Sip, Pick, and Pack

It's a bit humbling to admit that a children's book actually taught you something, but there it is. Lemurs pollinate? At night, no less, while the bats are working wonders on more than 300 species of fruit? Sip, Pick, and Pack, in fact, is a delightful primer on a very important and under-taught subject. Its nature lessons are eased by rhyme and beautified by thoughtful illustrations that instruct in their own right. The eye-pleasing book is of course intended for young readers, but certainly not limited to them. (If you must know, I read it three times.)

This lively poem about pollinators and their important role in our food chain, is beautifully written and full of information. The illustrations draw reader and listener alike into each page with wonder and awe at nature's diversity. This is a good book for anyone who appreciates nature, a good rhyme, and lovely artwork!

'Sip, Pick, and Pack' is one of those delightful stories that beautifully illustrates the process of pollination in such a charming way that children may not even realize they're learning a valuable biology lesson. Ms. Cheney explores more than just honey bees and butterflies; she also introduces the reader to our native insects, as well as lesser known pollinators like lemurs, bats, and geckos. The story explains in detail how they all help move pollen, resulting in seeds that grow into the food we eat. Beautifully illustrated and told in rhyme, this book belongs both in the classroom and home library.

Beautifully written and beautifully illustrated

As a pollination ecologist, it is refreshing to find a book on pollinators that goes beyond honey bees and recognizes the contribution that native bees and butterflies make to ecosystem functioning and crop pollination.The book begins with a metaphor about seeds being a suitcase, which it proceeds to unpack by exploring the relationships between pollinators and flowers that enable seed formation. It scales up from tiny grains of pollen all the way to farm fields.The glossary and fun facts sections provide a more in-depth explanation of concepts for readers wishing to learn in greater detail.Although the rhymes sometimes reach a little far, the couplets help break concepts down and facilitate the flow of the story.The beautiful illustrations depict a variety of wild pollinators, flowers, fruits and vegetables, making this book an entertaining learning tool.The text seems geared toward 6 – 9 year olds, but I explained the pictures to my 2 year old daughter, and she enjoyed identifying the different insects.In sum, “Sip, Pick, and Pack” is a comprehensive, engaging look at pollination. It connects this important process to the food we eat, and provides some concrete steps that gardeners and farmers can take to benefit pollinators. It makes an excellent addition to the library of young nature enthusiasts.

This beautifully illustrated book will open young readers' eyes to the wonders of pollinators and the hard work they do. Focusing on the act of plant pollination and all the delicious foods that brings, the author takes you on a journey through flowering, to the bees, flies, bats, and birds that pollinate plants, and then on to the foods that we can harvest because of their good work. The text rhymes throughout, making it a light-hearted way to deliver information that might otherwise seem dry, as in: "But, why do they help? Are they just in the mood? No! The reason they help is... They're looking for food." With twenty gorgeous illustrations that bring the material to life, this is highly recommended to teachers who want to teach schoolkids about the links between insects, pollination, and their food. Complete with a glossary and a fun facts section, this is an educational book that deserves to be in libraries, classrooms, and home bookshelves, and it will soon be in my local Little Free Library. There's even a link to a crossword puzzle to test what you learned!

This is a fun story with the whole package. Educational, intriguing, poetic and beautiful illustrations are brought together in a quality hard cover book. For younger children, it is an engaging read. For me, it was revisiting the wonder of a food chain vital for food on my plate. This book will hang around the house with a long life. It will be read over and over though out the families generations.

This is a fun book with captivating illustrations and catchy prose that teaches children as it entertains. It accurately describes pollination and the importance of pollinators all while using a charming rhyme scheme. The pictures are beautiful and realistic and the text is descriptive. Children will enjoy the whimsical, uplifting tone as they learn. As an entomologist who regularly engages with classrooms of children in an outreach capacity, I greatly appreciate the importance of tools like this for teaching children about the abundant species of beneficial insects in our world. I look forward to using it in the future.