Winter

Children's Literature - Marilyn Courtot

Winter, one of four titles in the "Nature Projects for Every Season" series by Phyllis S. Busch contains more than two dozen activities. The text explains such things as snow fleas, different types of animal tracks and what happens to water when it freezes and it suggests activities or experiments for kids. The activities do not require elaborate supplies or preparation, but for young kids, adult assistance will 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 snow fleas as one word and two words and the missing part of the instruction for preparing the suet in the winter treat activity. Also, suet is never explained.

From The Critics

In this book about winter, the author says on page 9 that deer and rabbit droppings resemble certain eatables. Yuck! On the same page, she asks the reader to find round balls on the stem of a goldenrod. Can most children identify goldenrod stems in winter? The description of animal tracks on page 20 is confusing. The fourth paragraph says that the hind-leg tracks of a rabbit are followed by the front-leg tracks. Come again? Also, she says, "Cats walk in a single file." Does anyone have any idea of what she means by this? The last sentence on page 22 makes no sense at all; it would have been better to omit it. The title "Christmas Trees" on page 24 is inaccurate, not to mention biased against those who don't use Christmas trees. If the idea was to impart science, then the title should have read "Evergreen Trees" or "Coniferous Trees." Worse, not enough information is given to be of much use. Crowe never mentions fir trees, and there are better ways to identify evergreens than with the sketchy information she presents. The directions on page 28 for preparing a winter treat for birds are unclear. What is being cut? The seed mix? I think she means the suet, but she fails to identify what "it" is. Finally, on page 40, the author makes an issue about the types of thermometers one should use in a certain experiment, but the type of thermometer seems irrelevant to the experiment.

Overall, the writing in all four books is poor, with numerous inaccuracies and inconsistencies. Irrelevant information is included in some projects, and not enough information is included in others. The drawings are nicely done for the most part, but they do not overcome the volumes' many defects. (from the NatureProjects for Every Season Series.) Questionable, Grades 3-6. REVIEWER: Pamela Crowe (freelance writer)