Science & Nature

The creators of the award-winning An Egg Is Quiet and A Seed Is Sleepy have teamed up again to create this gorgeous and informative introduction to the world of butterflies. From iridescent blue swallowtails and brilliant orange monarchs to the worlds tiniest butterfly (Western Pygmy Blue) and the largest (Queen Alexandra's Birdwing), an incredible variety of butterflies are celebrated here in all of their beauty and wonder. Perfect for a child's bedroom bookshelf or for a classroom reading circle!

The evocative text is sure to inspire lively questions and observations. Yet while poetic in voice and elegant in design, the book introduces children to more than 60 types of eggs and an interesting array of egg facts. Even the endpapers brim with information. A tender and fascinating guide that is equally at home being read to a child on a parent's lap as in a classroom reading circle.

Welcome to the Museum is a series of books set on the "walls" of the printed page, showcasing the world's finest collections of objects -- from natural history to art. Open 365 days a year and unrestricted by the constraints of physical space, each title in this series is organized into galleries that display more than 200 full-color specimens accompanied by lively, informative text. Offering hours of learning, this first title within the series -- Animalium -- presents the animal kingdom in glorious detail with illustrations from Katie Scott, an unparalleled new talent.

Planet Earth has been home to mankind for hundreds of thousands of years and while scientists have learned a lot about it, they're still unraveling many of its mysteries. B is for Blue Planet: An Earth Science Alphabet explains what we do know about our planet and what more we have to learn. Examine Earth's diverse ecosystems (deserts), discover geological wonders (karst caves), learn about weather phenomena (hurricanes), and much more.

Ruth Strother has been in the publishing industry for more than twenty years and is the author of fifteen books for children. She also wrote Sleeping Bear's W is for Woof: A Dog Alphabet. Ruth lives in Southern California.

Bob Marstall was a K-12 art teacher for many years, and today he is an award-winning children's book illustrator. He tours all over the country, lecturing in schools on the integration of art and science. Bob lives in Northampton, Massachusetts.

How can a toucan fly with such a large, cumbersome beak? A toucan's beak is actually light as a feather due to its honeycomb construction. And not only is it beautiful, but it's an extremely useful tool in foraging for food. Find out more fascinating facts in this remarkably illustrated study of bird beaks. Learn about several different birds, their habitats, and how their beaks are uniquely styled to help them survive. Outstanding 3-D cut-paper illustrations by Robin Brickman create amazingly realistic tableaus of birds in their natural environments with their beaks in action. Back matter includes a comprehensive quiz, a bibliography, and a list of related Web sites.

Make friends with the flowers wherever you go with this plump & plush Bee glove puppet. Anatomically accurate six-fingered design can be worn by both adults & children, on either hand. Hangtag includes a favorite Aesop's fable.

Beginning with a beautiful close-up of a "big" ladybug, this book artfully depicts the concept of scale. The book zooms out from the bug, to a flower, to a cow, all the way to an expansive spread of sky. Then Henry Cole masterfully zooms back in from that sky, to a tree, to a house, to a window, all the way to the end where an adorable dog is taking a "little" nap.

In this ideal introduction to the concept of scale, young readers will love the lush illustrations of the animals, objects, and scenery of a farm, and they'll delight in seeing how something "big" can suddenly seem "little" with the turn of a page!

A nonfiction picture book, The Blue Whale draws children into the life and world of this enormous whale by situating facts within a familiar context that is fun and engaging. Here, readers are given the actual size of an eye right on the page, and we are informed how understand this whale's body size in relation to trucks, cars, milk bottles, and hippos! With an accurate and engaging text, fully vetted by a blue whale expert, and lyrically lovely illustrations, The Blue Whale is a book that invites children in and holds their attention. Its tempo is like a pleasing melody, which means that the information never becomes too weighty or exhausting--a key thing when it comes to young readers and their enjoyment of a book!

A graduate of the renowned MA children's book illustration program at the Cambridge School of Art (ARU), Jenni Desmond works from her studio in London, England. She uses collage, paint, and pencil crayons to create her artwork, which she then scans and edits by computer. Jenni strives to make her illustrations entertaining, beautiful, and funny in equal measure. Her first picture book Red Cat Blue Cat (Blue Apple Books, 2012) won the Cambridgeshire Read it Again Picture Book Award 2013, and she has shown her artwork in many exhibitions in the United Kingdom, including the Royal Academy of Art Summer Exhibition.