reading lists, creative snack ideas, and a list of things to bring with you. The author’s pre- and post-excursion activities suggest great opportunities for connecting children with their community. As someone who has led many day trips with children, Weisner has worked out all the kinks and laid down a solid outline for numerous great adventures. – (BB)
Red Deer Press, ISBN 0-88995-193-4, 2003, 184 pp., C$19.95/US$17.95 from Fitzhenry & Whiteside, (800) 387-9776, <
www.fitzhenry.ca>
The Magic
of Ecology Remember the magic string trick? Using a classic sleight of hand, a magician cuts a string into two pieces, holds
the ends in a closed fist, and they magically reconnect. In The Magic of Ecology, Steve Trash spins classic magic tricks like this into attention- grabbers that introduce such concepts as recycling, interconnectedness and resource conservation. For example, to demonstrate the web of life with the magic string trick, he identifies the string as one strand in the web of life, cuts it to symbolize that some human activities break the strands in the web, and then brings the two ends together again to demonstrate that being good stewards of the environment keeps everything connected. For each of
the book’s 22 tricks, Trash provides a difficulty rating, a list of materials (most of which are readily available), and illustrated instructions for setup and performance. Written for upper elementary teachers and students, The Magic of Ecology is sure to make learning ecology easier than pulling a rabbit out of a hat! – (BB)
Steve Trash Enterprises, ISBN 978-0- 9652542-2-9, 2005, 79 pp., US$14.37 from Café Press, (877) 809-1659, <
www.cafepress.com>.
Rethinking
Mathematics In Rethinking Mathematics: Teaching Social Justice by the Numbers, editors Eric Gutstein and Bob Peter-
son prepare teachers to create useful math experiences for students who, “would prefer to have a dentist drill their teeth than to sit through a math class.” The book presents a collection of 18 articles that explore social justice as a real context for math education, and math as a tool for teaching about social justice. The articles cover such topics as globalization and sweatshop labor, environmental racism, the distribution of wealth, racial profil- ing, and advertising aimed at children, showing how the ability to decipher data and statistics is essential to under- standing social and political issues. It is more teacher textbook than curricu-
Eco-Books for Children
The Web at Dragonfly Pond by Brian “Fox” Ellis, illus- trated by Michael S. Maydak In this autobiographical story, the author tells of a day spent fishing with his dad and learning about the web of life. The story begins with Ellis himself falling prey to
mosquitoes, and proceeds up the trophic ladder to a drag- onfly, a frog and, finally, the black bass that father and son take home for dinner. Maydak’s colorful and realistic illustrations enhance the message that all of life is bound together. Ages 6–12. – (JH/GL)
Dawn Publications, 2006, ISBN 1-58469-079-8, 32 pp., US$8.05 (pb) from Dawn Publications, (800) 545-7475, <
www.dawnpub.com>; C$12.95 (pb) from Monarch Books, (800) 404-7404, <
www.monarchbooks.ca>.
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So What, Saw-Whet? by Rochelle Frank, photos by Linda Gast Beautiful photographs accompany rhyming text in this simple story in which a saw-whet owl describes himself to a human narrator. Writ- ten in question-and-answer format, the text provides information about the appearance and behavior of this
nocturnal bird of prey, augmented on the back page by additional basic information about its physical character- istics, range and diet. Ages 3–6. – (JH)
Hummingbird Mountain Press, 2003, ISBN 0-9746792-0-8, 26 pp., US$9.95 plus $2.50 s&h from Hummingbird Mountain Press, PO Box 971, Mariposa, CA, 95338, (209) 742-5418, <
www.hummingbirdmountain.com>.
lum — presenting theories, models and lots of useful statistics for “read- ing the world with math.” However, activities and teaching suggestions for upper elementary through high school students are coupled with many of the articles. As an example, the activity “Driving While Black or Brown” has students reviewing basic concepts of randomness and probability, making a random draw of colored cubes to esti- mate Chicago’s racial breakdown, and designing a simulation to test whether police data for “random” traffic stops over a ten-year period provides evi- dence of racial profiling. Well-written and consistently interesting, Rethink- ing Mathematics pulls the reader ef- fectively toward a deeper understand- ing of the relevance of mathematics in understanding and addressing social justice issues. – (NM)
Rethinking Schools, 2005, ISBN 0-942961- 54-4, 173 pp., US$16.95 plus $4 s&h ($5 to Canada) from Rethinking Schools, (800) 669-4192, <
www.rethinkingschools.org>.
Green
Dollhouse Green Doll- house: Creat- ing a Doll’s Eye View of a Healthier World is the result of a
2005 competition sponsored by Sus- tainable San Mateo County that asked artists and architects to portray their vision of a more sustainable future in the design of a dollhouse. Generously
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