Swirl By Swirl: Spirals In Nature Read Free Books and Download eBooks
A Caldecott medalist and a Newbery Honor-winning poet celebrate the beauty and value of spirals.What makes the tiny snail shell so beautiful? Why does that shape occur in nature over and over again—in rushing rivers, in a flower bud, even inside your ear?With simplicity and grace, Joyce Sidman's poetry paired with Beth Krommes's scratchboard illustrations not only reveal the many spirals in nature—from fiddleheads to elephant tusks, from crashing waves to spiraling galaxies—but also celebrate the beauty and usefulness of this fascinating shape.
Lexile Measure: 330L (What's this?)
Hardcover: 40 pages
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers (October 4, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 054731583X
ISBN-13: 978-0547315836
Product Dimensions: 0.5 x 9.5 x 9.5 inches
Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #26,187 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #10 in Books > Children's Books > Education & Reference > Science Studies > Biology #29 in Books > Children's Books > Early Learning > Basic Concepts > Size & Shape #80 in Books > Children's Books > Early Learning > Poetry
Age Range: 4 - 7 years
Grade Level: Preschool - 3
Swirl by Swirl is a beautiful book celebrating the natural world. The illustrations are bold and lush and totally unique. The text is simple, with one line per page, making this a perfect choice for a picture book audience or a beginning reader. What is amazing about this book is that it so perfectly captures the vastness and variety of the natural world by examining one simple shape - the spiral. From the curled up chipmunk sleeping in it's den ("it's a snuggling shape"), to the spiral of a funnel cloud ("It twists through air with clouds on it's tail"), this book is a wonderful intro to shapes that exist in nature and is sure to encourage young readers to spot their own spirals.Apart from all the beautiful pictures and poetic text, this book also provides the names of each species or spiral object shown. Turn to the back and you will see a short paragraph on each featured item, giving such facts as: "The Nautilus forms a sturdy home by curling around itself as it grows, adding to its shell at the outer lip", and "Galaxies, which are huge groups of millions or billions of stars, are often spiral shaped. No one knows exactly why...".This is a beautiful intro to natural science for any preschool or lower elementary student. It's a great choice for group sharing or any child's personal collection. Use it as a starting point for discussions about the world around you and you will soon be going off on shape searches of your own.
My husband, Don, and I decided to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary by providing 50 books - along with an ice cream party - to 50 children (ages 2 - 4 years old) in a downtown center that provides day care services for the children of working poor. Each child received a different book with his or her name already in it. We ordered all of the books from . Some were "old faithfuls" used when our own children and/or older grandchildren were young. Other choices were unknown quantities to us until our shipments arrived. Swirl by Swirl: Spirals in Nature, fell into the "unknown quantity" group. This extraordinary book became one of the brightest stars of our "50 for 50" selections! It brilliantly and beautifully displays the marvelous spirals found in our world in impressive, educational ways that communicate with little ones and with their adult care-givers. The production values are superb. It should be - if it isn't already - also used by classroom teachers, especially in math, science and art, along with parents, grandparents and all others who love children and recognize the enormous value for children in owning their own (good) books! I plan to order another copy of "Swirls" as a gift for our youngest grandchild, now two. "Swirl by Swirl ..." is a "keeper" destined for classic status stardom in the field of children's literature. That assessment is my humble prediction, anyway.
From snail shells and sheep horns to tornados and galaxies, spirals occur over and over in our world. This is the unifying concept of Joyce Sidman's lovely new book, Swirl by Swirl. Each page takes us through a different aspect of nature's spirals: chipmunks and woodchucks "coiled tight, warm and safe," lady ferns "unwrapping themselves," elephant trunks "clinging tight."The author and illustrator are both top notch. Joyce Sidman won the 2011 Newberry Honor for her book Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night, and Beth Krommes won the 2009 Caldecott Medal for her illustrations of The House in the Night. Together they create an artistic and poetic journey through nature, each page filled with motion and resonance.Geared towards preschool and elementary school age children, this is a wonderful book for helping children to observe the shapes they see in nature. Each illustration has detailed labels of the objects pictured, and there's a wonderful explanatory index at the back of the book, making it a great supplemental book for teaching science.
This book is beautiful. It engaged my children from the first page. They started a great conversation about this shape in the world. I highly recommend it.
Swirl by Swirl truly is a perfect merger of words and pictures. The pictures show so clearly what the text describes. I appreciated the fact that the different animals are labeled. This is a book I enjoyed sharing with my students. It was short enough that I didn't get bogged down reading it, but there is enough detail that we had things to talk about. This book makes a great read-a-loud for a larger group as well as one-on-one. I highly recommend this book.
I bought a couple of these to give to some kids we know, four children in all, all under the age of five years old. We heard back from the parents that the children loved the book and were more interested now in investigating math in the garden. Mission accomplished, I'd say! I heard about the book on a library blog and they did not steer me wrong. The illustrations are lavish and beautiful. Highly recommended for kids who like math, nature, flora and fauna.
We love it now and will love it later. Baby stares and points at patterns, later the simple text will be enjoyed too. Have to keep hand ready to defend pages... WISH WISH WISH IT WAS A BOARDBOOK. Absolutely beautiful artwork.
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