Pandas' Earthquake Escape (Arbordale Collection) Paperback – Picture Book, March 7, 2010

This is a great book to use when you are explaining disasters to children. The pictures and story are wonderful.

Natural disasters and concerns are all around us. Often times we shelter our children from some of life's difficulties, but there are certainly times when it is most appropriate to educate our children instead of ignoring their concerns or educating them before it is a concern. Panda's Earthquake Escape offer insight as to animals' reactions to earthquakes. If you live in a region where earthquakes are the norm, it's most critical to teach your child how to prepare and react. This book will help parents and educators comfort children and teach them how animals react to earthquakes.Panda's Earthquake Escape is a fictional story based on real-life events. A mother panda, LiLing, and her one year old cub, Tengfei survive an earthquake and its aftershocks, but in fear they ran. LiLing's instinct is to protect the cub, but they get lost. They eat strange food, but come through just fine and are returned to their reserve. This book would fit perfectly into a unit study of endangered animals as well as teaching children about animals when they are learning about emergency drills.Sylvan Dell also provides 3-6 pages in the back of each book For Creative Minds which talks more about earthquakes and gives additional information.With each title Sylvan Dell also provides 40-60 pages of Teaching Activities! These activities are incredible! They allow a teacher to customize a unit study to meet their students' interests. The Teaching Activities go beyond math, science, and literature. Just click Teaching Activities and choose a title to see for yourself the plethora of activities there are. The table of contents gives an overview and makes it easy to find what you want. With so many choices, the teacher can choose what is right for the age group they are teaching. (I love that!! Unit studies really benefited my students, and I think it's very enjoyable to teach and learn from a unit study.)3 Interactive Quizzes per title. A Reading Quiz evaluates reading comprehension from the book itself. The For Creative Minds (FCM) Quiz is based on the 3-6 pages from the back of the book. The third, th Math Quiz uses information and context appropriate to the book and creates word problems for the student to solve.I can honestly say that I wish I had had access to Sylvan Dell books when I was teaching. (And am thankful for the opportunity to review them now and use them with our family, even if we are not homeschooling.) You may be thinking the same thing. If you are, consider the School and Library Resource Grant. This grant is available to public and private schools, libraries, and homeschool associations.Thank you Sylvan Dell Publishing for providing these books for review purposes.

Pandas are perennial favorites for kids at the zoo. And earthquakes seem to be increasingly mentioned in the news. So, if you were a panda, what would you do during an earthquake? Liling and and her one-year-old cub Tengfei are two giant pandas which live in a Chinese nature preserve. One day they are awakened with a start when the tree in which they are napping begins to sway. It is an earthquake. The wall around the nature preserve has come crashing down, and they are so frightened that they escape into the forest. But where will they go? What will they eat? And will they ever be able to find their way home? This book is a fictional story based on a real-life event when a giant panda escaped from the destroyed Wolong Panda Preserve following the 7.9 Sichuan earthquake of 2008 in northern China. Author Phyllis J. Perry's text teaches children about earthquakes and giant pandas, explaining animal survival and a mother's instinct to protect its offspring. And Susan Detwiler's colorful illustrations will help young readers follow the action. In the back is the "For Creative Minds" education section, with further information about giant pandas and earthquakes, including a world map showing the fault lines where major earthquakes occur. There are also "Related Websites," "Interactive Math, Reading, and Comprehension Quizzes," and "Teaching Activities" on Sylvan Dell's website. Pandas' Earthquake Escape is a wonderful resource for learning more about two important aspects of natural history.

I agree with all the positive things mentioned in other reviews. However, I cannot recommend this book. When we study earthquakes in our kids' science class, we do an earthquake drill that teaches all the best current recommendations on what to do: Drop, Cover, and Hold. We can't then in that same class read this book, which shows that when the earthquake happens, the mother bear and her cub run away to find safety. Running in an earthquake is dangerous, and we don't want the children to think that's the best answer for them because it worked for the pandas.

excellent book, definitely buy again