Munchkin Mondays (or, What My Kids are Reading)

Publisher's Blurb:  In a field of lacy leaves, a small caterpillar hatches, grows, and sheds its skin, becoming a smooth, green creeper. It eats and changes some more, then in a sequence of remarkable close-ups, spins a sliken sling in which to pupate--until it finally bursts forth as a brilliant black swallowtail butterfly. Includes suggestions on how children can grow butterfiles in their own gardens. Full color.

Describes what it feels like to change from a caterpillar into a butterfly. Includes gardening tips to attract butterflies.

Mommy:  So what was this book about?
Sami:  It was about bunnies, flowers, birds, and a caterpillar.  The bird wanted to eat the caterpillar.
Mommy:  What happened to the caterpillar?
Sami:  I don't want to talk about it.  It just grew new skin.  I liked the pictures and I liked the flowers.  And the bunnies.
Mommy:  What do you want people to know about this book?
Sami:  I liked the birdies.  And the really, really, really tiny flowers were pretty.

I would like to add that the illustrations by Lynne Cherry were lush and gorgeous.  Every page was beautifully and densely filled with animals, insects, plants and flowers.

And my son is reading:



Mom:  So what's this book about?
Sean:  Volcanoes erupting, and when they're going to explode.  It's about real people seeing a volcano being born.
Mom:  That sounds cool.  So how is a volcano born?
Sean:  They form when plates cross and the volcano rises above the sea, and the dome is being formed.  The plates are pieces of the crust and when they collide - dum dum dum (dramatic sounds) - VOLCANO!
Mom:  Wow, you learned something new.  What surprised you the most about volcanoes?
Sean:  They can form anywhere, even outside of the Ring of Fire.  The Appalachian mountains are a volcano but they've been dead for years.
Mom:  What is the Ring of Fire - other than a great Johnny Cash song, haha.
Sean:  It's where the biggest population of volcanoes being born are, somewhere in Italy.
Mom:  Are you sure about Italy?
Sean:  I think.  Well, a volcano in Italy was erupting every 30 minutes.  I have no idea when.  Some fishermen called it the Fire Lighthouse because it lit up like a lighthouse.  But surprisingly when they got 50 meters close to it, no one got hurt, which I don't get.
Mom:  What don't you get?
Sean:  If a volcano is erupting every 30 minutes, with fishermen 50 meters from it, I don't get WHY they didn't get hurt.  I heard that some volcanoes can shoot a volcano bomb 100 meters.
Mom:  Maybe this Italian volcano was a tiny one. 
Sean:  True, that may be possible.  This is something in the book that I think you'll like:  "Making a volcano of your own".  (Sean described the materials needed to make a volcano - he's pretty excited about this one because it's not the usual baking soda and vinegar.)
Mom:  We can make that volcano activity tomorrow, okay?
Sean:  I want to do more!
Mom:  Like what?
Sean:  I want to tell you that when (and here we're quoting) "an underwater volcano explodes, it throws out lava which cools and hardens.  A cone shaped mountain forms around the vent.  The volcano grows with each eruption until its tip is just below sea level.  Gas and lava from the next eruption rise above the waves and the tip of the volcano breaks the surface.  The tip of the volcano now lies above the sea level.  A volcanic island has been born."
Mom:  That's really interesting. Do you want to be a vulcanologist when you grow up?
Sean:  No, I want to be a geologist to study the rocks and study volcanic bombs and learn how old they are and figure out how they formed and what type of rock it is.
Mom:  Thank you!