Weather Mania (P/B) SB

Whether there's a tropical heat wave or a chill in the air, whether there's rain, sleet, or snow, have some meteorological fun while learning about everything from hurricanes to sunny blue skies. How can you fly "above the weather?" What are the lowest and highest temperatures ever recorded on earth--and the solar system? How can you convert Celsius to Fahrenheit? What causes lightning and thunder? How do you read a weather map? Along with these cool facts, try some really great experiments: with plastic cups, sand, water, and a thermometer, check and see whether the land or sea changes temperature faster. Or, get blown away with a homemade anemometer that measures wind speed. Create clouds in a jar. Plus: amazing trivia-including the day it rained frogs in Kansas City. Editorial Reviews From School Library Journal Grade 5-7-A lively addition to the 551.5s, with two-page units such as "Blowing in the Wind" and "Pressured into Moving" accompanied by colorful, cartoonlike illustrations and diagrams. Also in the mix are loads of experiments using found materials to make everything from a hair hygrometer to a wind sock to a model of the water cycle. (Caution: One experiment requires a fluorescent bulb, which can implode under certain circumstances.) The text is brief, chatty, and informative, and the format is nonthreatening. If you already own Mark Breen and Kathleen Friestad's similarly chatty The Kids' Book of Weather Forecasting (Williamson, 2000) and/or Franklyn Branley's golden oldie It's Raining Cats and Dogs (Houghton, 1987) or Jonathan Kahl's more formal The National Audubon Society First Field Guide: Weather (Scholastic, 1998) or Brian Cosgrove's busy, eye-catching Weather (DK, 2000), you could pass this by. Still, weather is a popular topic, so if your collection needs to be brisked up a tad (and you can get past that caution), this title is attractive and fun. Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. From Booklist Gr. 3-5. From the writer and illustrator of Map Mania (2002), this large-format book presents basic information and projects related to weather. A typical double-page spread discusses a topic such as cloud types or presents an activity such as making a basic barometer or a model that demonstrates the water cycle. Some of the project ideas (taping a streamer to a paper plate to show wind direction) are quite simple, while others are more advanced, but all of them use inexpensive, easily obtained materials. The pages are lively and colorful. Clearly delineated drawings illustrate the projects, and amusing, cartoon-style characters reflect the breezy, informal writing style. For larger collections. Carolyn Phelan Copyright å© American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.