STEM Friday

STEM Friday highlights great Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math books are available in children's literature.  Today I'm highlighting a great book by Sally Walker, one of my favorite nonfiction writers.

Frozen Secrets, Antarctica Revealed
by Sally M. Walker
Carolrhoda Books, 2010.
Grades 7-12
Reviewed from personal copy.

BLURB:

Antarctica is a land of frozen secrets, with scarcely a handful that have been completely divulged. Join Sally M. Walker as she explores both historical and modern-day scientific expeditions to the continent and examines what secrets might still be locked in the continent's icy cloak secrets that might help scientists understand what the future holds for Earth and its changing climate. (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8561673-frozen-secrets)

 This book has many great features including the following:

1. Great organization: the book is easy to follow with a logical beginning with the race to the South Pole and the first discoveries to the implications of global warming in Antarctica and the possible repercussions world wide.
2. Great maps, as the author discusses various different expeditions and scientific studies going on across the continent, the maps help the reader visualize the different locations. (I like being able to put places and locations together.)
3. Great design: the design is attractive and appealing.
4. Awesome photographs that give the reader a glimpse into a harsh, but fascinating place and the price paid by those who choose to study there.

The amount of text and technical nature of the writing make this book most suitable for secondary students, although I plan to use some of the photographs to help my elementary students develop a better appreciation for our planet's often ignored seventh continent.

Note: Check back Monday for more books about Antarctica.