Are You Ready for Spring? (Lightning Bolt Books - Our Four Seasons)

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Sheila Anderson

s

Lerner Publications Company Minneapolis

n a id ia o A To ao kh i h C

Copyright

© 2010 by Lerner Publishing Group, Inc.

All rights reserved. International copyright secured. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the prior written permission of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc., except for the inclusion of brief quotations in an acknowledged review. Lerner Publications Company A division of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc. 241 First Avenue North Minneapolis, MN 55401 U.S.A. Website address: www.lernerbooks.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Anderson, Sheila. Are You Ready for Spring? / by Sheila M. Anderson. p. cm. — (Lightning bolt booksTM – Our four seasons) Includes index. ISBN 978–0–7613–4584–8 (lib. bdg. : alk. paper)  1. Spring—Juvenile literature. I. Title. QB637.5.A53 2010 508.2—dc22 2009016409 Manufactured in the United States of America 1 – BP – 12/15/09

eISBN 978-0-7613-5965-4

Contents Sights and Sounds of Spring Spring Weather

page

7

Springing to Life The Spring World

page

11

page

Summer Is Coming

18

page

24

How Do Chicks Hatch? page

28

Glossary Further Reading page

30

page

31

Index page

32

page

4

Sights and Sounds of Spring Sploosh! Sploosh! Do you hear that? It is the sound of rubber boots splashing in deep, muddy puddles!

4

It is spring. The snow has melted, leaving splooshy, squishy mud in its place.

Two boys play in mud puddles.

5

Listen! You can hear birds’ wings flapping as they fly to and fro. They work in pairs to build their nests.

6

A bird lines its nest with soft fluff.

Spring Weather Heavy, gray clouds move in. It looks as if it might rain.

Don’t forget to bring your umbrella!

7

Raindrops the size of pennies begin to fall. Plop, plop, plop.

8

Rain taps against the windows in a springtime shower.

Rain makes a patter, patter, patter sound on rooftops, sidewalks, and umbrellas.

9

Thunder rumbles in the distance.

n i s e h s a l s f g g n i a n t z h g i g L i z t h g i r b across the sky

10

Springing to Life Flowers and trees need spring rains to grow. Tiny shoots emerge from the dark, moist earth. New leaves poke out of a melting snowbank.

11

Th

Kn

ot

t

y

12

n o t r e es m r o f . s d e delicate bu m o c e ,

li l b aves . e l w n e e y r g e ht ig r b

Spring brings lots of activity. Birds lay eggs. Soon we will hear the peep, peep, peep of newly hatched chicks.

Hungry baby birds call out to their parents.

13

Adult birds hunt worms to feed their hungry, fuzzy babies.

14

In springtime, mother deer give birth to fawns. These

babies' coats are sprinkled with white dots.

The white dots on a fawn’s coat help it hide in the grass.

15

Bears begin to emerge from their cozy winter dens. They are

hungry after long months of hibernation.

16

A gri ly bear comes out of its den. The bear slept in the den all winter.

Ever yone feels energized by the change in the weather. 17

The Spring World

As the weather gets warmer, families play together outdoors.

18

This family is taking a hike.

gh u o r th

h s o w h o s e t i k l u f r o Col g n o l k e s i d a h w ky , s the . s e z e e r b k s i r b on

19

People dig in the earth to plant seeds in flower beds and gardens. Soon plants

will grow from the seeds. 20

Flowers begin to bloom, coloring the world with bright pinks, yellows, and reds.

Flowers poke through last year’s dead leaves.

21

Insects flit here and there. Bees buzz from flower to flower.

22

t

An

i

to s h ed n i g e b s l a o t s. c a r e t m wi n r i This bison is shedding e h its heavy winter coat.

23

Summer Is Coming The temperature gets warmer and warmer. It is time to pack away our bulky winter clothes!

24

Days get longer and longer.

Long days mean more time to play!

25

Puddles and mud begin to dry up. Days are bright and warm.

26

Summer is on its way.

What will you do in the summer?

27

How Do Chicks Hatch? Many baby animals are born in the spring. One of them is the baby chicken, or chick. Mother chickens lay eggs when they are ready to have chicks. One tiny chick is inside each egg. The mother chicken sits on the eggs after she lays them. Soon the chicks are ready to hatch. A chick picks at its eggshell when it’s ready to hatch. This is called pipping . A chick has a tiny “horn” on the top of its beak. The horn is called an egg tooth. The chick uses its egg tooth to break out of its egg.

28

It’s a lot of work for a chick to break out of its egg! The chick is wet and tired when it first breaks free. It may lie still and rest for a few hours. Soon its downy feathers have dried. The chick is ready to explore its surroundings. A chick’s egg tooth falls off within a day after the chick hatches. The chick starts growing feathers just a few weeks later. She’ll look more like a chicken than a chick in no time!

A chick watches another chick hatch.

29

Glossary breeze: a mild wind bud: a leaf or flower that has not yet opened emerge: to come out energize: to become active and full of energy fawn: a baby deer hatch: to break out from inside an egg hibernation: the practice of spending winter in a sleeplike state

moist: wet shed: to lose fur

30

Further Reading Baxter, Nicola. Spring. Mankato, MN: Sea-to-Sea Publications, 2009. Enchanted Learning: Earth’s Seasons http://www.enchantedlearning.com/ subjects/astronomy/planets/earth/ seasons.shtml Glaser, Linda. It’s Spring! Minneapolis: Millbrook Press, 2002. Pfeffer, Wendy. A New Beginning: Celebrating the Spring Equinox. New York: Dutton Children's Books, 2008. Ray, Mary Lyn. Mud. San Diego: Harcourt, 2001. Schnur, Steven. Spring Thaw. New York: Viking, 2000. Watch a Chick Hatch http://www.msichicago.org/online-science/videos/ video-detail/activities/the-hatchery

31

Index activities, 18–20 animals, 6, 13–16, 23, 28–29

lightning, 10

buds, 12

nests, 6

clouds, 7

puddles, 4, 26

flowers, 11, 21

rain, 7–9

gardens, 20

temperature, 24 thunder, 10

mud, 4–5, 26

insects, 22 umbrellas, 7, 9

Photo Acknowledgments The images in this book are used with the permission of: © Gerry Lemmo, pp. 1, 6, 10, 11, 15, 21, 27; © Almir1968/Dreamstime.com, p. 2; © Mike Ford/SuperStock, p. 4; © age fotostock/SuperStock, pp. 5, 9, 20, 23, 29; © Steve Satushek/Photographer’s Choice/Getty Images, p. 7; © Stockbyte/Getty Images, p. 8; © Photononstop/SuperStock, pp. 12, 13; © Flirt/SuperStock, p. 14; © Shane Moore/Animals Animals, p. 16; © Westend61/SuperStock, p. 17; © Kwame Zikomo/SuperStock, p. 18; © Pacific Stock/SuperStock, p. 19; © Karlene Schwartz, p. 22; © Hemis.fr/SuperStock, p. 24; © Ed Simpson/Photographer’s Choice/Getty Images, p. 25; © Prisma/SuperStock, p. 26; © Le Do/Dreamstime.com, p. 30; © Erkki Makkonen/Dreamstime. com, p. 31 (both). Front cover: © Darrell Gulin/Photographer’s Choice/Getty Images (top); © Chris Stein/Stone/ Getty Images (bottom)

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The days are getting warmer. And they’re getting longer. Baby birds are hatching. The grass is turning green. Do you know what season is here? It’s spring! What else happens in spring? Read this book to find out!

TM

Learn all about the different seasons in the Our Four Seasons series—part of the Lightning Bolt BooksTM collection. With high-energy designs, exciting photos, and fun text, Lightning Bolt BooksTM bring nonfiction topics to life!

Our Four Seasons Are Are Are Are

You You You You

Ready Ready Ready Ready

for for for for

Fall? Spring? Summer? Winter?