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Browsable nonfiction books like KINGDOMS OF LIFE can do many things, including instill curiosity and wonder; offer up a “big picture” and then divide that picture into myriad details showing how they all fit together; provide nuggets of information in easily digestible sizes; and entertain with cool factoids. I’m a fan of all these things, but it’s curiosity and wonder that increases empathy for the inhabitants of our world. And when empathy increases, so does our desire to preserve and protect those inhabitants. Curiosity, wonder, and empathy can also help lead kids into STEM careers. Yay!
As a side note, NAMING things is a big deal, because when we have a name for something, that strengthens its identity in our mind. We become able to differentiate it from all other things. A name makes something more real to us, and thus becomes part of our lives and memories. And the more we know about the world and how things are interrelated, the more connections our minds make, the greater our ability to see even more connections in the world. Now, on to this fabulous book!
The first spread starts off explaining what the word “life” means, and how “life” takes on different forms.
Then with that knowledge as a base, the next spread describes how scientists categorize all life on Earth, into six kingdoms.
The colors and representative mini illustrations for each kingdom will help kids distinguish between the six groups.
The first kingdom tackled in detail is also the one with the most charisma, or character appeal—Animals.
And yes, all of the animals marked with numbers on this spread are named in a key in the back matter. Throughout the book, the author offers up two spreads for each kingdom, explaining each one’s characteristics, where they’re found on Earth, and interesting factoids that often contrast differences between members within a kingdom. Kirkus called the illustrations “radiant,” and I would agree! The colors are so vibrant, they’ll easily maintain visual interest for young (and old, ha!) eyes.
I loved learning about the most recently identified kingdom, Archaea, life forms that feed on gas, minerals, metals, and sunlight. Quite the delicious brew, yes? They were originally considered bacteria, but claimed their own kingdom in the 1970s when scientists discovered that their structures were actually quite different from bacteria. They’re amazing critters that can live in some of the most extreme environments on Earth (deep ocean vents, the geysers of Yellowstone, the South Pole, and the Dead Sea).
Back matter includes: 1) a single high interest example, Cats, to explain how each kingdom is divided into smaller categories, 2) how this organization is called taxonomy, 3) how different societies throughout history have sought to organize the world around us, and 4) how we’re continually discovering more about life on Earth. The “Featured Life Forms” key for each numbered illustration closes out the book.
KINGDOMS OF LIFE is terrific resource for heading up a discussion about biological evolution and diversity and learning how our biological world is organized. And at home, it’s for those kids (and adults) who love knowing cool things about animals, plants, and other life forms they may have never heard of. Great book!
Activities:
Watch the Miacadamy Learning channel video about how scientists organize our world through taxonomy.
Download and use the lesson plan about classifying animals with extensions from MensaForKids.org.
Title: Kingdoms of Life
Author/Illustrator: Carly Allen-Fletcher
Publisher: Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2024
Ages: Elementary school
Themes: biology, diversity, classification systems
For more perfect picture book recommendations, please visit Susanna Hill’s website.