I've always loved
Denise Fleming's books about nature for preschoolers. The pages are very engaging and have simple text that helps understand the content. In
underGROUND, Fleming continues her winning style. Guess what? She just lives over in Toledo, OH--that's only about 2 hours away, so she is enjoying similar nature to what we find close. Find her at
her website. She has some
related activities for the book on the site. She also shows how she makes
pulp paper. I've tried this before and it's a little harder than it looks! :-) I like how she uses stencils to get the pulp to go where she wants it.
In
underGround, Fleming brings us closer and closer to the ground until we are under ground! I love the details in the illustrations, such as the root hairs on the carrots. We see the tunnels, grubs, and animals that are underground. We see creatures that dig, run around, create highways and worm ways, digging furrows, etc. The book ends as it begins, with a great repetitive quality for younger children. At the end, there is a list of the creatures found in the book. Many younger children would like puppets to go with these to extend the story. Creatures include squirrels, robins, grubs, rabbits, moles, cicada nymphs, shrews, foxes, ants, chipmunks, earthworms, box turtles, yellow jackets, woodchucks, salamanders, dogs, baby rabbits, deer mice, toads, garter snakes, and the trapdoor spider. Honestly, I might have missed some of these in the illustrations had I not seen them in the creature list.
I can see using this for International Mud Day, talking about gardening, or simply what is under the ground.
Other related posts include:
Looks like a topic we need to explore soon!
