“…provides clear, understandable, but not oversimplified explanations in an attractively presented format. The notebook entries make for compelling study…” Kirkus Reviews

Put scientists out in the field—where they observe and learn from their subjects—and exciting things happen. Join fourteen American scientists as they watch sleeping hippos, avoid cactus thorns, hide snakes under their skirts, make jokes, and draw elephants, termites, or squids.

Drawing from the original field notebooks of scientists, kids will learn about descriptive, informative, humorous, and expository writing. Scientists use notebooks to summarize data, draw maps, or draw specimen. Represented are scientists studying birds, cactus, zoo keeping, human diseases, termites, mollusks, fish, grasses, Mayan ruins, Chinese plants and animals, taxidermy, and peanuts. Kids will be inspired to create their own field notebooks.

The work is presented in a fun, browsable layout. Any time you want to pair observations with recording those observations, this is the right book.