Looking Closely Inside the Garden

Looking Closely Inside the Garden     By Frank Serafini      Kids Can Press 2008

The format is the same as the others in the series. Please refer to the review of

“Looking Closely Along the Shore” for details.

Though the format is the same, there is one important difference in this book. Since we have urbanized kids, the other habitats that are treated in this series may be more or less abstractions. Students may not have had a chance to visit the forest or the desert, and though they live in San Francisco, they may not be intimately familiar with the seashore.

The objects that are covered in this book are more likely to be extraordinarily familiar to urbanized kids. These are objects that the kids have seen up close, touched, and felt many times. Whether it is in the context of school gardening programs, playing in the park, or on a lawn, or even a random patch of dirt, students have extensive background knowledge and experience with the contents of this book.

However, this familiarity does not mean that the close up photos are readily apparent. Some require a bit of thought and imagination to guess correctly – even when the object is very familiar. I strongly feel that this further drives home the point that there in wonder inherent in the details that are all around you.

Looking Closely Along the Shore

Looking Closely Along the Shore    By Frank Serafini     Kids Can Press  2008

The author is a teacher and a nature photographer. He used to teach primary grades, and currently he is a professor of Children’s Literature at the UNLV School of Education.

The format presents objects in a series of close up views that appear in the center of a black page. The opposite page ventures a few guesses about the object before prompting the reader with the question, “What could it be?’

The next page shows the whole photo in context and gives some information on the object.

For example, the panel of the sand dollar goes beyond the reveal to provide the reader with some information regarding its structure and how it moves across the sea floor.  Similar information is given for each object that is treated in the book.

This book and others in this series by Serafini are great ways to introduce young students to different habitats.

They are also useful in priming students to observe nature more closely, whether it is on a field trip, or in the garden.

The guessing game aspect of the series is very attractive to kids, and it also has the added value of embedding a bit of informational text in its format. Furthermore, the leading questions that are used to prime the students before asking them to make their guesses provide models on how to engage in brainstorming.

Other titles in the series include “Looking Closely Through The Forest” and “Looking Closely Through the Desert”.

Panorama: A Fold Out Book

Panorama: A Fold Out Book       Fani Marceau & Joelle Jolivet

Abrams Books For Young Readers 2007

This is a very impressive book that illustrates habitats around the world through gorgeous woodcut style art. The edges of each panel shares some commonalities with its adjacent neighbors. The result blends together seamlessly, yet each panel shows a distinct location in the world.

There is a huge variety of habitats and localities depicted in the 18 accordian style panels that comprise this book. When completely unfurled, the book extends to 15 feet. As you can imagine, this book makes an impressive read aloud. The effect is always sensational.

I find this book ideal for introducing different habitats to students, especially in conjunction with classroom study of the topic. One can use the art to tease out some of  fundamental similarities of different parts of the world in terms of types of habitats. Additionally, the art allows opportunities to share background knowledge while simultaneously gleaning new details.

Once all of the panels have been unfurled, you can flip the entire structure around in order to show what each location looks like at night.

This book is extremely sparse in terms of text. It has about the same proportion of text to image as you would find with photos and their captions. Therefore, it is not intended to provide depth and detail. It does excel, however, as an introduction for younger students, and it makes a fantastic read aloud. 

I use this book for grades K-3