Tag Archives: new south head books

The elephant by Jenni Desmond

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Once upon a time, a child took a book from the shelf and started to read……

About elephants.

The elephant by Jenni Desmond is a beautiful non-fiction picture book which will teach you almost everything you need to know about elephants and the important role they play in the world.

Did you know that without elephants watering holes would remain shallow? Or that pathways through the rainforests would not be accessible to smaller creatures? Or perhaps that their poo is not only a source of food for other animals but also a place to carry seeds for many different types of plants.

The pictures in this book are stunning and although the writing is lengthy for younger readers they will soak up the information whilst staring at the sketches.

Jenni Desmond has written two other books about endangered species, highlighting the importance for us to take a lot more care of them. With growing population and a demand for space to grow food, humans are encroaching on their space to live and pathways to move.

I only just read an article last week about elephants in India and the deadly clashes that are occurring each year. 

Stories about endangered animals are important but so are factual books. We need to know more about these species so we can talk to governments around the world and demand that more care is taken.

So what can you do after you have read this book?

  1. Look at other books about elephants – non fiction and fiction!
  2. Work on your own project about the history between humans and elephants. How have we felt about them throughout history? Why have things changed?
  3. Explore the different places elephants live and the positive encounters people have with them.
  4. Explore other animals who have helpful poo. What might the world look like if poo was not deposited they way it is?
  5. Create your own information book like Jenni Desmond’s that highlight important facts about another endangered animal.
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Visit my facebook group – Growing globally and socially conscious children to explore more ideas together!

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Twinkle Twinkle Little Star: I know exactly what you are by Julia Kregnow and Carmen Saldana.

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Has the well known rhyme – Twinkle twinkle little star ever made you think – what really are stars?

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star: I know exactly what you are by Julia Kregnow and Carmen Saldana teaches children, through rhyme what stars are using scientific words and facts.

This isn’t a picture book for younger children as the vocabulary is quite scientific (unless you have a child who is very interested in learning about this) but rather for older children as a springboard into more research and discussion.

You’ll hear about cosmic Rorschach tests, atmospheric turbulence, neutron stars and the Milky Way.

You’ll learn about the importance of our own bright star – the sun and the Milky Way galaxy which contains a quarter trillion of stars.

The best thing is it is all done through rhyme and beautifully drawn illustrations. Even if some of the words go over young children’s heads you can talk about the illustrations and the facts in a more simpler way.

There are more in depth facts about the new concepts in the final pages of the book and are all written for children to be able to understand.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star: I know exactly what you are by Julia Kregnow and Carmen Saldana is a great book to add to a scientific learning environment as it opens up big facts to the younger reader and will help inspire them to delve deeper into the more complex ideas mentioned in the rhyme.

So what else can you do with this book?

Research your own area of stars or space and create your own Twinkle Twinkle Little Star poem.

List all the different facts about stars and then research one of these areas further.

Choose another nursery rhyme to re create with facts about that particular area – can you give more facts about sheep in baa baa black sheep? Spider facts in Incey Wincey spider.

Inventors who changed the world by Heidi Poelman and Kyle Kershner.

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Have you ever had an idea that you just couldn’t get rid of?

Have you ever tried to make something work and it just wouldn’t?

Take a hold of this board book – for readers young and old – and find out more about these inventors who not only changed the world but surprised themselves with the amount of persistence required to finally come up with the invention they did!

We meet Cai Lun from AD 105 who invented paper, Johannes Gutenberg from 1439 who invented a printing press so more books could be read by more people.

Leonardo DaVinci the great artist, Thomas Edison the man who created electricity, Louis Pasteur and his world changing vaccinations, Marie Curie and her persistence to explore a strange blue rock which ended up being one way to fight off cancer and the Wright brothers who created the first aeroplane.

Each person has a story of persistence, courage and self belief.

They all wanted to find an answer and with lots of hard work they did.

This book is perfect for younger readers who do have gifts but don’t quite have the resilience to persist with something when it gets hard.

By looking at people who haven’t achieved fame or fortune immediately (a big problem with social media in this modern age) we can show children that simply trying a new method when the old method doesn’t work can make a huge difference in achieving our goals!

You can talk about the illustrations with really young readers, read the words and have discussions with junior readers and use as a springboard into more in depth research for older readers.

We have loved reading this book – the illustrations really added a lot more fun to these individuals lives for the board book readers in our house. It’s always wonderful to learn more about inspiring people who have made a real difference in the world!