[nonfiction monday] Too Hot? Too Cold?

Too Hot? Too Cold?:
Keeping Body Temperature Just Right
by?Caroline Arnold, ill by?Annie Patterson
Charlesbridge, 2013

As someone who was born and raised in Florida and hates hot weather (which explains why I now live in Minnesota:>) I am keenly aware of temperatures and my body’s reaction to them. This fun science book offers clear, concise, and sometimes surprising details about why and how our bodies and animals’ bodies control or affect their temperatures.

Each spread has a main topic, like “Warm-Blooded Animals,” “Sweating,” or “Fur, Hair, and Feathers.” Then a couple of paragraphs give the main points about that topic as it relates to body temperature. Each spread also contains two or three brief sidebars that give nifty nuggets of knowledge or more details about the main topic. Here’s one sidebar example:

Fever. When you are sick with an infection, your temperature may go up a few degrees. This is called a fever. Fever is the body’s way of fighting the infection. Most germs that cause infections cannot live at higher than normal body temperature.

I had no idea. I think I assumed fevers were caused by the hard work your body was doing to fight off the germs. Like how you sweat and get hot from a good zumba class. Apparently, I was wrong:>)

This book is full of great info, and the interior art is lovely. I’m not big on the cover art, but that’s probably just because I really don’t care much for art of people. This would be a terrific addition to your science library.

Extension activities for Too Hot? Too Cold?: Keeping Body Temperature Just Right:

• Create a body map. Have your students trace each other on rolls of bulletin board paper. They each cut out their own shape and do body maps of ways they stay cool or warm. They could draw on goosebumps, sweat, scarves, mittens, etc. If you like, each kid could pick a specific month and then do the body map to match a typical day in that month.
• Research here and now. Brainstorm a list of common animals in your area–squirrels, geese, whatever. Then use your library and local resources (like a nature center at a park) to learn about how those animals remain safe and comfortable in whatever whether you are having now. If possible, go on a nature walk and look for examples, like turtles basking in the sun, or ducks huddling together in a lake.
• Write a story or a poem about a kid who was no longer warm-blooded. What silly or clever or outrageous things might he or she do to?control body temperature on a day with some kind of extreme weather? Carry a mug of hot cocoa around? Get a gorilla to hug him all day? Make a cool suit of ziploc bags filled with ice? Be creative!

Sally’s Bookshelf has the Nonfiction Monday roundup! Go learn something cool!

[review copy of Too Hot? Too Cold?: Keeping Body Temperature Just Right?provided by the publisher]