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    Preschool
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PRESCHOOL

Science picture books will help develop observation and thinking. Some of the books in this section may not seem very scientific or informative, but they are included because they develop an idea in a way that can lead to understanding scientific thought.

Who sank the boat?
Allen, Pamela (Nelson, 1982, 32pp.)
This picture storybook with brief rhyming text and humorous full colour illustrations shows several animals climbing into a rowing dinghy one after another as the boat gets lower and lower in the water. The last in is a mouse, and that is just too much. The text does not explicitly tell the reader that they all sank the boat.

The less colourful Mr Archimedes' bath (1980), in equally lighthearted manner, introduces children to the idea that bodies displace water.
(PHYSICS. AUSTRALIAN)

Noses
Bailey, Jill (Animals of Course! Series, Heinemann, 1984)
A small board book with excellent photographs by Oxford Scientific Films, which at first show the nose of an animal with a bubble saying 'Who has this nose?'; then over the page is the whole animal with its name, eg, 'A pig of course'. Other titles in the series, Feet, Mouths and Eyes, have a similar format. For toddlers.
(ANIMALS)

One hungry spider
Baker, Jeannie (Scholastic Australia, 2006, 28pp.)
This counting book also teaches a few things about how an orb web spider lives. Illustrations are carefully constructed collages.
(ANIMALS)

Silly galah
Brian, Janeen; illustrated by Cheryll Johns (Scholastic Australia/Omnibus, 2001, 32pp.)
Light-hearted verses and bold bright illustrations by Cheryll Johns introduce children to seventeen Australian animals (eight mammals, six birds, two reptiles and one frog). A secondary text around the edge of the page provides a bit more information in more serious fashion.
(ANIMALS. AUSTRALIAN)

Sebastian lives in a hat
Catterwell, Thelma; illustrated by Kerry Argent (Scholastic Australia/Omnibus, 1991, 32pp.)
The mother of Sebastian, a wombat, was killed by a car when he was about four months old and still in her pouch. He was hand-reared by the author who describes in this picture book his development and needs until he was able to return to the wild. Delightful, realistic full colour illustrations by Kerry Argent complement the text. Reissued in paperback by Scholastic in 2004.
(ANIMALS. AUSTRALIAN)

My apple
Davies, Kay and Wendy Oldfield (Simple Science, A. & C. Black, 1997, 26pp.)
Full page photographs by Fiona Pragoff of children undertaking a variety of activites with everyday objects are accompanied by simple statements and questions to set them thinking about the science around us. An apple is dropped into water, cut in half and allowed to go brown, used for printing, cooked and its seeds planted. Further information for parents is added at the end.

Five other titles in the series provide a series of experiments for an age group not often catered for in science publishing.
(GENERAL SCIENCE)

The quicksand book
de Paola, Tomie, (Holiday House, 1977, 32pp.)
This tongue-in-cheek Tarzan-style picture book has a jungle girl sinking in quicksand while a know-it-all jungle boy lectures her about its properties and formation. After describing various rescue techniques, he pulls her free, only to fall in himself.
(OUR WORLD)

Diary of a wombat
French, Jackie; illustrated by Bruce Whatley (Harper Collins, 2002, 32pp.)
A wombat's daily activities and interactions with the people who live near her burrow are recorded in diary form as though by the wombat, with items like ‘slept a bit', ‘asked for carrots'. The brief text indirectly reveals a lot about wombat character and about the tolerance needed to live with an animal whose requirements do not quite coincide with those of the people. Bruce Whatley's illustrations bring the wombat to life.
(ANIMALS. AUSTRALIAN)

Growing frogs
French, Vivian; illustrated by Alison Bartlett (Read and Wonder, Walker Books, 2000, 30pp.)
The story of a little girl and her mother who take some frogspawn and watch it develop into frogs is combined with scientific facts about frog biology and sound advice on how to look after tadpoles and frogs. An unusual typeface, a naïve style of art and a simple index add to the child-centred text, resulting in a charming information book for young children. Reissued with an accompanying CD in 2008.
(ANIMALS)

365 penguins
Fromental, Jean-Luc and Joëlle Jolivet (Abrams books for Young Readers, 2006, unpaged)
This large format, four-colour picture book tells the amusing story of a family which receives by courier a penguin a day for a year. However apart from the humorous storyline, the young reader is introduced to basic mathematical operations. When the numbers of penguins are added, they are arranged in groups (“12 boxes of 12 penguins = ??”) and their food requirements are calculated. By the end of the book, readers have discovered who is clandestinely sending the birds, why and some basic facts about penguins. However the strength of the book is in its plot and mathematical concepts.
(MATHEMATICS; ANIMALS)

Push
Graham, Bob (Science Early Learner Series, Five Mile Press, 1986, 16pp.)
Bill tries riding his tricycle in grass, in mud, on the carpet and kitchen floor, but discovers that the path is best. Also, Heat, Moving, Senses, Sound and Water. Each has a named character and pet, a brief text and delightful cartoon-style colour illustrations.

Four of these books were re-issued in 1991 with new titles. They are now called It's much too hot!, Look out for Rosy!, Pig's wild cart ride and Rupert's big splash.
(PHYSICS. AUSTRALIAN)

Two's company...
Greenway, Shirley (Charlesbridge, 1997, 32pp.)
This beautiful picture book illustrated with superb photographs from the team at Oxford Scientific Films is a simple introduction to animal behaviour through the names of different groups of animals. Each left-hand page shows a small photograph of a single animal and a photograph of two of the animals; the right-hand page shows a large picture of a whole group with the correct name (flock, shoal, swarm, herd, etc.) A simple introductory page and a corresponding conclusion tie up the concept neatly but a final two pages of further information about each animal adds an extra dimension.
(ANIMALS)

Walk with a wolf
Howker, Janni; illustrated by Sarah Fox-Davies (Read and Wonder, Walker Books, 2001, 32pp.)
Originally published in hardback in 1997 and reprinted in paperback in 2001, Walk with a wolf is a superbly produced information book for young children. The lyrical, poetic text is written by an award-winning British author and the beautiful realistic illustrations are by an artist experienced in creating animal books for children. As with other titles in the Read and Wonder series, additional facts about wolves are curved beside the evocative artwork to augment the information imparted in the narrative. Due to be reissued with an accompanying CD at the end of 2008.
(ANIMALS)

Boy, were we wrong about dinosaurs!
Kudlinski, Kathleen V.; illustrated by S.D.Schindler (Dutton Children’s Books, 2005, unpaged)
This picture book is not really about dinosaurs. Rather it shows the way scientific knowledge adapts and grows in the light of new discoveries. Using dinosaurs as the subject matter, the book explains how interpretations of fossils have changed since they were first discovered (the ancient Chinese thought they were dragon bones) and therefore our understanding of these creatures. Examples include the placement of Iguanadon’s ‘horn’ on its nose when they later turned out to be spikes on its front limbs and the way the nests of baby dinosaurs has altered thinking on dinosaur behaviour. An excellent explanation for young children about how scientific facts are not always correct at first and the need to be open to new interpretations and understandings as scientific knowledge evolves. Also suitable for ages 5-8.
(PREHISTORIC TIMES; GENERAL SCIENCE)

Mrs Millar's frogs
Millar, Annette; illustrated by Kerry Anne Jordinson (Paperbark, 1998, 24pp.)
This delightfully simple story, told in rhyming verse in the first person, tells about Mrs Millar who lives in Broome and has frogs in every room. A snake comes in after the frogs so she banishes them to the pond outside. She misses them so much she allows them back inside. Both verse and illustrations (by Kerry Anne Jordinson) are fun and full of life.
(ANIMALS. AUSTRALIAN)

What's for lunch?
Miller, David (Hodder, 1997, 32pp.)
Each page asks 'what's for lunch?' and answers it for the animal pictured (which is not named, but all are well-known Australian animals) and the book ends with a mouse and frilled lizard which could be someone else's lunch. The illustrations are photographs of brilliant paper collages.
(ANIMALS. AUSTRALIAN)

The Hunt
Oliver, Narelle (Lothian, 1995, 32pp.)
A tawny frogmouth chases a series of animals for food but, before it can catch them, they disappear by settling on a background where their camouflage is most effective or by disguising themselves as a twig. Then the tawny frogmouth itself has to disguise itself as a branch to avoid a powerful owl. Keys at the back of the book indicate where and what all the hidden species are (there are many more than those the tawny frogmouth sees).
(ANIMALS. AUSTRALIAN)

Sorting
Pluckrose, Henry (Know About Series, Franklin Watts, 1988, 32pp.)
The brief text has questions which will start a child thinking about different ways in which objects can be sorted – by size, colour, type (toy animals or buttons). It introduces set theory by showing how things can be sorted into different sets. Chris Fairclough's clear, well composed colour photographs expand the text and illustrate each point specifically.

Capacity by the same team (also published 1988) starts the child thinking about how much liquid or marbles a jar holds, and how to compare them, and leads to our standard measure of volume, the litre. Weight (1987) introduces the concept of weight, and how to weigh things.
(MATHEMATICS)

Let's try it out with towers and bridges: Hands-on early learning science activities
Simon, Seymour and Nicole Fauteux, illustrated by Doug Cushman (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2003, unpaged)
The 'Let's try it out' series presents simple experiments with everyday materials for young children to try at home. In this book, blocks, drinking straws, cardboard tubes and pieces of paper are used to show how buildings and bridges of different shapes can be made strong enough to withstand various forces such as weight and wind. Australian readers may not be familiar with the introductory section about the American pioneers going west but this is a minor issue. Other books in the series can be found at the author's website: www.SimonSaysKids.com.
(TECHNOLOGY; PHYSICS)