Homes and Habitats

Travel through time, imagination, literature, and more for a unique look at "home" in any number of richly imagined ways. Stylized illustration and text present homes that are tall, short, messy, clean, real, or fantastic. The detailed illustrations are sure to get readers thinking about homes of all types and what they can represent.

As readers quickly comprehend, building a house is a complex project requiring the cooperative efforts of many people. Beginning with the architect who draws the plans, readers meet the surveyors, equipment operators, carpenters, plumbers, and other people who produce a building. The book concludes with a family moving in, ready to make the house a home.

Readers explore a coral reef with a snorkeling young swimmer and see what the swimmer sees as she views a tropical reef. Inviting language and crisp, full color illustrations depict coral reefs and the plants and animals that live in and around them.

Look very closely. What do you see? It may be something familiar or quite out of the ordinary. Readers won't be certain until they turn the page! A close-up photograph of flora and fauna found near a pond becomes larger and is contextualized with a page turn. Additional information is also presented in this multifaceted look at ponds.

Young readers are invited to look and listen as they join a girl on a summer morning walk to the beach. While she passes through the woods, a marsh, and the dunes, she stops to observe, and sometimes wonders what animals are watching her. A foldout reveals animals, birds, insects, and plants in each of the coastal settings, and are carefully listed on the final page.

Cauã and Inaê are a brother and sister who live in a small community along the Tapajós River in Brazil. Here, the homes are on stilts and everyone travels around by boat—even to school! When the rainy season comes, they must leave their village and relocate to higher ground for a while. But after moving this year, Cauã and Inaê realize they’ve left behind something important: their pet tortoise, Titi!

Birds live all over the world, but their nests come in many sizes, shapes, and some even borrow (or snitch) homes in which to lay and hatch their young. This lively introduction to various birds and their habits will likely absorb, inform, and inspire.

With lyrical rhymes, readers explore a dazzling underwater menagerie. Each rhyming couplet gives a factoid about one of the 23 marine creatures. End pages dive into more detail about each of the sea creatures and discuss different ocean habitats, oceans around the world, how the ocean is impacted by climate change and pollution, and some things that everyone can do to support ocean conservation.

A baby jay, a small stripped kitten and a little girl with a bike come together in an unexpected way with wonderful results, as each grows and gains confidence. Dialogue in conversation balloons creates a comically paced series of events that reach a satisfying conclusion.

Ever since he was a wee mite (a termite, that is), Roberto has wanted to be an architect. Discouraged by his woodeating family and friends, he decides to follow his dream to the big, bug city. There he meets a slew of not-so-creepy, crawly characters who spark in him the courage to build a community for them all. The mysterious architect chooses to remain anonymous, but ultimately can't avoid the grateful adulation of the carpenter ants, ladybugs, and house flies he has helped.

Young naturalists discover thirteen seashells in this elegant introduction to the remarkable versatility of shells. Dual-layered text highlights how shells provide more than a protective home in this expository nonfiction exploration. The informative secondary text underscores characteristics specific to each shell.

Stunning photographs combine with a clear text to show how early use of Yellowstone, changed it completely. The elimination of a predator altered wildlife and vegetation and had other unforeseen consequences until the process started to be reversed in the 20th century. "Returning the wolf is helping to make Yellowstone whole again."