Two Must-Have Books!

I mentioned in my previous post on Science that I would be supplementing our science curriculum this year with other books.  In that pursuit I found two incredible gems.

The first is called "The Quest to Digest" by Mary K. Corcoran.
(A great CC Cycle 3 - Week 6 resource)

The Amazon link above will give you a peak inside.  The book is both informative and engaging.  The author doesn't over-simplify things (i.e. limit information to the mouth, esophagus, stomach, and intestines and call it done), she uses the proper terms and explains most of the working parts along the path.  The gem part comes in how she does that, with a little kindly green monster who rides through the system, making humorous side comments along the way.  My boys absolutely adore it. In fact, they now say, when questioned if they farted, "it wasn't me, it was the bacteria in my large intestine".  How she presents the information actually works!  I see the results when they do their curricula worksheets about digestion.

Here's a more complete review:  http://curledupkids.com/questdig.htm

Here's a quick discussion guide too:  http://www.charlesbridge.com/client/client_pdfs/downloadables/QuestToDigestDiscussGuide.pdf

The second book is "The Circulatory Story" by (guess who....) Mary K. Corcoran :-)
(A great CC Cycle 3 - Week 8 resource)

After reading her first book, I was hoping she had written more and I was pleased to find this one too.  When it arrived in the mail this weekend, my oldest son pounced on it.  He was so excited, he started reading it aloud to his brothers. I hadn't planned to use it until this week, however it ended up being a great introduction to our study of the Circulatory System.

Here's an example of how she uses the proper terms and yet simplifies it for the kids:  "See the red thing that looks like an inner tube without the hole?  It's an erythrocyte....An erythrocyte is also known as a red blood cell, and it's your ride."  The only thing it's lacking is a pronunciation guide with the glossary in the back. :-)

Here's a lyrical review of the book:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ob2vjV6V4o0

Now if she would only get-on-the-ball and write books about all the different Human Body systems, I think she would end up creating the best Human Body curricula I've ever seen. :-)