The Usborne Little Book of Flowers

"Flowers have played an important role in people's lives for thousands of years.  They have formed part of festivals and rituals, inspired artists, poets and storytellers and even been used as charms for love and luck."

Did you know?

In the past, when most people couldn't read or write, flower symbolism was a language that everyone understood.

Sometimes what you might think is a single flower is actually made up of lots of smaller flowers called florets.

Patterns on the flower's petal, called nectar guides show insects where to find nectar.  Some types of flowers have nectar guides that only bees can see!

A butterfly can unfurl it's tube-like mouthparts to reach deeper into flowers than bees can.

In the right conditions, some plants can grow from a single leaf!

It's said that the flower of the month you were born in will bring you good luck.

Many flowers take their names from ancient stories which explain how they came to exist or why they look or grow the way they do.

This little book is a treasure trove of flowery facts, folklore and things to do.  There are step by step instructions for planting gardens as well as for painting, drying and pressing flowers.

Because this book is Internet-linked, you can download many of the illustrations to use in crafts and reports, play garden games and watch flower movies.

Packed with charming illustrations and facts, The Usborne Little Book of Flowers makes the perfect gift for flower-lovers of all ages.

Order The Usborne Little Book of Flowers for $7.95 at Tonya's Books

The Usborne Complete Book of the Human Body

The Usborne Complete Book of the Human Body

By Anna Claybourne

Review by Tonya Dirksen

     "If bones are hard, how do children's bones grow?"

     This question and many more are answered in the Usborne Book of the Complete Human Body.  This is a fascinating book packed with interesting facts, beautiful illustrations and engaging and clear text.  There are fantastic microscope and x-ray pictures that enhance each topic. 

This book is also Internet-linked which means you can link to a website which will give you more information about a particular topic.  This is a great resource for school reports and projects.  The websites often have more experiments and activities that can easily be turned into a science project.  Many of the pictures and illustrations featured in the book are downloadable and are excellent for homework and reports.

     To give you an example, let's examine the skeleton page.  The skeleton is discussed over a double page spread.  There is a large x-ray of a walking human skeleton with all of the bones labeled.  Another picture is a close-up x-ray of a wrist that points out the carpals or wrist bones.  At the top is a microscope picture of the honeycomb structure inside the bone shown at about 70 times life-size.  There is also a close-up of the stapes, the smallest bone in the body.  At the bottom is a box explaining what bone detectives or archaeologists do.  Above that is a beautiful, downloadable illustration of the layers of the bones.

     The Internet link for this page takes you to a website where you can take a tour of the human skeleton and play an interactive game.  You can do that right now by going to http://www.usborne-quicklinks.com/, use the keywords "complete body" and page 18.

     Framing these beautiful pictures and illustrations are facts about the skeleton.  Let's answer our earlier question:  "If bones are hard, how do children's bones grow?"  The answer is that their skeletons aren't all bony.  Some of their bones are made of a softer material, called cartilage.  The illustration shows a 12 year-old's bones containing cartilage discs.  The bone next to it is an adult bone in which the cartilage has turned to bone.  To see this please turn to page 19!

     To order this book and other Internet linked books please visit my website at http://www.tonyasbooks.com/ or call me at (916) 812-2875.