Reviews
2025 Green Earth Book Award Recommended Reading
Skipping Stones Honor Award 2025
Children’s Literature
“This book is a fabulous way for children to learn about animals and develop a passion for protecting the environment.”
Praise for Spit Nests, Puke Power, and Other Brilliant Bird Adaptations by Laura Perdew
School Library Journal
“A cool science title for younger readers to learn about bird adaptation. Educators can use this text in the classroom; many STEAM lessons could be inspired by these funky adaptations.”
Praise for Biodiversity by Laura Perdew
Booklist
Top 10 Books on the Environment & Sustainability for Youth: 2020
“Activities and accessible text bring the importance and complexity of biodiversity to upper-elementary and middle-school students.”
Praise for Extinction by Laura Perdew
National Science Teachers Association Recommends
“This book uses the concept of extinction to teach a little chemistry, a little climatology, paleontology, biology (biodiversity), ecology, and a lot of geology. The science information is historical and current, drawing on three–dimensional learning, incorporating science practices to determine what factors affect extinction in general and specifically. The integration of concepts help bring the science alive and relevant.”
Detailed Book Description
Who's keeping the ecosystem healthy?
In any ecosystem, every species has a role to play. From towering trees and enormous whales to the smallest microorganisms, and from plants and fungi to animals and insects, each species is important to the overall health of the ecosystem. But some of those species play such vital roles that without them, the ecosystem is in danger of collapsing. These are called keystone species.
In Keystone Species: Meet the Animals Key to Ecosystem Health and Biodiversity with Hands- On Science Activities for Kids, young scientists are introduced to several different types of keystone species from around the world as they discover the crucial roles these organisms play in their ecosystems. Meet the sharks, gray wolves, beavers, American alligators, bees, flying foxes, wildebeests, bison, and coral that all play a vital role in regulating an ecosystem.
Try these science activities!
- Map a wildebeest migration
- Create an African savannah food web
- Dissect a flower
- Model ocean acidification
Available In:
Hardcover, $24.95
9781647411206 |
Paperback, $19.95
9781647411237 |
Includes: Table of Contents | Maps | Glossary | Resources | Index | Metric Conversions Chart
Specs: 8 x 10 size | 4-color interior | 128 pages
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Timeline
Introduction
Chapter 1: Gray Wolves
Chapter 2: Sharks
Chapter 3: Beavers
Chapter 4: American Alligators
Chapter 5: Flying Foxes
Chapter 6: Bees
Chapter 7: Wildebeests
Chapter 8: Bison
Chapter 9: Coral
Glossary
Metric Conversions
Resources
Essential Questions
Index
