Lisa Owings

Lisa Owings' biography on Princess Diana was an educational read that described in detail her marriage and divorce to Prince Charles. I liked that the book touched on Diana's gentle nature and her humanitarian spirit. It gave many examples of the charities she was passionate about and how she helped bring awareness and erase the stigma of AIDS. I often find that when I read books or watch documentaries about Diana, it is clear whether the author or director favors Diana or the royal family, show more but in this particular book, I found that Owings' was focused on portraying the facts versus her opinion. show less

Lisa Owings From Eggs to Ladybug brings together the story of the life cycle of a ladybug through beautiful illustrations. The book itself is a great tool to teach kids not only the natural life cycle, but it also follows the sequential steps that kids can comprehend clearly about the life cycle of the ladybug. Some of the illustrations included in this book are stages of laying eggs, eggs hatching, larva, pupa, and an adult ladybug. Owings explains these concepts on a kids level that allows show more them to understand the beauty of scientific reproduction that every ladybug goes through in life. It's easy for 6th graders to read aloud and understand the scientific terms, with them wanting to participate in hands on activities. Owings also engages and interests the reader to learn more about nature in general, and has other books that follow a similar pattern. This book captivates me for the inquiry based experiment in connecting to the real world. This is a perfect based reading project for 6th graders to work on individually or even in a group environment.
The kids felt involved right away when reading this book and learned how the long golden egg turns into a flying lady bug munching on aphids. Many of the children had no idea that a ladybug goes through a metamorphosis stage similar to that of a butterfly. Not only was this book informative and educational, but the kids were truly engaged and interested in learning more about nature. show less

I like that this book includes both astronomy and mythology. I learned a lot about the story of Cassiopeia and how the Greeks viewed pride, but I also learned how other cultures perceived the constellation. This would be a good book to use in a science or mythology unit.

I liked this book. I enjoyed the writing it was very clear and informational. I also enjoyed the different pictures in the book. The writing was incredible clear and concise. “Arabs conquered Jerusalem in 638. They erected Muslim monuments, including the Dome of the Rock and the al-Aqsa Mosque.” The book covered different topics very well. Even though some of the topics were really broad like politics, culture, economics etc. the author did a great job of explaining them in their show more entirety. The pictures in the book were truly beautiful. Some pictures included the interior of the church of the Holy Sepulchre, olive trees thrive in areas of Israel, and Israelis in Isfiya celebrating an annual religious festival. They gave a great representation of Israel showing the true beauty of the nation. The big idea of the book was to inform the reader about Israel. show less