Tag Kate Kronreif

Ranger Hamza’s Eco Quest / Brown Bears

jillrbennett Leave a comment

Ranger Hamza’s Eco Quest
illustrated by Kate Kronreif
Ivy Kids

It’s great to be back in the company of Ranger Hamza and here he takes three children and readers on an important learning journey to discover how nature’s everyday heroes from the smallest seed to the tallest tree play a crucial role in our ecosystem, and how we also have a vital role to play. It’s not difficult and Ranger Hamza explains in straightforward steps some ways to help the planet, starting with the making of a mini water butt.
I loved the adjectives used to describe lichen, of which there are three types. In addition to providing food and shelter to tiny creatures, lichen acts as an indicator of the air quality in an area: lots of lichen indicates the likelihood of low pollution, so next time you walk with children keep a watch too see how much is growing.

One thing virtually everybody will notice is dandelions; rather that pulling them up (even from your garden), leave a place where some can grow. In so doing you will be helping several kinds of insects. I know from experience that children love to plant sunflower seeds and watch them grow: this is a great way to provide food for birds, so long as you keep the heads, let them dry out and then put them somewhere birds can access.
These are just some of the suggestions in this thoroughly engaging, inclusive book. It’s never too soon to start teaching children about ways they can help nature thrive so I suggest adding a copy to your family bookshelves, and foundation stage/ KS1 teachers, you need one in your classroom: it offers an abundance of forest school activities.
Another highly effective narrative non-fiction book is

Brown Bears
Dr Nick Crumpton, illustrated by Colleen Larmour
Walker Books

Set in Alaska, USA, this tells the story of a mother brown bear and her two cubs, one male, one female that we follow through a year in the forest. Therein lie dangers aplenty so, almost as soon as they are born, the mother bear starts teaching her offspring survival skills in order that they will be able to live and thrive alone in the wilderness.
The cubs learn to climb, to leave scents to inform other bears where they’ve been and to remove bugs from their skin. It’s dangerous for bears to stay too long in locations where people have left discarded food, as this can endanger both humans and the bears that have followed their noses. Much better is picking berries and foraging for nuts in the meadows and forest areas, which is what the cubs do come the autumn to build up a layer of fat to help protect them through the winter when hibernation prevents them from eating.

Come the snowfall, mother bear builds a new den wherein they will all spend the winter, in the warmth trapped by the tree branches covering the tunnel’s entrance.
After a whole seven months the mother wakens as do the cubs, the light hurting their eyes after so long. Then it’s out into the melting snow to start feeding again and come the summer part of their food will be salmon that have come to lay eggs in the gravelly rivers. Danger isn’t over however; indeed it comes in the form of a massive, very hungry male brown bear; but thanks to the cubs’ climbing skills and their mother’s warning sounds, the three remain safe and as autumn approaches again, the male cub will leave his family and go in search of a new home
Beautifully illustrated and captivatingly written, (with paragraphs of additional information to enjoy either during or after reading the main narrative), this is perfectly pitched for KS1 children.

Let’s Go For a Walk / Look What I Found at the Seaside

jillrbennett Leave a comment

Let’s Go For a Walk
Ranger Hamza and Kate Kronreif
Ivy Kids

In the company of Ranger Hamza, any walk will be an experience that engages all the senses. No matter where or when you go there’s sure to be a wealth of interesting sights, sounds, smells and exciting tactile things to feel with our hands. Best to do as Ranger Hamza advises though and take a copy of this book along, then suitably attired and with eyes and ears open, everyone is ready to sally forth.

The first focus is colour and youngsters are encouraged to spot red things and of course, what is found will depend on the season and to some extent the surroundings.
Then what about trying to spy things tall, wide or small; or feeling various things like these walkers are doing on the sea shore.

Not all smells are to be savoured; we all enjoy different ones. I for instance would not want to be in close proximity of fresh fish or chimney smoke but would love to inhale the aroma of lavender or baking bread. The important thing is to do as the ranger suggests and ‘use our noses’.

Each double spread has a new focus: there are shapes, minibeasts, sounds,

letters and numbers, pairs of objects, different materials that things are made of. The dark makes everything look different, shadowy perhaps, or you might spot some nocturnal creatures or star patterns if you walk at night.
To see other things up high though, it’s better to walk in the daytime when the clouds sometimes look amazing; while focussing on the ground can be equally rewarding with plants popping up in unexpected places and all kinds of patterns created either by humans or by nature.

With wildlife photographer and CBeebies Ranger Manza as guide and Kate Kronreif as illustrator, this guided book walk is sure to make youngsters want to undertake the real thing. Nature and being able to get outdoors are what have kept so many of us – young and not so young – sane over the past year and now I’m pretty sure that henceforward, none of us will take these things for granted. Are you ready, ‘Let’s Go For a Walk’ …

Look What I Found at the Seaside
Moira Butterfield and Jesús Verona
Nosy Crow

There are wonders aplenty waiting to be found if you take a stroll on the seashore with the characters in this smashing book (a companion to Look What I Found in the Woods), also published in collaboration with the National Trust).

Every spread is packed with exciting things to discover, the first being the wealth of different shaped seashells, be they curly and shining bright ‘like a pearl’,

long and curly, opening like a pair of wings or perhaps a purse.

The rock pools too are full of exciting patterned pebbles, fish and other small sea creatures; among the seaweed too are more treasures and sometimes foraging seagulls. Watch out for crabs scuttling among the fronds or peeping out of shells.

It’s interesting to imagine what a mermaid might keep in one of those mermaid’s purses close to the cave mouth …

There’s much more too if you follow the cliff path; maybe some fossils, butterflies, bees and seaside flowers; and if you are quiet you just might come upon some wonderful sea birds tucked away among the rocks.

Yes, the seaside is a veritable treasure trove but it’s important to collect thoughtfully, doing no harm and leaving nothing but your footprints behind.

Told through a gentle rhyming narrative and also bursting with fascinating facts, and illustrated with alluring scenes of the children investigating the natural world, this will surely get youngsters enthused to get out and explore nature.