Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday 10.14.15 Frozen Wild

I am excited to join Alyson Beecher and other friends in this weekly challenge.  Finding great nonfiction picture books isn't a challenge anymore, there are so many wonderful books to be read now!  The challenge is sharing them with as many people as possible so they can find this wealth of literature to share with our young readers.  Thanks to Aly for starting this weekly link-up and thanks to all who join in!  See all of the posts at kidlitfrenzy.

Frozen Wild:
How Animals Survive in the Coldest Places on Earth
by Jim Arnosky
Published by Sterling Children's Books

What a treat to read Jim Arnosky's newest book, Frozen Wild.  I've been a fan of his other works, and this one is no different.  His ability to use such descriptive vocabulary in his writing, his full color page spreads, the small pencil sketches that seem to give just the right bare bone touch to the illustration, the captions that give the reader additional information that they didn't know they needed to have.  They are simply fascinating.

What I love about this one is the connection to the Next Generation Science Standards.  In the 1st, 3rd and 4th NGSS in the structure, function and information processing section, the students learn how offspring inherit traits, how animals use external parts to survive, how animals' structure is often dependent upon the environment, and how their traits can be influenced by the environment.

Arnosky's book touches upon all of these standards, but what I am excited about it is how the organization of the book lends itself to teach these standards.  Arnosky includes a table of contents that lists types of animals or a region that has harsh living conditions.  Although the book is very easy to read cover to cover, it can also be read for specific sections.  A reader can use the table of contents to decide to read about a specific region or animal in which to study and research.  

Within each section Arnosky shares facts about ways animals survive in cold areas, giving information about ways an animal adapts, some external adaptations, others internal.  For example, to help them move easier through the snow, foxes, bobcats, and lynx grow extra hair around their feet.  It's like wearing snowshoes!  And muskrats are clever animals.  They build houses from aquatic plants.  In the winter, once the plants under the ice is gone, they can eat the inside walls of their houses for food.

Whether you choose to read a section or two or cover to cover, students will be able to find plenty of evidence and information to help support standards in the structure, function and information processing section.  If this is a standard you teach, be sure to pick up a copy of Frozen Wild.

Do you want to learn more about the book and the author, Jim Arnosky?  Be sure to visit Unleashing Readers to read more!