Hellobee

by: Mrs. Tiger

I may have mentioned before that K is an animal fanatic. Cathryn Sill’s About series – 15 books and counting! – are some of his all-time favorites. Maybe it’s unusual for a 3-year old to have a healthy appetite for nonfiction, but he loves to learn new facts, is proud of himself when he recognizes certain animals, and uses what he learns in imaginative play. We have 5 books: Birds, Insects, Mammals, Marsupials, and Amphibians, and are slowly growing our collection. I find the About series to “flow” a lot better than most of the other nonfiction books.

from About Parrots via JeanLittleLibrary

They aren’t very wordy – they feature a single sentence (or part of a sentence) on a page, with a corresponding beautiful and detailed illustration on the opposite page. Each book is 40-48 pages in length.

(Birds  |  Penguins  |  Fish  |  Reptiles  |  Rodents  |  Insects  | Mammals  |  Parrots  |  Raptors  |  Mollusks |  Crustaceans  |   Amphibians  |  Arachnids  |  Hummingbirds  |  Marsupials )

Author: Cathryn Sill
Publisher’s Recommended Age Range: 3 – 8 years
My Recommended Age: 2+
Grade Level: Preschool – 2

Each book has an afterword with more details on each page that you can go through together, or read on your own to be able to answer your LO’s questions throughout. This format is perfect for K, allowing us to dive deeper where he’s interested. The illustrations serve to give a good sense of the size and habitat of the animal, or of the wide diversity of animal types and features. Some of the other nonfiction animal-focused books we own have lots of random factoids scattered on each page (aimed at kids reading on their own) or are too simplistic (just naming the animals with no further detail), both of which are more annoying to me to read out loud than the simple structure of the About books.

Cathryn Sill taught in elementary schools for 30 years – I think this explains the series’ straightforward and age-appropriate narrative. John Sill (her husband) is responsible for the gorgeous illustrations. Their first book together was a parody bird watching guide (A Field Guide to Little-Known and Seldom-Seen Birds of North America) – who knew there was such a thing! If any of you are into bird watching it’s definitely worth pursuing. I’m guessing their collective love of birds led them to land on About Birds as the first book in the series, and subsequent focus on certain birds like penguins and raptors, etc. They also have an About Habitats series that we have yet to delve into, but I plan to try them out with K soon. The About animals books often talk about habitats, so K is at familiar with the concept.

The books typically end with some variation of “It is important to protect animals and the places where they live,” similar to the conclusion of most Wild Kratts episodes (a PBS cartoon, K’s and a Chocolate family favorite) where they stress the need for environmental conservation and helping species avoid extinction.

image courtesy of Movie Times

I don’t know how much this resonates with K (he still likes to stomp on bugs when we go on walks, for example), but I hope as he grows older he absorbs it more. I hope we can do more nature-focused activities when the weather warms up, especially now that D is walking! I’m thinking little hikes, visiting conservatories and botanical gardens, visiting different local habitats (lakes, rivers, beach, forest, etc). The independent publisher for the series, Peachtree Publishers, offers teacher’s guides for many of their titles, including the About series. It has lots of great corresponding activities and discussion topics! Here are some that I think are appropriate for young preschoolers:

• Ask students if they have ever seen a particular creature or visited a certain habitat/location. Allow students to share what they know about the creature or location. Have each student sketch a picture of the creature or location.
• Go on a nature walk and have students look for animals from the groups.
• Have students draw an imaginary creature and describe or label its characteristics.
• Song: Five Little Bugs (sung to the tune of Five Little Ducks)
  Five little bugs on the forest floor, along came a lizard… SLURP!!! And then there were four.
  Four little bugs on a kapok tree, along came a lizard… SLURP!!! And then there were three.
  Three little bugs without a single clue, along came a lizard… SLURP!!! And then there were two.
  Two little bugs soaking up the sun, along came a lizard… SLURP!!! And then there was one.
  One little bug knew that he was done, along came a lizard… SLURP!!! Now there are none.

Have you checked out the About series before? Any other little animal lovers who like nonfiction? Help us expand our collection!