Book Review: Up, Down, and Around by Katherine Ayres

Title: Up, Down, and Around


Author: Katherine Ayres


Illustrator: Nadine Bernard Westcott


Publisher: Candlewick; March 13, 2007


Age: 2 and up (But my one year olds love it!)


Topic: Vegetables, Opoposites, Healthy Foods, Gardening


Opening:
In the dirt we'll dig a row, drop some seeds and watch them grow.


Summary:
From seeds dropped into soil to corn bursting from its stalks, everything in this garden is on the move! Join in this rollicking good-time celebration of gardening.


Resources:
Teacher guide for the book. One Book has a very extensive activity guide for a variety of age levels.
Kid's Wings has some fun activities and web extensions to go with the book.

Why I like this book:
A cute book that shows a garden come to life as children learn about a variety of vegetables, some of which grow above the ground, some underground and others still that grow around and around! Children are taken from the very beginning of planting seeds then watching as the plants grown to the finale, a fun picnic in the garden featuring the vegetables in the book. My toddler classroom really enjoys the book. It helps that I have the BIG book edition where they can see the wonderful details of the plants and bugs :)