Earth. Water. Air. These environmental essentials are introduced to young readers in a lively, kid-friendly format though simple text, vivid illustrations, and, yes, even song lyrics! Original lyrics to "Home, Home on the Range," briefly explain how mountains erode and eventually turn into sand, and that air is a mixture of gases without which living things cannot exist. The importance of water is also noted in lyrical form: "Don’t ever forget that the ocean is wet;/ It protects Earth from getting too dry./We need water to drink; it’s amazing to think/That it falls from the clouds in the sky." Accompanying prose reveals in greater detail facts about earth, water, and air. Equally engaging are the colorful acrylic cartoon illustrations depicting three outdoorsy junior scientists. These curious children use a magnifying glass to examine rocks, take snapshots of living creatures, jot their observations in a notebook, and experience the simple pleasures of earth, water, and air in various child-like ways. Additional song verses, a fun facts page, glossary, bibliography, and website resource are found at the back of the book. There’s even a downloadable audio file for your learning, listening and sing-along pleasure. http://www.capstonekids.com/science/index.html If your goal is to inject a bit of learning fun into an earth science lesson, Home on the Earth is sure to be a hit with primary students. Check out other sing-along titles by Laura Purdie Salas in the Science Song series published by Capstone Press. Capstone Press website: http://www.capstonepress.com/ As a child growing up in Florida, Laura Purdie Salas read for hours in her tree house or while lying on a trampoline. She loved to escape into another world through the magic of books. As an adult, she majored in English, edited for a magazine, and was an 8th grade teacher, where she rediscovered her love of children’s literature. Currently she writes poetry…and had 10 books come out in 2008! Her recent book, Home on the Earth: A Song About Earth’s Layers was released in 2009 with Picture Window Books. She is a former instructor with the Institute of Children’s Literature and now teaches online courses for aspiring authors. Bio written by Laura Crawford.
