Henricus Peters writes: I was fortunate, back in the late 1990s, to visit the East African savannah and witness some of the most amazing wildlife there. With wildlife comes life and death – and with the life comes ‘poo’… but, now that I come to think of it, I was not ‘wading through the brown…
This is how a review of Thor Hanson’s book in the Economist begins: “BEES are wasps that went vegetarian. This was a brilliant evolutionary move: they now outnumber wasps by around three to one. Instead of hunting creatures that would rather not be eaten, they turned to living things that offered themselves on a plate.…
Children love minibeasts – and so do I! As an envi-ronmental education teacher, I spend a lot of time rummaging around in leaf litter, lifting up old logs and sweeping about in ponds. While pond dipping is not cov-ered in this book, there are loads of ideas for attracting, catching and observing land inverte-brates. It…
This is a brilliant big book to read to children outside. A lucky charity shop find has become a book that I’ve used in various places for many different themes. These have included reading it in a reception classroom followed by independent work making nest collages for Spike to sit in; and as part of…
The winner of the 2017 Educational Writers’ Award is THE BOOK OF BEES, written by Wojciech Grajkowski, illustrated by Piotr Socha, and translated into English from the Polish by Agnes Monod-Gayraud. This year’s judges – school librarian Marion Le Lannou; London headteacher Mike Reeves; and writer, editor and publisher of books for young people Annemarie Young –…
The GA says that its new Handbook of Secondary Geography “… provides a rich source of advice and reference on all aspects of geography teaching in secondary schools in the UK.” It has been written for Heads of Department and all teachers of geography. The GA also says that “… it also speaks to a wider audience,…
As an animal lover, I see the true value of animals and their important place at our side: the dog that was my best friend as a teenager; the horses I rode (or more accurately sat on and held on, for dear life!) whenever I could, to see the countryside from a different viewpoint; watching…
It was the enticing title to George Martin’s book: Don’t even think about it: why our brains are wired to ignore climate change that persuaded me to order the book from our library. There was just one copy in the whole of Cumbria, so it wasn’t high in the popularity charts, which is just the…
Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think like a 21st Century Economist, by Kate Raworth, was published in early April. The Resilience website has a quick summary of what the book is about, this is a YouTube overview, and here is brief (17 minute) explanation in an RSA video. These are Raworth’s 7 ways: 1. Change the goal: from GDP…
Juliette Green explores a range of books about birds for children. Spot 50 Garden Birds Camilla de la Bedoyere I use these ‘Spot 50’ books all the time when working out-side with children (other titles include wildflowers, trees and insects). They are easy to navi-gate as a simple field guide, and contain just the right…
Routledge says that its new book, Sustainability Science: Key Issues, … “is a comprehensive textbook for undergraduates, postgraduates, and participants in executive trainings from any disciplinary background studying the theory and practice of sustainability science. Each chapter takes a critical and reflective stance on a key issue or method of sustainability science. Contributing authors offer perspectives…
The New Naturalists Online is an internet bookseller which specialises in books about the natural world. Recently Published books include: Falcons Alien Plants Slugs and Snails Brecon Beacons Early Humans It includes a print-on-demand service for past editions. Currently, NNOL is featuring special editions of Farming and Birds by Ian Newton. The website says: More than…