MARTY MCGUIRE DIGS WORMS by Kate Messner (Scholastic 2012) brings back the plucky Marty McGuire. Marty's class is challenged to come with ways of being more environmentally friendly. Marty and her best friend Annie, with some help from Marty's grandmother, decide to use worms to help reduce cafeteria waste. of course, there will be some obstacles along the way. However, Messner's great gentle humor and insight into the minds of young students keeps this story on track. Read this aloud to introduce a unit on the environment. Or pair it with the following book.
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FROGS, STRANGE AND WONDERFUL by Laurence Pringle with illustrations by Meryl Henderson (Boyds Mills Press 2012) is an in-depth examination of frogs: species, habitats, behavior, and more. While there is a great deal of information here, it is parsed out in meaningful chunks along with detailed illustrations to accompany the text. This nonfiction works well with the foregoing Messner chapter book in that both address concerns about the environment. <222>