Customer Reviews

Backyard (One Small Square)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My three children have thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful illustrations, dynamic fact-filled text, and activities given in this book. We love the whole One Small Square series, but because this book has helped solve some mysteries in our own backyard, this one is our favorite! It also served as a great companion to several curricular themes and field trips during the school year.

We read this book over and over! My son learns something new every time. The illustrations are numerous and detailed. "Backyard" provides a great springboard for further exploration of the world.

My son is 4 and loves all worms and bugs. This book is carried with us everywhere. He knows the names of the bugs and the earthworms habits. I love it that he is interested in something that will expand his mind, make him aware of his environment and keeps him away from the TV! He is still a little too young for squaring off a part of the yard but that could be next year. The illustrations are excellent, it creates a forum for conversation, love of nature and science. Too often our children are caught up in brands and being sold from TV brands and characters that are shallow and offer little to our children. How wonderful to fuel interest in something outdoors and interactive with the world we live in.

This book (and others in the series) is a real treasure. Your kids, and you, are guaranteed to enjoy and make use of this great little book.

I read all of the books in Donald Silver's series when I was just beginning elementary school, starting with One Small Square: Backyard. Now in my early 20s, I can appreciate the unique combination of field experiments and wealth of knowledge presented to young minds. As a child, I liked these books so much I wrote Donald Silver and encouraged him to write more (of course presenting my own ideas for new "squares".) To this day I remember being ecstatic when the author of one of my favorite series of books, a true celebrity in my mind, wrote me back telling me of the unpublished, upcoming "One Small Square" book and to continue exploring nature on my own. These books helped fuel a love for nature that exists in me to this day. I strongly encourage parents to share these inspiring and educational books with their children.

As a teacher, I have found this to be an important addition to the classroom. The students loved flipping through this book before we began "One Small Square" exploring activities on the playground. This book is a great resource if you have read "A Place for Wonder" by Heard and McDonough, and are incorporating the "One Small Square" activity into your curriculum. Kids can use this book to understand what they might observe in their construction paper square while they explore the playground and various other places. There is also a section in the book where students can identify bugs and plants they have found in their squares. This is also a great book to read and return to while writing nonfiction pieces with students.

This is a beautiful book. I highly recommend it for developing an appreciation for nature. The illustrations are stunning. I have purchased most of the books in this series and highly recommend them all.

This is a beautiful book and my 8 year old daughter refers to it occasionally, but I think that because so many of the animals in it are never seen in Sydney, Australia my children aren't really into this book. It hasn't inspired them to get into the garden and look around.