"Strange and Wonderful" Animal Series

I have been working hard on building up my collection of nonfiction books, mostly about animals and biomes at this point. I bought almost all fiction for Natalie, Leah, and Becca when they were little and it's because we had access to the nonfiction collection at The Tidewater School. So I made sure they had plenty of picture and chapter books at home, but if we needed to research something we had the school's collection. Now Zac and the kids in the homeschool co-op are benefitting from that extensive library, and I'm turning my energy to adding the kinds of books we don't already have.

Personally, I think it's important in the time of COVID, when you may not be going to the public library as much, to find an author whose work you really like and trust, and you feel confident buying their books sight unseen. Then start putting titles in your cart. It is exciting when they arrive. Occasionally there will be a dud, but I've discovered some real gems that way! I just purchased the fourth book in Kate Messner's "Over and Under" series. It is about the rainforest and will work really well for our Botany study this year!

I love Steve Jenkins and have invested in all of his books. I also recently discovered April Pulley Sayre. And Sneed B. Collard III. And Jess Keating.

Now I've become interested in Laurence Pringle. We love his monarch butterfly and green darner dragonfly books, and I just got the red fox one. In searching for his work, I found a whole series of "Strange and Wonderful" books that have excellent reviews. I will likely save up and purchase the series. I think they'll work well for my distance learning tote bags this year!

Here are all of the titles I've found so far:

Dinosaurs
February 1995
The initial book in the series, I won't get this one since it is likely out of date. I have a much more modern book, Dinosaurs! My First Book About Carnivores by "Dinosaur George" Blasing, and it is absolutely fantastic!

Whales
April 2003

Sharks
January 2008

Alligators and Crocodiles
February 2009

Snakes
August 2009

Bats
December 2009

Crows
June 2010

Cicadas
September 2010

Frogs
April 2012

Penguins
September 2013

Scorpions
October 2013

Octopuses
April 2015

Owls
March 2016

Spiders
October 2017

Dolphins
February 2019

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