Non-Fiction: Science Verse

The non-fiction book I selected is titled Science Verse written by Jon Scieszka and illustrated by Lane Smith. The information in this book is all presented through poems addressing a variety of science topics. The book begins by a student sitting in class getting “zapped with a curse of Science Verse” from this point, the variety of poems follow on science topics such as evolution, the water cycle, the food chain, dinosaurs and much more!

This book receives an excellent rating for accuracy, design, and style. The information in this book is very factual and current while the design is very attractive and reader-friendly. Also, the writing style being poems keeps the information very interesting for the reader. However, for the organization portion I rated the book as satisfactory. Due the nature of the book covering a variety topics back to back the transitions were not always smooth.

While covering the topic of evolution, the author states, “‘Cause Grandpa was an ape” in the poem referring to how, we as humans have evolved. There may be some students in our future classrooms that may not taught not to accept this theory as true. Therefore related to the six social justice curriculum this could be an opportunity to develop ‘respect for others’ by acknowledging that others have different beliefs and cultural backgrounds.

In my future classroom, I would use this book at the beginning of the school year as an introduction to science topics we will be learning about throughout the school year. After reading the book to the class, I would then lead a class discussion asking students which poem they enjoyed the most and why. I would also ask which topic they would want to learn more about. This information would be helpful not only related to science but also as a way of learning who my students are and their interests.