Investigating Why Leaves Change Their Color (Science Detectives)
With a chatty text, oversize font, and beautiful, full-page color photos, the open design of this small square book in the Science Detectives series will invite young readers to look at the astonishing science happening around them. The page headings are appealing (“Sun Catchers”; “Hidden Color”), leading into text that details the process of photosynthesis and chlorophyll’s role in trapping sunlight; the botany is quite technical and will encourage kids to talk about it in the classroom and at home. Sidebars raise additional questions with fairly complicated answers (Why do leaves shut down in the fall? What about evergreens?), and photos show trees as they change through the seasons, with an occasional diagram of an individual leaf and its parts. A long final glossary finishes off this fine account of one of nature’s most vibrant transformations, leading kids to an elementary understanding of how the sun and sky affect each and every leaf. Grades 3-5. --Hazel Rochman