Daisylocks

Daisylocks needs a home that is just right. She asks Wind to help her find the perfect habitat to spread her roots, and he accepts the challenge. Wind blows Daisylocks to the plain, the mountain and the wetland. She objects to each place one by one—too cold, too hard, too wet. Daisylocks is not ready to give up! They try the humid rainforest and then the warm beach; those are not just right either. Will Wind find the perfect climate and soil for Daisylocks to place her roots and grow into a beautiful flower?

This fictional story includes a 4-page For Creative Minds section in the back of the book and a 21-page cross-curricular Teaching Activity Guide online. Daisylocks is vetted by experts and designed to encourage parental engagement. Its extensive back matter helps teachers with time-saving lesson ideas, provides extensions for science, math, and social studies units, and uses inquiry-based learning to help build critical thinking skills in young readers. The Spanish translation supports ELL and dual-language programs. The interactive ebook reads aloud in both English and Spanish with word highlighting and audio speed control to promote oral language skills, fluency, pronunciation, text engagement, and reading comprehension.

Written by Marianne Berkes, Illustrated by Cathy Morrison
32 pg, 10 x 8.5, Ages 4-8, Grades PK-3, Lexile: 640, F&P: O

Reviews:

Though it's too bad Daisylocks' botanical name (Bellis perennis) is never used, it's nevertheless an inventive introduction to habitats. - Kirkus Reviews

With each stop, readers see full-page illustrations of the habitat. This is a simple story and while the illustrations are beautiful and the book could be used to introduce different habitats, Daisylocks' attitude is not particularly likeable. - Library Media Connection

Daisylocks the daisy seed desires a better place to grow, so the wind whisks her around the world. However, each new habitat provides challenges: the polar habitat is too cold, the tropical rainforest too crowded. It's no surprise that her original home is "just right!" - Horn Book Guide

Author/Illustrator Info:

Award-winning author Marianne Berkes is a retired teacher and librarian who uses her love of nature and teaching to create informational picture books. In addition to The Tree That Bear Climbed, Animalogy, Anybody Home? and now Daisylocks for Arbordale, some of Marianne's other 17 (and counting) award-winning titles include Going Around the Sun, Some Planetary Fun; Seashells by the Seashore; Going Home, The Mystery of Animal Migration; Over in the Ocean, in a Coral Reef; Over in the Jungle, a Rainforest Rhyme and most recently Over in a River, What's in the Garden?, and The Swamp Where Gator Hides. Marianne has been actively involved in the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators for over twenty years and often suggests when she speaks at conferences that aspiring writers and illustrators join SCBWI. Visit her website at /www.MarianneBerkes.com.

Cathy Morrison may have started her art career in animation, but she soon fell in love with illustrating children's books and has been doing so for 20 years. She's illustrated If a Mummy Could Talk..., Dino Tracks, Dino Treasures, Nature Recycles–How About You?, Daisylocks, This Land is Your Land, Tortoise and Hare's Amazing Race, Three Little Beavers, and Animalogy: Animal Analogies for Arbordale. She is a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. Cathy works from home in a studio loft overlooking a beautiful view of the Mummy Range, on the northern side of Rocky Mountain National Park. Check out her blog at www.cathymorrison.blogspot.com.