The Little Library of Natural History series is an absolute cracker of a collection of topics contained in pocket-sized tomes filled to bursting with interesting facts, beautiful detailed images and short summaries of information that will appeal to audiences of all ages.
Things I Love!
There are so many things I love about these adorable little pocket guides but here are My Top 5!
They're pocket sized (A5) which makes them super easy to transport and use in the field - where you want to have them for reference!
They have loads of beautiful, detailed images that are very reminiscent of traditional reference books and posters - these could even be used for nature drawing inspiration and technical drawing practice!
There are handy classification boxes identifying the biological levels of classification (think: kingdom, class, family, genus etc.) - great for science!
There are short, clear summaries of information that make for easy and engaging reading for all ages.
They are chock-a-block full of interesting facts and I guarantee there is something that you've never discovered before hidden in these pages!
Things I'm Curious About!
There were very few things that I could pinpoint that could be added to this book to make it even better, but here are a couple of things I wondered about and thought might be worth including.
The guide does reference the location of different shell types but there is not a single map anywhere in the collection. I feel this would have been a fabulous way to include a more visual cue for location and get us looking at and interpreting maps.
Some of the shell types I am completely unfamiliar with and all measurements appeared to be in U.S. units - so this got me wondering if the guide was very U.S-centric - I'd love to have one of these specifically for Australia!
It Got Me Thinking About...
This gorgeous book had me completely enthralled from the very first entry and it definitely reignited my interest in Natural History.
The Little Book of Shells has got me thinking about:
Taking a field trip to the beach and examining the shoreline and rockpools.
Nature drawing and making some more entries into our nature journals...shells and sea life may feature heavily here!😉
Reading more books on shells and the seaside (we have a number of picture books I have in mind here like; Sharing a Shell by Julia Donaldson and What a Shell Can Tell by Helen Scales, or even Magic Beach by Alison Lester).
What I Think About This Book!
I absolutely adore this book and am keen to add more of the Little Library of Natural History series to our bookshelves. I really feel like these will be go-to field guides that we can take with us when we go out exploring, that they will create interest on our nature table, and we can use them as reference material for research projects and artistic endeavours! They are incredibly versatile little compendiums on a whole variety of themes and I very much look forward to reading them all! Highly recommend as an addition to any home reference shelf or nature walk bag. Although these books are targeted at the 7-12 age bracket, all ages will enjoy the delightful images and easy to access text (our smallest readers might need a little support, but our bigger readers can definitely extend their scientific knowledge and reading capabilities using these texts as well)!
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