Deadliest Animals #bookaday August 16th

Nonfiction, or informational books, are never my go-to reads.  I love a good story and I'm a realistic fiction gal most of the time.  After reading Steven Layne's In Defense of Read Aloud, I realized the importance of reading aloud from all different genres.  I plan on introducing my third graders to the 40 Book Challenge and helping them try many different genres as they grow as readers. Part of my job is to include different genres in my read alouds and book talks.  

To that end, I brought home stacks of books to read this summer. The nonfiction titles have been patiently waiting for more attention.  Last night I read, Deadliest Animals by Melissa Stewart.  Here were some of my thoughts while reading it:

• This book is a vocabulary boon! Not only are there science specific words, like predator, prey, species, and toxins, there are other rich words and expressions like "skillful stalkers."
• The information is presented in different ways across the pages.  There are "Deadly Definitions" for key terms, "Weird but True" fact boxes, amazing photographs, and jokes.
• This would make a great mentor text for showing 3rd graders the possibilities when writing a nonfiction piece.
• Reading this book would be a great way to start a conversation about what you are still wondering about after reading it.  There was a picture of "bee bearding" on page 39 where a man is covered in bees.  I am very curious about why a person would choose to do that and could explore this through online research.

Deadliest Animals will be one of my first informational read alouds this year! I think it will really hook readers into wanting to read more informational texts. This would make a great addition to your library.