Rating: 4 stars
My young Mr. Question (that's Ben, nearly 5) loves to ask about clouds. This simple, straightforward Ready-to-Read book is definitely made for Ben. He can almost read the whole book himself! Not that that means I can prop my feet up on my table and let him answer his own questions from now on... I hope he always comes to me with questions.
But questions of the cloud variety? I'll let nonfiction children's book author-guru Marion Dane Bauer handle it. She explains the three most common types of clouds--cirrus, stratus, cumulus--and defines them in graspable terms. Then she tells young readers how clouds help us: they shade us from the sun and wrap the Earth at night to keep us warm. (Last night when we were reading this book I asked Kiefer if he wanted a cloud blanket to keep him warm. Everyone, including myself, got a kick out of that. He said no.)
Everyday science, that's what this book teaches. I love it.
(A while ago we checked out and read together Tomie De Paola's The Cloud Book, a wordy, informative book about the ten most common forms of clouds. De Paola includes information on how to predict weather with clouds and also myths about clouds. We'll have to take another look at it because the kids weren't ready for it then (whenever "then" was), but Lorelei especially might be ready for it now.)
Parents and teachers should know about Marion Dane Bauer! I have reviewed her Grand Canyon book, just one in a series of Wonders of America Ready-to-Read books. She has four weather books and two natural disaster books in the Ready-to-Read category, and also five "my first biographies." (We have Benjamin Franklin on our shelf at home--so Ben can learn about Ben.) For all (children's) nonfiction stuff, click here. Or you can go to her website and click around yourself.
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