have used RS4K books just as reading books. I started to use a "real" science curriculum once my oldest hit high school. He suddenly stopped liking science. I re-evaluated my goals, found "hatred of subject previously loved" was not on the list, and went back to a spine and lots of good science books. I'm always attracted to the actual science curricula, but in the end, the books always win. Oh, what a treasure! Thank you so much for sharing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rebbyribs Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 In addition to the great recommendations you've gotten, we loved Island: A Story of the Galapagos by Jason Chin Everything by Steve Jenkins that we've ever read, especially What Do You Do with a Tail Like This?; Biggest, Strongest, Fastest; Prehistoric Actual Size; and Down, Down, Down: A Journey to the Bottom of the Sea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aspasia Posted January 2, 2014 Author Share Posted January 2, 2014 ^^ We actually have a couple of those Steve Jenkins books. They're much loved. :) So, along these same lines, do you all have any magazine recommendations? I'm going to subscribe to Ranger Rick. What else? (We've done National Geographic Kids and I didn't care for it--too much advertising and the pages just felt really busy.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 So, along these same lines, do you all have any magazine recommendations? I'm going to subscribe to Ranger Rick. What else? (We've done National Geographic Kids and I didn't care for it--too much advertising and the pages just felt really busy.) Well, unfortunately I have found a lot of magazines are primarily advertising these days. Part of the problem is that not as many people buy print media anymore so they have to include more advertising to offset the lower subscription numbers. My son loves Zoobooks. He is saving for the official case so he can keep his collection neat. There are a lot of high quality magazines from Carus publications that don't have advertising (except for how to order the magazine, etc). We are in the process of ordering Odyssey for DS and DD since they have an interest in Science. They are pricier, but the magazines have a LOT of actual, in depth, concrete content with no wasted space on piles of advertising. They are pretty thick, not just a few pages. I would say, though, that some of the content should be viewed by a parent first to determine if their child is ready for certain images (like dissection, surgery, etc.). This company also has a ton of other offerings in History and general info covering lots of different topics. And I love this thread, by the way.... :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 I own an entire bookshelf worth of science books. I have mostly found the ones I love through browsing through bookstores or reading reviews online on Amazon. If you have a good library, you might even find books there that you want to collect. I even own very old out-dated books that many would probably never consider buying, but the information at a non-high school level in most of these are still completely relevant today (though most of these are too old for your kids' ages, for example Our Living World of Nature which was published by the Dept of the Interior in the 60s/70s is a treasure of ecological studies that are great for upper elementary/middle school kids-- a review by a biologist: http://www.amazon.com/Forest-Living-World-Nature-Series/product-reviews/0070448752/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?showViewpoints=1) Here are 2 booklists that you can browse through: http://www.nsta.org/publications/ostb/ http://www.librarything.com/catalog.php?viewstyle=5&view=nmoira&collection=133922&shelf=list&sort=dewey With your oldest being 6, it is harder for me to think of suggestions off the top of my head For my really young kids, I like books like Pollwiggle's Progress (I own an original 30s edition, but the book has been republished. It is a great book explaining the life cycle of a frog and life from its perspective.) http://www.amazon.com/Pollwiggles-Progress-Wilfrid-Bronson/dp/B000TXP774/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top or picture books like the one on Snowflake Bentley http://www.amazon.com/Snowflake-Bentley-Jacqueline-Briggs-Martin/dp/0547248296/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1388678969&sr=1-1&keywords=snowflake+bentley It really depends on what you are looking for....simple picture books or chapter type books. FWIW, I think that many of the Scientist in the Field books are going to be too difficult for the avg 6 yr old. The vocab in some of them is more advanced than in others. Some of them are more technical than others. The underwater volcano book, for example, did not really hold the attention of my 2nd grader, but the bee one did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TracyP Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 So, along these same lines, do you all have any magazine recommendations? I'm going to subscribe to Ranger Rick. What else? (We've done National Geographic Kids and I didn't care for it--too much advertising and the pages just felt really busy.) We like Discover for Kids in addition to RR. They cover history topics as well as science and might be a tad old for your kids, but I wanted to follow this thread.... :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 Love this thread! This is exactly what I have done. Just can't bring myself to buy consumable things for science when there are SO MANY great books to love and learn from. We have a pretty extensive collection of random older children's science books from the thrift, and the store-called-Gramma's-house. So I have been getting adult books lately. My personal favorites are Isaac Asimov books! I used to read the Isaac Asimov Science Fiction Magazine and some of the Science books he published when I was in High School. I got so interested that my mom ended up reading his biographies even though she had no personal interest in science or science fiction. Wow...I can't believe I didn't think about Isaac Asimov. I'll have to dig up my old books out of storage.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 Another series I thought about is Discover Nature ______. We have enjoyed these as well. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=discover%20nature%20series&sprefix=discover+nature+ser%2Cstripbooks&rh=i%3Astripbooks%2Ck%3Adiscover%20nature%20series Sundown is one of my favorites. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kateingr Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 What fabulous suggestions so far! I'm going to have to comb through and see what I can't resist. I love the books by Robert E. Wells books for this age. They include a lot of basic science information but set them in context to show kids a lot of big picture concepts as well. For example, "What's So Special About Planet Earth?" includes descriptions of all eight planets, the composition of the earth's atmosphere, the water cycle, and conservation--all in one short and very engaging picture book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
73349 Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 For a magazine, DS got a subscription to Ask (by the publisher of Cricket) and it looks very good so far. (It's for ages 6-9; it definitely has room for him to "grow into it.") Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twigs Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 The Stars by HA Rey - fantastic drawings to learn the constellations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chelsmm Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 We get a few magazines that I would recommend- Ranger Rick and Rick Jr Discover Kids Click Spider (literature, not science, but highly recommended) Ask Zoobooks When we get the magazines we take a few days and read them cover to cover. Often they lead us to a week long study of something that I wouldn't have chosen without the magazine. Click especially does this! I found great deals on Zuiliy and Living Social for most of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stripe Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 One note that I chime in about periodically - Ask/Click and similar magazines by that publisher are pretty expensive normally, but magazines.com seems to always do a black Friday sale on them, and ebates is usually running a 40-50% back offer, so you can end up paying about $8 for a year of their magazines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScoutTN Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Another good thing about the Cricket family of magazines is that you can switch your subscription from one to another. If your child's reading level jumps or interest switches, you can switch magazines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 I totally forgot about another of my favorite series. I just pulled out one to start with my dd tomorrow. These are by Jean Craighead George and I love the way she writes. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=The+thirteen+moons+jean++craighead+George&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3AThe+thirteen+moons+jean++craighead+George BTW, if you buy the season moon books vs. the individual animal moon books, the season moon books appear to contain 3 of the individual animal books. I do not know if the # of illustrations are the same, but they have see inside on amazon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 The Way Things Work/The Way Life Works/The Way We Work Seconding these books by David Macaulay (first and third) and by Hoagland. I'd also recommend some of the Brown Paper School books such as Blood and Guts Gee Wiz! How to Mix Art and Science or the Art of Thinking Scientifically Math for Smarty Pants Book of Think: Or How to Solve a Problem Twice Your Size Regards, Kareni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tjlcc Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 Among the People series by Pierson John Tiner titles (Grade 5+) Thornton Burgess titles Dinosaurs by Ham (Creationist view) Holling C. Holling titles Find the Constellations by Rey Album of Horses by Henry Story of Inventions by Bachman Story of Inventions by Claybourne Helen Keller by Davidson (plus other biographies) Jeanne Bendick titles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chelsmm Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 I'm on my phone and can't see the ages of your kids, but I would recommend the Slim Goodbody human body books. We have borrowed them from the library, and they are enough for my kids (1 st and 2 nd grade). They have more info than my kids need actually. They are worth looking at if you need human body books. There is one for each system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
birchbark Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 How to Think Like a Scientist. A book about the scientific method for late elementary and middle school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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