Rebecca Felix

This book is a combo of craft activities with a hint of science, and science craft activities. Fortunately, they have some originality! While they don't require too many specialized materials (air dry clay and Model Magic are the least standard), they are probably not little kid compatible, more like grade school child with adult help. The projects are: Stormy Sea in a bottle (a take on the oil and water bottle), Form Sculpture (using items from around the house that have standard geometric show more forms), Hubble Space Portrait (use paint on a paper towel to imitate galaxy pictures, then cut circular frame from black construction paper), Mosaic puzzle (this is where the Model Magic comes in), Ever-Changing Maze (build a maze with paper plate and chenille stems, then run different spherical object through it), Tessellation Masterpiece, Smartphone Speaker Stand (uses air dry clay), Full Moon Illusion (spinning stick illusion), Mini da Vinci Bridget (out of straws, I would need to build this to understand it, so yay for something really new!)
Text is large and relatively easy to read, photo illustrated, includes STEAM takeaways for each project. show less

I liked reading this book for many reasons. First, it was interesting and grabbed my attention. Each page had a picture pertaining to the sentences. For example, the first page talks about many fruits. The picture shows pumpkins, apples, and grapes. This shows readers that these are considered fruits. There was also a page on the foods pumpkins are used in and the following picture shows a little boy making pumpkin pie. Another main reason I liked this book was that it introduced vocabulary show more words in bold and at the end, each word was defined. Some of the words included, blossoms, harvest, and ripe. These are tricky words for new readers and I thought it was a good idea to have them bolded. Lastly, I liked how the book asked the reader some questions. This helped to engage the reader. Some of the questions were, “what fruit do you see?” and “What tools are used to make a pie?” These questions also require the reader to think and observe. Overall, I thought this was an informative book about pumpkins being harvested in the fall. Each page provided new information and taught children the processes that occur as a pumpkin grows. show less

Four projects. Lots of color photos of the projects, which look excruciatingly garish and hence uninspiring. On the other hand, there is one of rather high difficulty, the flipping gymnast, which turns electricity into movement.

The main idea behind this book is to simply teach, definitely a younger group, about the fall season. Overall I did like the book. I liked how the pictures were actual photographs of pumpkins, children, and the outdoors. The photos gave the boy some realism which supported its genre being an informal book. I liked how guiding questions are asked on some of the pictures. For example on the first page the question: "what do you see?" is asked. This allows the reader to get involve while show more reading, especially if a student uses this book for independent reading, they can play along and truly enjoy the book. I also noticed as I read, there are bold words on some pages initiating that they are vocabulary words; and if you flip to the back there is a mini glossary including every bold word and its definition for the reader to use while reading. Not only are the readers learning about the fall season but they are also learning vocabulary that is associated with that season. This book is a very easy and smooth read. It is a 21st Century Basic Skills Library Level 1 book; designated for beginning readers with simple and short sentences. show less