Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Recommended Resources biology/geology books for late elementary

Does anyone have book suggestions for a 4th grader who wants to know more about cells, volcanoes, carnivorous plants, etc than she is getting in science class? She needs more than "Lets-Read-And Find-Out" and less than an outright textbook. I am finding plenty of anatomy and space books but nothing that looks great about cell function, plate tectonics, plant biology, etc. Ideas?

Do you have a good used bookstore nearby? When my ds was that age I used to take him with me and we'd just browse the science sections together and I'd let him pick out books that he was interested in. That worked a lot better for us than me trying to guess/guage what level would work best. He also really liked watching Nature/Nova etc

Another thought is sneaking a peak at a middle school science book if you can find one. Our district's middle school science books are about at the level ds would have enjoyed reading for fun when he was in 3rd/4th grade.

Sorry I don't have any specific titles for you -

polarbear

Roadside Geology of Texas
Earthshake: Poems from the Ground Up
Cascade-Olympic Natural History: A Trailside Reference
Atlas of the Prehistoric World


You might also consider magazine subscriptions to Odyssey or one of the National Geographic magazines for young readers.

I found a used science encyclopedia (complete! 8 vols!) online at Alibris... and it's seen a lot of use. We also troll the library's book sale for used textbooks. DS has liked high school and college textbooks from a young age-- he just ignored the parts he didn't understand at first, and he made extensive use of the pictures and captions until he was able to read the main text.

DeeDee

This stage is quite tricky for books, we're finding with DS9. I have no great suggestions. What's working for us is (a) a subscription to New Scientist (he'll browse, and then often follow up things of interest in Wikipedia) (b) DVDs, e.g. we're watching How the Earth Works together at the moment. (PS in case you haven't met Great Courses before - never buy anything at full price; they don't even expect it. The sales rotate and everything comes round at 70% off or better several times a year.)

For cell biology, Fran Balkwill's "Enjoy Your Cells" series is a good set of picture books and definitely a couple of steps up from LRAFOS. There are also some good animations of cell function, division, DNA replication etc on Youtube... might be worth digging around there some.

-chris

Great ideas all. DH and I sneaked off to Half Price Books and found some great selections ranging from a beautifully illustrated coffee table type survey of sciences called "Scientifica" to some used textbooks for basic science courses at the local community college. DD is going to love these. They will be under the tree along with her new kids' microscope (hope this is any good) very soon.

I checked out "The Great Courses." I had not heard of them ColinsMum but they look fantastic. Thanks for the heads up on the prices though. I headed straight for the sale tab and found a great science survey course for non-science majors. Are the lecturers pretty engaging for kids or is it hit and miss like classes at college can be?

I will take a look at the series you suggest raptor dad. Happy holidays all!

It can be a bit hit and miss. The best ones we've had are:
- the one I already mentioned, How the Earth Works

- Particle Physics for Non-Physicists (really - it's amazingly done, with no maths!)

- The Joy of Mathematics

and, not science but must be mentioned,

- A History of Ancient Egypt

On the other hand I'd avoid the Renton geology one (engaging enough but too many physics errors!), the high school chemistry one (assumes you hate chemistry and just want to get through it somehow - this attitude was confusing to a chemistry-mad kid!), the Michael Starbird maths ones (he's great, but has a dry style that didn't appeal to my DS at all), and From Yao to Mao (ditto: good stuff, dry presentation). I'm probably forgetting a few we have watched, and we still have a box of ones I've bought that we haven't watched yet...

Dr. Starbird-he was one of my profs in college! Funny that he is dry on these. He had a really jokey style in class.

It's been a while since we watched any of his; it may be not so much that he doesn't use humour as that my DS didn't get on with his brand of humour. You'll be that best judge as to whether your DD will, since you know him!