Pass the Energy, Please!

by Barbara Shaw McKinney, Chad Wallace (Illustrator)

Overview

Learning becomes fun with this book about the food chain and transfer of energy connecting all life on earth. Amazing artwork will inspire children in classrooms and at home to appreciate the world around us and feel part of it all.

Each of nature's creatures "passes the energy" in its own unique way. In this upbeat rhyming story, the food chain connects herbivores, carnivores, insects and plants together in a fascinating circle of players. All beings on Earth from the anchovy to the zooplankton depend upon the green plant, which is the hero of the story. Barbara McKinney's special talent shines again (see also A Drop Around the World) for being able to present the science curriculum so concisely, creatively, and cleverly.

Great for anyone looking for books:

• to teach kids about the food web and transfer of energy.
• that make learning fun for kids home schooling!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781584690023
Publisher:	Sourcebooks
Publication date:	03/01/2000
Series:	Justin's and Kevin's Great Backyard Adventure Series
Edition description:	1 ED
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	114,285
Product dimensions:	9.30(w) x 11.70(h) x 0.30(d)
Lexile:	1010L (what's this?)
Age Range:	6 - 9 Years

About the Author

Barbara Shaw McKinney is a teacher as well as a poet. She was inspired to use the magic of children's literature to spark her students' curiosity about the wonders of water. She vowed to "turn a drop of rain into a drop of life, astounding children by its eternity." Her sprightly verse elicits a "water wow!" in A Drop Around the World, her first book. She is also the author of Pass the Energy Please!, a wonderful exploration of nature's food chain, written in rhyming verse. From Manchester, Connecticut, McKinney draws on her experience as a mother, musician, and curriculum developer to promote quality education through workshops for teachers.

Editorial Reviews

Gr 1-5-McKinney presents the ecological food chain in a rhyming story. Couplets are frequently sketchy or vague. For example, in describing an owl, she writes, "Her wide yellow eyes, designed for the night,/get their glow from the reptile, captured in flight." Some rhymes are forced ("The vulture is known as a great opportunist/that preys on the fallen if finding it soonest") making the explanation of the links in the food chain even more confusing. Wallace's illustrations done in oil paints are large and colorful, showing fine details of birds, mammals, insects, and plants in their natural surroundings. There is no glossary to explain words such as "phytoplankton" and "zooplankton" and the rhymes that constitute the table of contents sacrifice understanding ("Link Number One-Born in the Sun").

School Library Journal