CONSIDER THE
KIDDOS: CLOUDS & POPCORN
A favorite
and endearing author of children’s literature, Tomie de Paola writes and
illustrates on topics as varied as stories of his childhood, ethnic folk tales,
and simple non-fiction. Two non-fiction
books of his are about things a child notices and experiences on a regular
basis: clouds and popcorn. Find out a
few interesting things! Hilariously
enough, both of these books are older than I am, but my friends, they are no
less fascinating than if they were published today.
Now that Spring is on its way, you
could take a few moments to lie down in the grass and notice the sky. (Remember Spring can be wet; maybe just stand
and look up!) Sometimes the sky is blue;
if there’s rain, you may not see any blue at all. What breaks up the blue or
covers it all up? The Cloud Book will tell you.
Kids commonly look up at these white things, often observing “It looks
like a camel!” or “See that house cloud?!”
These “house clouds” may very well be cumulous clouds. Planes racing across the sky leave marks from
their exhaust called contrails; what a neat thing for a child to look up and
see, especially when there are two or more planes criss-crossing in contrail
games! Learn all about the curious names
of clouds – cirrus, stratus, cumulus, and combinations
describing their
altitude and dispersion. As a child, trying
to wrap your tongue around scientific words like “cumulonimbus” can be an
amusing challenge! As clouds have much to do with rain, snow, and
storms, you can also learn how clouds can tell about approaching changes in the
weather. Not one to leave out a good
story, Mr de Paola also included age-old myths about clouds (because kids long
ago looked at clouds, too!). For a
simple and neat experiment, follow this link to make your own cloud:
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plan/cloud-book-teaching-plan And – there’s more – join us this summer and
make clouds here in the library, learn how to tell them apart, and predict the
weather as part of our partnership with the GLOBE program!
https://www.globe.gov/
On to popcorn,
a favorite snack of anyone, young and old!
Talk about old,
The Popcorn Book will tell you about
popcorn through history. As common as
popcorn is,
apparently it was a special feature at the first Thanksgiving. You’ll
also
discover why popcorn earned its name – what makes this corn pop?
Popcorn goes
great with a movie, and Mr de Paola gives you two recipes to
give a
whirl. Bonus: you can also learn how to
cook popcorn in the sand.
For a full
list of Tomie’s books and more about him, visit his website at
As you continue to celebrate St
Patrick’s Day, look for these books by Tomie de Paola to color your celebration!
