If You Love Honey: Nature's Connections by Martha Sullivan / Illustrated by Cathy Morrison

Plot Summary 

The book provides a detailed overview of the complex ecosystem surrounding the production of honey linking bees to dandelions, ladybugs, goldenrod, butterflies, clover, soil, earthworms, mushrooms, oak trees, blue jays, and black berries.

Critical Evaluation

The art is detailed and realistic, which given the book's status as nonfiction is useful: we get a real sense of what the subjects of the book look like.
Sullivan shows how deeply interconnected seemingly heterogeneous elements of nature truly are.
The book feels as though it has a main text (in a larger and bolder typeface) that is sparse enough to make the book a candidate for a read aloud, and secondary informational text that explains the connections between item. The book loses a lot if the secondary text is excluded. But with the secondary text, teh book may feel a tad long for storytime. Takeaway: experiment.

Genre

Picture Book: nonfiction

Information About the Author

http://www.dawnpub.com/our-authorsillustrators/martha-sullivan/

Story Time Ideas

Honey & berry tasting; nature viewing

Early Literacy

Vocabulary 

-- specific names of animals and plants; scientific and technical language: nectar, pollination, sprout, chrysalis, etc.

Phonological Awareness 

-- repeated phrase "if you love" provides a potential speak aloud for story time goes; providing phonological pronunciation.

Print Conventions 

-- nothing in particular leaps out, but could underline words with a finger as reading.

Print Awareness 

-- the repeated phrases could be used to draw awareness to the spelling of the words. The "story book-ish," "primary" text is bolder than the informational text.

Background knowledge 

-- scads of information about the ecosystem surrounding honey

Letter Knowledge 

-- alliteration could inspire talking about words that start with the same sounds.

Reader's Advisory

Nature, Bees, Science, informational texts

Program/Craft Ideas

Taste honey & berries; go on a nature walk

Reading Level/Interest Age

Preschool, First Grade, Second Grade?

Read Alike / Pair With

Title(s) TK