Mother Osprey: Nursery Rhymes for Buoys & Gulls by Lucy Nolan with illustrations by Connie McLennan - Book Review

I had a chance to read Sylvan-Dell Publishing‘s Little Skink's Tail from author Janet Halfmann back in February and thought it was great. So when Sylvan-Dell offered another title in their series, I was happy to look.

Mother Osprey: Nursery Rhymes for Buoys & Gulls takes traditional Mother Goose rhymes and slants them toward the nautical. Living in Florida I found the Key West & Biscayne Bay rhymes especially enticing, but there’s also Hatteras Light, Nantucket, Lake Huron, The Mississippi, Puget Sound and even the rolling grass of the Oregon Trail. There’s a great map and several comprehension questions added at the end.

Pop over to the Sylvan Dell Publishing site and you'll find an amazing array of titles. Sylvan Dell specializes in picture books with a science/nature theme that are generally fictional; yet hold a wealth of information and opportunities for discussion. The fictional story format makes for a highly engaging science read. The end of each story holds supplemental fact and activity sections, and there are a ton free activities and learning resources online. Better still, the books have all been aligned to Science and Math Standards and vetted by experts in each field, including some from NASA, NOAA, SeaWorld and the Houston Zoo.

If my two Sylvan Dell books were any indication, parents and teachers would be well served to pop over to the site and investigate.

Recommended for Pre-K – 3rd grade classrooms and libraries. With the strong online support, I think parents and homeschoolers would also love these.

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Genre: Picture Book. Age: PreK-3rd grade. Pages:32.






Themes: Nursery Rhyme Comparison, Humor
Publisher:Sylvan Dell. Date: June 2009
ISBN-10: 1607180413 / ISBN-13: 978-1607180418

Buy Mother Osprey: Nursery Rhymes for Buoys & Gulls Here
Sylvan Dell Main Page
Mother Osprey Site with info on the author and illustrator.
eBookFor Creative Minds / (en EspaƱol)
Teaching Activities
Quizzes: Reading / FCM / Math
Related Websites
Alignment to Standards
Book Flyer
Author Interview

Here are a few additional titles that looked especially engaging to this educator:

Water Beds: Sleeping In The Ocean from Sylvan Dell: "The story invites children to drift into a peaceful sleep on the gentle waves of imagination."




Saturn for My Birthday from Sylvan Dell: "Jeffrey wants Saturn for his birthday, and he wants the moons too—all 47 of them. "






Octavia And Her Purple Ink Cloud from Sylvan Dell: "Octavia Octopus and her sea-animal friends love playing camouflage games to practice how they would hide from a “big, hungry creature.” Octavia, however, just cannot seem to get her colors right when she tries to shoot her purple ink cloud."



Moose and Magpie from Sylvan Dell: "It isn’t easy being a moose. You’re a full-grown adult at the age of one, and it itches like crazy when your antlers come in! In Bettina Restrepo’s Moose and Magpie, young Moose is lucky to find a friend and guide in the wisecracking Magpie."



Kersplatypus
from Sylvan Dell: "When a strange little creature appears out of nowhere after the big rains, Australian animals wonder what in the world he could possibly be!"



One Wolf Howls from Sylvan Dell: "Spend a year in the world of wolves in One Wolf Howls. This adventurous children’s book uses the months of the year and the numbers 1 through 12 to introduce children to the behavior of wolves in natural settings."
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© 2007-2009 Cheryl Vanatti for www.ReadingRumpus.com
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