Treecology

Packed with information and activities for a range of ages: some activities, like drawing and leaf rubbing, are appropriate for first and second graders, but the text is too involved and scientific for those ages on the whole, although you may be able to pull basic information and some fun observations and trivia from the book for those learners. I learned quite a bit reading through this book, and could see it in use in a classroom setting for fourth or fifth grade students.

Words are defined as they are introduced in the text, some bolded (concepts that will be repeated and important for understanding later information). Unfamiliar words, especially Latinate terms so common in natural sciences, are accompanied in the text with parenthetical pronunciation guides. Unfortunately, the glossary at the back does not have pronunciation information.

The layout of this book is extremely frustrating and confusing. Because of the amount of supporting material included within the text (images with extensive captions, activities which may take up a full page or more, and boxes with additional information), the flow of paragraphs of the main text can be hard to follow. In some instances, sentences are split after only a word or two and continued pages later. The usability and reading experience would have benefit greatly from more intuitive and cleaner design.

Thank you to Goodreads and Chicago Review Press for the review copy.