Summer

Children's Literature - Marilyn Courtot

Summer, one of four titles in the "Nature Projects for Every Season" series by Phyllis S. Busch contains more than two dozen activities. The text offers a brief introduction as to the reason for seasons and the calendar indicates that this season starts on June 21 of a given year. The outdoor activities include plant recognition, lazying on a blanket and looking at the clouds, observing birds and more. The indoor activities encourage recycling, explain evaporation and photosynthesis to name a few. The activities do not require elaborate supplies or preparation, but for young kids, adult assistance may be needed. There is an index and suggested reading list. The colorful illustrations by Megan Halsey are strategically placed throughout the text and work quite well on the sepia pages. One caveat, better editing would have caught the superfluous birthday candle named and depicted in the Play with Drops of Water activity.

From The Critics

In this little book on summer, the author describes woodchucks as bearlike (p. 24). Does she mean bearlike in appearance, habits, or something else? She doesn't say, creating confusion for readers. On page 34, the title is "Plants need sunlight," but later she says that plants are unable to make food without the green substance (chlorophyll) and doesn't connect this statement to that in the title. On page 37, the project seems to be more about how many tacks can be dropped in a glass of water before it overflows than how insects stay on top of the water. Lastly, the directions on page 41 for making prints of leaves with the use of an ink pad make no sense at all because she has left out some steps. (from the Nature Projects for Every Season Series.) Questionable, Grades 3-6. REVIEWER: Pamela Crowe (freelance writer)