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for the youngest child |
| Call No. |
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Title |
| 271206 |
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Cherry, Lynne. The Shaman's Apprentice: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest. San Diego: Harcourt Brace, 1998.
The Tirio people of the Amazon have a long tradition of curing illness using native plants as medicine. When the first white settlers arrived and brought with them malaria, many Tirio lost faith in their shamans because they were unable to combat the illness. However, when a modern-day ethnobotanist arrives in the Amazon to learn from a shaman about the healing properties of Amazon plants, the Tirio regain faith in their traditional practices.
Gr. 1-5. |
| |
|
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| 281243 |
|
Cowley, Joy. Red-Eyed Tree Frog. New York: Scholastic, 1999.
Spend a night in the life of a red-eyed tree frog as it avoids predators and searches for food. Excellent photographs take readers deep into the heart of a Central American rainforest and show this cuter than cute frog in all its splendor.
Gr. Preschool-2. |
| |
|
|
| 281362 |
|
Martin, Rafe. The Brave Little Parrot. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1998.
A Jakata tale from India based on one of the early lives of the Buddha, this is the tale of a little parrot who sprinkles drops of water on a forest fire in hopes that she can save the forest as other animals and the gods watch. A lesson in how individual effort may seem insignificant but can mean everything.
Gr. K-3. |
| |
|
|
| 290224 |
|
Wright-Frierson, Virginia. A North American Rain Forest Scrapbook. New York: Walker and Co., 1999.
Presented in the form of a scrapbook, the author describes her exploration of a temperate rain forest in North America, located in Washington State, and the plants and animals she found there.
Gr. 1-4. |
| |
|
|
|
| |
for the middle years |
| |
| 281233 |
|
Quinlan, Susan E. The Case of the Monkeys That Fell From the Trees and Other Mysteries in Tropical Nature. Honesdale, Pa.: Boyds Mills Press, 2003.
Twelve mysteries involving plant and animal life from the tropical rain forest are investigated and explained using the scientific method—helping readers go from one question to another and learn about tropical life along the way.
Gr. 5-9. |
| |
|
|
| 281234 |
|
Kovacs, Deborah. Noises in the Night: The Habits of Bats. Austin, Texas: Raintree Steck-Vaughn, 2001.
The life of bats on Panama’s Barro Colorado Island is of interest to biologists because of their integral part in the rainforest ecosystem. How researchers study these nocturnal creatures and what they learn is presented in this book in an engaging and well-illustrated format.
Gr. 4-7. |
| |
|
|
| 290206 |
|
Lasky, Kathryn. The Most Beautiful Roof in the World: Exploring the Rainforest Canopy. San Diego: Harcourt Brace, 1997.
This book about the lifestyle and research of Meg Lowman studying the rain forest canopy in Belize, is exceptional in that it relates how research is conducted under such unusual circumstances in addition to providing lots of information on canopy ecology.
Gr. 5-8. |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| 290207 |
|
Doris, Ellen. Life at the Top: Discoveries in a Tropical Forest Canopy. Austin, Texas: Raintree Streck-Vaughn, 2001.
The canopies of Metropolitan National Park in Panama hold many mysterious creatures for scientists to study and readers will enjoy following scientists from the ground, to the canopy, and back to the ground in pursuit of knowledge.
Gr. 4-7.
|
| |
|
|
| 290209 |
|
George, Jean Craighead. One Day in the Tropical Rain Forest. New York: Crowell, 1990.
The consequences of destroying the rain forest are brought to light in this book as Tepui leads a team of scientists on a search for a rare butterfly that might be the key to saving the forest he lives in on the banks of the Orinoco River in Macaw.
Gr. 3-6. |
| |
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| |
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For older children and young adults |
| |
|
|
| 271217 |
|
Bosse, Malcolm. Deep Dream of the Rain Forest. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1994.
While on an expedition with his uncle in the jungles of Borneo in 1920, fifteen-year-old Harry Windsor is captured by Bayang, a young Iban tribesman, who believes that Harry has some power to help him and an outcast Iban girl on their dream quest.
Gr. 7-Adult. |
| |
|
|
| 271218 |
|
Smith, Roland. Jaguar. New York: Hyperion Books for Children, 1997.
While accompanying his father on an expedition up the Amazon River to a jaguar preserve in Brazil, fourteen-year-old Jacob must contend with dangerous animals and fortune hunters.
Gr. 6-10. |
| |
|
|
| 281235 |
|
Kricher, John. A Neotropical Companion: An Introduction to the Animals, Plants, & Ecosystems of the New World Tropics. 2nd ed. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1999.
The complexity of tropical ecology in Central and South America is addressed in this book that Scientific American praised as a “lively field guide.” Useful for scientists, tourists and students alike.
Gr. 6 and up. |
| |
|
|
| 281238 |
|
Reid, Fiona A. A Field Guide to the Mammals of Central America and Southeast Mexico. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
More than a mere catalog of species in this especially diverse region of the world, this book also includes illustrations of the mammals, detailed descriptions of physiological and behavioral characteristics, range maps, and a guide to the national parks of the region.
Gr. 6 and up. |
| |
|
|
| 281241 |
|
Ventocilla, Jorge et al. Plants & Animals in the Life of the Kuna. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1995.
This unique book was written for Kuna by Kuna but it is also highly valuable for ecologically minded people of other cultures studying ethnobiological issues—including combating the damage a market economy has wreaked on the ecosystem on which the Kuna subsist.
Gr. 8 and up. |
| |
|
|
| 290204 |
|
Lowman, Margaret D. Life in the Treetops: Adventures of a Woman in Field Biology. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1999.
Margaret Lowman is a pioneering biologist in the study of tree canopies all over the world. How she became a scientist, balanced work with family, and what she has learned about herself and the ecological importance of tree canopies in an ecosystem are topics that she treats with spirit in this informative and enjoyable book.
Gr. 6 and up. |
| |
|
|
| 290205 |
|
Leigh, Egbert Giles and Christian Ziegler. A Magic Web: The Tropical Forest of Barro Colorado Island. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
The scientific study of Barro Colorado Island’s ecological community is brought to life with vivid photos and descriptions of howler monkeys, bats, toucans, nutmeg trees and armies of ants. An interesting combination of photography book and scientific study.
Gr. 7 and up. |
| |
|
|
| 290208 |
|
Plotkin, Mark J. Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice: An Ethnobotanist Searches for New Medicines in the Amazon Rain Forest. New York: Viking, 1993.
In his search to find natural remedies to some of the most dreadful illnesses that plague humankind today, ethnobotanist Mark Plotkin traveled to the Amazon rain forest and sought the help of shamans who have traditionally used botanical remedies to cure disease. Highly readable and informative.
Gr. 7 and up. |
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