You're Invited to a Moth Ball : A Nighttime Insect Celebration by Loree Griffin Burns - ESSENTIAL

You're Invited to a Moth Ball : A Nighttime Insect Celebration by Loree Griffin Burns, photography by Ellen Harasimowicz, 40 pages. NON-FICTION Charlesbridge, 2020, $17.

BUYING ADVISORY: EL, MS - ESSENTIAL 

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE 

What's the best way to meet the moths in your backyard up close and personal? Host a Moth Ball! With the right kinds of lights, some bait and a large white sheet, you can invite some the 150,000 different species to come and hang out overnight with you and the kids.

I cannot wait for summer! I'm already planning to put this together for myself (oh and the children I love)!  Well explained, all the details, and the photography was exquisite! Includes the recipe for bait, supplies needed and great information about moths. Resources include bibliography and a bunch of great websites.

Lisa Librarian

FYI - here is a link to a video from Loree Burns about making your own nature book. --Cindy

NOW IN PAPERBACK: Next Wave and Beetle Busters = ESSENTIAL

NOW IN PAPERBACK

The Next Wave by Elizabeth Rusch and Beetle Busters by Loree Griffin Burns.  Houhgton Mifflin Harcourt.  REPRINT

BUYING ADVISORY:  MS - ESSENTIAL

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE

Two more of the Scientists in the Field series are now available in paperback.  At $10 each, that is a bargain!  You can read the original reviews using the links in the titles above.  I finally talked a couple of our 8^thgrade science teachers to actually sit down with a couple of them and they fell in love.  Luckily I have the entire series in my school library so they could concoct and execute an entire class activity immediately!

Cindy, Middle School Librarian

Life on Surtsey by Loree Griffin Burns - ESSENTIAL

Burns, Loree Griffin Life on Surtsey: Iceland’s Upstart Island (Scientists in the Field), 68 pages.  Houghton Mifflin, 2017  $19.  Content: G

In 1963, a volcano erupted off the coast of Iceland and when things finally calmed down three years later, a new island had been born.  Named after the Iclandic god of fire, Surtsey was declared off-limits to tourists and for 54 years has been inhabited only by scientists.  Erling Olaffson has spent parts of 45 years studying life on Surtsey.  He and other scientists have spent years analyzing how life migrates to and survives on this new land.

This is Burns fourth book for this series.  Like the many others of the set, she shows how modern scientists are tackling challenges and bringing new, important information to our world.  I still thinks this series would make excellent textbooks for a science class on any level.

EL, MS – ESSENTIAL.  Cindy, Library Teacher

Beetle Busters by Loree Burns - ESSENTIAL

Burns, Loree Griffin Beetle Busters: A rogue insect and the people who track it, 61 p.  NON-FICTION.  Houghton Mifflin, 2014.  $19.  Content: G.  

In 2011, a stand of trees in Ryan Zampuno’s favorite woods were clear cut and destroyed.  When Ryan and his fellow Biodoversity Club members searched for answers, they found out that the trees had to cut in order to stop the spread of the Asian long-horned beetle - a tree killer imported in wood pallets from Asia.  Enter Clint McFarland and his fellow arborists, whose job it is to stop the spread.  From urban New York City and into the upland forests, McFarland and his team are determined to eradicate the beetle, but it is a painstaking, almost impossible job.  

Seriously - if you don’t have the entire Scientists in the Field series, you are missing out.  There are so many different lessons that can be learned and taught with the variety of books in the series.  You should be sharing these with your science teachers and planning many lessons around them.  Each book contains well-documented scientific methods.

EL, MS - ESSENTIAL.  Cindy - Library Teacher

Handle with Care: An Unusual Butterfly Journey by Loree Griffin Burns –ESSENTIAL

Burns, Loree Griffin Handle with Care: An Unusual Butterfly Journey 32 pgs. Millbrook Pr Trade, 2014. $24.99 Content: G. 

In Costa Rica there is a unique farm, a butterfly farm. There butterflies are carefully raised and protected, through every stage of their life. Readers find out the whole process and why a butterfly farm is needed.

This was an incredibly interesting book. The photography was stunning. Its pretty much a given that elementary students will learn about the butterfly life cycle, but this book would be a fresh and welcome companion. It presents the life cycle process to life with a whole new spin and is told in a fun and quirky way.

EL (K-3) –ESSENTIAL Reviewer: Stephanie Elementary School Librarian & Author.