Roberta Baxter

Did you know that archeologists found statues and carvings of an instrument like the guitar in Iran that date back 3,500-4,000 years? People around the world love to play and listen to the guitar. This title is richly illustrated with large photographs, maps, and a STEM activity that provides simple instructions to help children make their own instrument. Guitars is a reading journey that inspires and stimulates learning exploration.

Did you know that archaeologists found an elephant skin drum more than 30,000 years old in ice in Antarctica? This makes the drum one of the oldest musical instruments used by humans. This title is richly illustrated with large photographs, maps, and a STEM activity that provides simple instructions to help children make their own instrument. Drums is a reading journey that inspires and stimulates learning exploration.

Did you know that archaeologists discovered a flute more than 40,000 years old in a cave in Germany? That makes the flute one of the oldest instruments in the world. Flutes are still played and enjoyed. Its high, clear notes soar. This title is richly illustrated with large photographs, maps, and a STEM activity that provides simple instructions to help children make their own instruments. Flutes is a reading journey that inspires and stimulates learning...

Mosquitoes bite. Their bites make us itchy. They make an annoying whining sound. Most people hate them. But mosquitoes are also pollinators. Pollinators help plants to grow. Orchids and goldenrods need pollination by mosquitoes to survive. Like butterflies, the elephant mosquito carries pollen from flower to flower. Native Pollinators: Mosquitoes is a good place to start learning about the role of mosquitoes in the life cycle of plants.

Hummingbirds are amazing! They can hover, fly up and down, and they are the only bird to fly backwards. Their wings flap 50 to 60 times each second creating the humming noise for which they are named. Hummingbirds are native to the Americas. They pollinate honeysuckle, the morning glory, blueberry flowers, and an array of other trumpet-shaped native plants. Native Pollinators: Hummingbirds is a good place to start learning about these energetic pollinators....

Butterflies are the rock stars of the insect world. They are beautiful. They glide through the air, looking elegant and regal. Photographers like to snap pictures of them. The press gives special coverage to the famous Monarch butterfly. Butterflies are adored by all. These flying insects play an important role in the life cycle of plants. They are pollinators, and many are native to America. Butterflies help plants to grow many of the flowers you...

When people think of bees, they often think of the honeybee. Honeybees are important. They deserve a lot of buzz. But they are not native to America. Colonists brought the honeybee to Virginia in 1622. America's only native bee is the bumblebee, and there are 46 different kinds of bumblebee. Our bumblebees pollinate flowers on apple, plum, pear, almond, peach, and many more plants. They work twice as fast as honeybees, and they work for free to give...

The first car with a gas engine had only three wheels. What were early cars like and who made them? Find out about the first electric car, the first car race, Henry Fords Model T, and more.

This book relays the factual details of the Great Depression in the United States during the 1930s. The narrative provides multiple accounts of the event, and readers learn details through the point of view of a government worker, a Civilian Conservation Corps worker, and a young daughter of an unemployed banker. The text offers opportunities to compare and contrast various perspectives in the text while gathering and analyzing information about a...

Give readers an inside look at the dangerous job of bomb squad technicians. Additional features include a table of contents, a Fast Facts spread, critical-thinking questions, a phonetic glossary, an index, a selected bibliography, an introduction to the author, and sources for further research. What goes through the mind of a bomb squad technician when she's handling explosives? How do SWAT team members do their job with such skill and precision?...