Authors: Peter Ward
Publisher: Princeton Press
Reviewed by Orlay Johnson
This book might be more appropriately titled, “Mothers who Murder their Children.” It explores how Mother Earth periodically cleans house of the majority its biota. Sadly, the reference to Medea in the actual title is probably lost on most of us, unless you know more Greek mythology than [...]
Continue reading " Review: The Medea Hypothesis: Is Life on Earth Ultimately Self-Destructive? "
How One Man’s Obsession with Runaway Sneakers and Rubber Ducks Revolutionized Ocean Science
Authors: Dr. Curtis Ebbesmeyer and Eric Scigliano
Publisher: Smithsonian Books/Harper Collins
ISBN 13:9780061558412
Reviewed by Orlay Johnson
If you would enjoy learning about the life and times of Dr. Curtis Ebbesmeyer, a UW graduate and Seattle oceanographer best known for tracking ocean currents using sneakers and bath [...]
Continue reading " Review: Flotsametrics and the Floating World "
Investigating the Secrets of the Underwater World
By Cindy A. Littlefield
Illustrations by Sarah Rakitin
Published by Williamson Publishing, 2003, 120 p.
Reviewed by Sharon A. Hollander
I review children’s books, and I read through plenty on science and nature. I can honestly say that I felt a wave of relief when I came upon Awesome Ocean Science! Investigating the [...]
By Mark Costigan
reprinted from The Oregon Daily Emerald
It’s sad that it takes a threat of crude oil reaching American beachfront property for people to wake up.
It seems the only way people unite around fighting environmental degradation is when the effects become visible and personal. If only there were [...]
Reviews by Pat Scully
With the coming of summer, opportunities abound for children to observe small creatures in the outdoors. Birds building nests and raising young, and butterflies, bees, and other insects converging in the flower garden capture children’s interest and strike their curiosity. The new titles reviewed here will supplement first-hand experiences observing outside [...]
Continue reading " Review: Children’s picture books that celebrate summer "
Scientists and Kids Explore Global Warming
by Lynne Cherry and Gary Braasch
Dawn Publications
ISBN 9781584691037
Reviewed by Heather Mattioli
Books about climate change typically start from the premise that students will only passively participate. Lynne Cherry’s book departs from this tradition by way of including middle –school children as part of climate change science. Throughout an extraordinary photographic and [...]
Continue reading " Review: How We Know What We Know About Our Changing Climate "
A Teacher’s Guide to Using the Schoolgrounds for Environmental Studies
Review courtesy of Fletcher Brown, University of Montana
Author unknown
Environmental education for children growing up in urban areas is often limited to a single trip to a forest preserve or state park. The hidden message behind such field trips is that the environment must be sought, and [...]
©2008 Jon Young and Wilderness Awareness School.
This a book that needs to be in the possession of everyone who claims to be, or aspires to be, an outdoor educator. This book goes to the heart of developing a sense of kinship with nature and teaching about connecting to the land and to nature.
The Coyote’s Guide [...]
Continue reading " Review: Coyote’s Guide to Connecting with Nature "
Reviewed by Victor Elderton
ISBN: 0-88899-458-3
Published by: Groundwood Books / Douglas & McIntyre
Written by: Annette LeBox
Illustrated by: Karen Reczuch
It’s not often in the Pacific Northwest that a children’s book is published that does a great job of illustrating the various aspects of a salmon’s habitat and ecology, while being told in a poetic style that children [...]
By Maggie Wolfe
This is my one of my favorite children’s environmental books. Chris Van Allsburg’s illustrations are fabulous, as always, and greatly add to the drama of the story. I read this book to students (5th-6th grade) at the end of almost every week at outdoor school. This is a great book to read aloud, [...]
Michael Becker, 
David Greenwood, Lakehead University, 
Tony Deis, 
Lindsay Huettman, 
