Edgar Mitchell, Apollo 14 astronaut, author
"When returning from the Moon, I experienced directly and emotionally the personal connection to the Universe described by Jennifer Morgan."

Card catalog description
Presents a history of the universe, from the Big Bang to the formation of Earth, in the form of a letter written by the thirteen-billion-year-old universe itself to an Earth child. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Written by two Montessori elementary teachers, who are also teacher-trainers, this book describes in detail Maria Montessori's unique program of study for six to twelve year-olds. Montessori believed that children of this age could be properly educated only in the context of the whole of reality. As a unifying element, this curriculum embraces all the academic subjects in a way that leads students to the perspective of the oneness of all things.

In the years when their curiosity is at a peak, cosmic education guides children to examine the questions, "Who am I?" "Where did I come from?" and "Why am I here?" By promoting univeral values that can inspire them to care for the earth and work for peace, Cosmic Education can help children to see themselves, not as self-engrossed consumers in our society but as Children of the Universe with all that this image entails.

From Publishers Weekly
Newbery Medalist George presents a haunting plea for the preservation of endangered ecosystems, a plea strengthened by Minor's majestic paintings. Poling a canoe through the Everglades, a man tells his five young passengers a story. Beginning with "the age of the Seashells," the narrator shows the children how the spillover from Lake Okeechobee became "a slow river that gleamed like quicksilver"; and how the "saw grass clattered like a trillion swords" when the wind blew. As he describes "all things large and small that make the Earth beautiful," full-spread art depicts the river's history, while medallions top text pages with symbols of the vanishing Everglades. When the storyteller details the wanton destruction of this habitat, the dispirited children request "a happy story." He then tells of how "five children and a storyteller poled into the Everglades" and "eventually the children grew up and ran the Earth." With her narrative skill and expertise as a naturalist, George adroitly avoids didacticism. A particularly persuasive environmental work. Ages 6-9.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal
Grade 1-3–Using a beautifully balanced format that combines panoramic illustrations with a storylike narrative, Cherry imagines the life cycle of a mangrove over a period of more than 100 years, from propagules (sprouting seeds) to a single tree to a tangle (a cluster of trees) to an island. As the unusual tree slowly increases in size, it sends out dozens of visible prop roots that anchor it to the sea floor at the edge of a Caribbean lagoon and becomes both shelter and food source for an amazing array of living things. Richly hued watercolor-and-colored-pencil paintings show birds, fish, and sea creatures in sufficient detail to allow for easy identification. The endpapers feature maps of mangroves around the world surrounded by borders containing a small, labeled painting of each species. An introduction and author's note explain the importance of mangroves to their ecosystem and encourage their preservation. Although Cherry has chosen to anthropomorphize a few of the animals by including snippets of conversation, the information is well researched and clearly presented, and the lesson in ecology is an important one.–Susan Scheps, Shaker Heights Public Library, OH
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved
 

From Publishers Weekly
A young woman of the Seminole tribe begins to question the validity of old customs over the more pressing problems of nuclear war and pollution, in a tale by the Newbery Medalist. Ages 10-up.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.