Book Features

Be a Word Detective • Charts/Graphs/Diagrams • Note to Adults • Photo Captions • Pronunciation Guide • Full-Color Photographs • Further Reading • Glossary • Index • Table of Contents • Websites

Readers will learn what rocks are made of, how rocks change over time and about the three main groups of rocks.

Readers will learn what soil is made from and how it is formed, about the different kinds of soils and how we can conserve this important natural resource.

Book Features

Be a Word Detective • Charts/Graphs/Diagrams • Note to Adults • Photo Captions • Pronunciation Guide • Full-Color Photographs • Further Reading • Glossary • Index • Table of Contents • Websites

Herds of musk oxen roam the treeless tundra of the Far North. Following closely are wolves, predators looking for a meal. The wolves are no match for the powerful adult musk oxen with their helmet-like horns. When the herd is threatened, the adults form a circle around their young to protect them.

Octopuses are predators. They use their eight arms to catch crabs and all kinds of shellfish to eat. But octopuses are prey too. To defend themselves, they distract enemies by squirting ink into the water, then quickly make their escape. They can change color and shape to blend into their background or resemble another less-tasty animal.

The North American porcupine waddles through the forests of North America. It sleeps during the day and is active at night, when it feeds on tender branches. Most animals its size have to be wary of predators, but the porcupine is well armed. Most of its body is covered by sharp, stiff quills.

Prairie dogs find safety in numbers. Hundreds of them live together in underground tunnels. When the small animals come to the surface to nibble prairie grasses, they keep a close watch for enemies, such as eagles, coyotes, or black-footed ferrets.

Predators beware! Skunks, such as the striped skunks living in the North American forests, come equipped with a foul-smelling liquid that can be sprayed up to ten feet away. Skunks forage at night in the forest looking for fruit, seeds, frogs, and mice to eat.

Zebra herds on the plains of Africa have to be alert to the many predators that follow them. Lions hunt them as they graze. Crocodiles wait beneath the river waters where they drink. Cheetahs will pick off a baby zebra that falls too far behind the herd. But zebras also have ways to protect themselves from their enemies.

This book introduces young readers to Earth’s basic structure, then focuses in on the rocky outer layer called the crust. It describes the tectonic plates of which the crust is made, how plate movement makes mountains grow and causes earthquakes, how volcanoes form, and how new crust is made under the oceans