Faces of the Moon

"Each month the Moon transforms her face,
which grows and shrinks at steady pace.
Her changing looks reveal her place
in orbit 'round our globe."

This early passage in Faces of the Moon by Bob Crelin and illustrated by Leslie Evans sets the tone of this children's book. The first part of the book explains the phases of the moon in rhyme while diecut page tabs and diecut moon in the middle of each illustration walk readers through the progression of moon phases.

As the "first stepping stone toward discovering our universe," the author explains in educational text in the back of the book how the earth, moon and sun orbit each other in plain language. He also includes some "Moon Memo-Rhymes", short, rhyming memory aids to remember key facts about the moon and its phases.

This is a terrific book with which to introduce children to basic facts about the moon that will reinforce their own observations in the long tradition of sky watchers and astronomers.

"Mrs. Riley Bought Five Itchy Aardvarks" and Other Painless Tricks for Memorizing Science Facts

Brian P Cleary and J.P. Sandy have written and illustrated (respectively) a marvelous science books for kids. Filled with mnemonic devices (tricks that help us remember facts), this book is chock full of poems and memory tricks for earth and space science, physical and life science, and the scientific method.

One year ago in a Meme post, I mentioned that something I knew that I would not blog about were the prepositions in alphabetical order to the tune of Yankee Doodle. That is a mneumonic device and a very successful one since I haven't gotten it out of my head since 5th grade.

The title "Mrs Riley Bought Five Itchy Aardvarks" is a mneumonic device to help us remember the six major animal groups: Mammals, Reptiles, Birds, Fish, Insects and Amphibians. Another terrific device ticks off the list of planets in our solar system in their order from the sun: "Mel's Very Excited Ma Just Served Us Nachos." This reminds us that the planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Pluto was demoted last year to dwarf planet status so is no longer part of the list.

My favorite item in the entire book (which is saying something as there is so much here) is a long poem about matter. Here are the first two verses:

Whether you hold it
or mold it or spin it
Whether you drink it
or mix something in it
Everything, everywhere's
one of these things:
a Solid, Liquid or Gas.

Whether it's floating
or streaming or gleaming.
Whether it's shedding
or spreading or steaming.
Everything, everywhere's
one of these things
a Solid, Liquid or Gas.

The humorous illustrations and rich saturated colors make this book a fun read. And, hey, you'll learn some great science facts as well.