When I first read The Stuff of Stars by Marion Dane Bauer and Ekua Holmes, I was captivated by the beauty of the book and its lyrical thoughts about the earth and our environment. Ms. Holmes’ illustrations invite us to look closer, to discern the creatures she’s so artfully included. Ms. Bauer’s text includes a list of animals that roam the earth, bringing to mind all of the stories and facts about these specific animals, birds, insects, and reptiles.
We thought it would be helpful to pull together a Quirky Book List that you could use for discussions in your classroom, research units, book displays on The Stuff of Stars theme, or independent reading. Be sure to refer to Bookology’s Bookstorm for The Stuff of Stars for more resources that complement this book.
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Bonkers about Beetles Fun and fascinating information about the toughest bugs in the world. The illustrations are incredible but the facts will astound young readers.
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Masterpiece Marvin, the beetle, lives under the kitchen sink in the Pompadays’ apartment. James Pompaday is an eleven-year-old boy who lives in the same apartment. When James receives a pen-and-ink set for his birthday, Marvin surprises him with an intricate drawing. Soon, these two friends are drawn into a staged heist of an Albrecht Dürer drawing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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One Beetle Too Many: A childhood of collecting specimens, especially beetles, Charles Darwin was a naturalist to his very toes, happiest when he was sailing The Beagle to South America to observe the flora and fauna. Lasky writes the story of Darwin’s life in a way that reveals the complex man who challenged the world’s thinking. |
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Bluebird Little Bluebird awakens one morning to find the wind missing. She and wind always fly together. Determined to find the way, Bluebird sets off on a clever, well-illustrated, heartwarming journey.
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Bluebird In this emotional picture book, readers will be captivated as they follow the journey of a bluebird as he develops a friendship with a young boy and ultimately risks his life to save the boy from harm.
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Captivating Bluebirds: Although not strictly a children’s book, Tekiela’s outstanding photographs will keep children’s attention as you share some of the intriguing facts on each page.
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What Bluebirds Do After a male and female bluebird select a place to nest, they raise a young family of hatchlings, feeding them and encouraging them to fly off on their own. Excellent photographs illustrate this book. |
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Caterpillar to Butterfly This early reader gives kids an close-up look, through stellar photographs, at how a caterpillar becomes a butterfly. The book includes information about the different types of butterflies and poisonous caterpillars. |
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How to Hide a Butterfly & Other Insects Each page invites the reader to hunt for the butterfly or bee or inchworm, all the while narrated by Heller’s distinctive poetic text. |
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A Place for Butterflies By framing butterflies as a vitally interconnected part of our world, this book teaches about behavior and habitat, while encouraging efforts to preserve forests and meadows, cutting down on pesticides. |
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CLASSIC When Chester Cricket hops into a picnic basket, lured by the smell of liverwurst, this country cricket is transported to Times Square. There, he’s given a comfy home by Mario Bellini, and becomes friends with Tucker Mouse and Harry Cat. And yet, Chester’s country home calls to him. A favorite of young readers for more than 50 years! |
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Oscar and the Cricket A beginning science book that teaches about moving and rolling. One day Oscar sees a ball in the grass. “Try pushing it!” says Cricket. Oscar learns that the ball rolls slowly in grass and faster on a path, until it bounces off a tree and changes direction. Some things need a push to move, and others use their muscles to move themselves — and to move plenty of other things, too. |
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Quick as a Cricket “I’m as quick as a cricket, I’m as slow as a snail. I’m as small as an ant, I’m as large as a whale.” The young child plays with imagination and words, illustrated with fun and rambunctious interpretation. |
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CLASSIC The beloved tale of two friends who are always there for each other, whether it’s finding a lost button or going swimming or writing letters. |
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The Frog Book With more than 5,000 different frog species on the planet, in every color of the rainbow and a vast number of vivid patterns, no creatures are more fascinating to learn about or look at. Jenkins and Page present a stunning array of these intriguing amphibians and the many amazing adaptations they have made to survive. An excellent nonfiction picture book. |
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It’s Mine! Three frogs constantly fight and bicker over who gets to eat the latest hapless insect. But a toad and a storm help them realize that there are merits to sharing. |
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Giraffes A true book, with interesting facts and teaching points for beginning readers. Giraffes are fascinating creatures. The text and photos in this book are engaging and memorable. |
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Giraffes Can’t Dance Gerald the giraffe is excited to go to the dance but the other animals tell him he can’t dance because he has knobby knees and skinny legs and he’ll look silly. Gerald slinks away, unhappy, until a kind voice tells him to dance to a different song. Soon Gerald is dancing so beautifully that the other animals gather to watch and admire. |
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Stay Close to Mama Twiga is curious and wants to explore, but Mama knows about the dangers of the savannah and wants to protect little Twiga. An excellent read-aloud with engaging illustrations. |
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Hawk Rising A father red-tailed hawk hunts prey for his family in a suburban neighborhood in this thrilling, fierce nonfiction picture book. Informative book written in sensory, poetic, perceptive text with Brian Floca’s stunning illustrations. |
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Tale of Pale Male: a True Story When a red-tailed hawk makes its nest on top of a New York City apartment building, the residents remove the nest, protesters raise their voices, and eventually birders rejoice. |
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Birds of Prey: Hawks, Eagles, Falcons, A book of nature writing that doubles as a field guide, this is a well-researched and ‑written book with accompanying photos. |
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A Mama for Owen When an African baby hippo is separated from its mother during the Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004, it bonds with a giant tortoise. This is a gentle perspective on the true story. |
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I’ve Lost My Hippopotamus Short, rhythmic poems about animals that are ideal for early readers. |
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How to Clean a Hippopotamus: A nonfiction book about animal symbiosis, featuring the hippopotamus as well as other animals. |
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Saving Fiona: The story of the first premature baby hippo born in captivity, raised at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden. |
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CLASSIC Legions of fans love these stories about two hippos who revel in being friends. |
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The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses Though she is fond of her people, a girl prefers to live among the wild horses where she is truly happy and free. |
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Leroy Ninker Saddles Up Leroy Ninker has all the trappings of a cowboy, but he doesn’t have a horse. Then he meets Maybelline, a horse who loves spaghetti and having sweet nothings whispered in her ear. Will their relationship mean an end to Leroy’s loneliness? |
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CLASSIC On the island of Chincoteague off the coasts of Virginia and Maryland lives a centuries-old band of wild ponies. Among them is the most mysterious of all, Phantom, a rarely seen mare that eludes all efforts to capture her — that is, until a young boy and girl lay eyes on her and determine that they can’t live without her. |
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Rosie’s Magic Horse Rosie puts a discard ice-pop stick into a box, but the stick wants to be something! When Rosie dreams of a horse named Stickerino, the ice-pop stick transforms, galloping out of the box. “Where to?” he asks. “Anywhere with treasure!” |
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I Am Jellyfish Jellyfish is chased into the ocean depths by Shark. Shark is attached by Squid. Who will save Shark? Jellyfish! |
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Peanut Butter and Jellyfish Peanut Butter, a seahorse, and Jellyfish are best friends. Crabby is NOT their best friend. But when Crabby gets into trouble, will Peanut Butter and Jellyfish help? Of course they will. |
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The Thing About Jellyfish For a middle grade reader: Suzi convinces herself that her friend Franny drowned because she was stung by a rare jellyfish. Suzi explores her theory and comes to realize many truths that make it possible for her to grow past her grief and remorse. |
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Ostrich and Lark This picture book about an unlikely friendship is the result of collaboration between the award-winning poet Marilyn Nelson and the San artists of Botswana. The story, which captures the feel of a traditional African folktale, is brought to life with vibrant illustrations inspired by the ancient rock paintings of the San people’s ancestors. |
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Deadliest Animals Fascinating facts about the most threatening animals in the world, including lions, written on an early reader level. |
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Eli A decrepit lion despises a vulture, but he soon learns about friendship from his pesky visitor. |
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Library Lion Miss Merriweather is a librarian with a lot of rules for her library. When a lion appears one day, there isn’t a rule to cover it. What will they do? The lion rescues the library, which finds a place for him. |
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The Lion and the Mouse A book about a developing friendship between an unlikely pair, with elements of family bonds woven into the familiar fable. African animals are beautifully depicted in the Caldecott-winning illustrations for this book. |
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Great White Shark Adventure Graphic novel. Junior explorers Bella and Marcus join famed explorer Fabien Cousteau and his research team as they embark on an ocean journey off the coast of South Africa, where the world’s largest concentrations of great white sharks are found. Their mission is to investigate a sighting of a massive white shark and tag it so they can track and protect it. |
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If Sharks Disappeared Even though sharks can be scary, we need them to keep the oceans healthy. Unfortunately, due to overfishing, many shark species are in danger of extinction, and that can cause big problems in the oceans and even on land. |
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Shark vs Train Smack talking, Shark and Train are pitted against each other in this wild and crazy book about what would help them gain supremacy in a variety of situations. Fun! |
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CLASSIC A young snail is determined to have the biggest shell in the world until his father tells him a gentle fable about the responsibility and weight of carrying around that type of shell. |
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The End of the Beginning: Avon the snail sets out on an adventure because that’s what everyone does. They encounter a dragon in disguise, the beginning of the sky, and a magic castle. Along the way, they discover friendship. It’s a great read-aloud for kindergarten and up. |
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The Snail and the Whale A tiny snail and a humpback whale set out to travel the world, exploring the oceans, underwater caves, and the skies. When the whale is stranded on the beach, will the snail be able to save him? |
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CLASSIC Some Pig. Humble. Radiant.These are the words in Charlotte’s web, high up in Zuckerman’s barn. Charlotte’s spiderweb tells of her feelings for a little pig named Wilbur, who simply wants a friend. They also express the love of a girl named Fern, who saved Wilbur’s life when he was born the runt of his litter. |
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Spiders Spiders are everywhere. And there are so many kinds of spiders! Some red, some blue, yellow, and more … all fascinating. Amazing photography and easy-to-understand text makes Spiders a hit. |
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CLASSIC Early one morning a little spider spins her web on a fence post. One by one, the animals of the nearby farm try to distract her, yet the busy little spider keeps diligently at her work. When she is done, she is able to show everyone that not only is her creation quite beautiful, it is also quite useful! |
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CLASSIC Amos the mouse and Boris the whale: a devoted pair of friends with nothing at all in common, except good hearts and a willingness to help their fellow mammal. They meet after Amos sets out to sail the sea and finds himself in extreme need of rescue. And there will come a day, long after Boris has gone back to a life at sea and Amos has gone back to life on dry land, when the tiny mouse must find a way to rescue the great whale. |
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Breathe A good book for young children, this looks at the life of a baby whale who ventures out on his own for the first time, engaging in adventures, and returning home to his mom. |
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Whales This nonfiction book is full of information about cows, calves, feeding, habitat, and the 90 species of whales around the world. From a master researcher and writer of nonfiction for young readers. |
Lovely to see Hawk Rising here 🙂
It’s a wonderful book, Maria!