Fruit

by Rachel Matthews

The Little Hands series encourages readers to explore the natural world up-close and personal. Colorful photography and clear text combine to consider the often-overlooked wonders of leaves, flowers, sand, and other everyday elements of nature. Each spread features questions for discussion and exploration, and clearly outlined activities urge readers to get their little hands messy!

24 pages, Library Binding

First published August 1, 2005

About the author

Rachel Matthews is a Melbourne author and educator. She recently completed her second novel, Siren, as a PhD in creative writing at Victoria University. Her first novel, Vinyl Inside, was commended in the 2003 Australian Vogel Award and received strong reviews in the press.

Matthews has over 15 years experience as a tutor and lecturer in professional writing within a diverse range of learning environments. These include RMIT's Professional Writing and Editing programs and short courses, the VCE English department at the Distance Education Centre Victoria and writing programs at the Centre for Adult Education (CAE) in Melbourne.

She is also an experienced presenter with the Victorian Association for Teachers of English.

Reviews

[Amy Erwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary - 'Fruit' is a book about its title. It discusses the different smells, textures, and taste of fruits. It talks about seeds and how animals eat fruit, too. The most interesting fact from the book is how there are fish that eat fruit.



Review - This book is very educational for younger children. The last few pages of the book contain "notes fro teachers and parents." This includes an activity or experience for every few pages. An example is from pages 4-7. The activity is to buy fruits and label its country of origin.


Classroom -
1) Fruits (make juices, food)
2) Vegetation
3) Fruits have to grow on plants - Seeds
4) Use fruits as a guide to discuss 5 senses

[Adeline Forkner · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is all about fruited and what they are. This book covers how some fruits feel and taste. Along with how some fruits look as well. It also go overs different seeds in fruits and what animals eat fruits, including a fish! The last thing it covers is that fruits can be dried and cooked with too.

I really liked this book because I thought they did a good job at covering the topic of fruits. I thought it was very informative and would be very helpful to children to read and learn more about fruits.

I could use this in my class when I’m covering a unit of foods to help them learn more about fruits and what they are.

[Ta'Mya Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book that would be good to use with a demonstration. I would use this book as a guide and allow the students to experiment with different fruits in order to gain more of an understanding. I liked how the book has many different examples of what fruits were apart of the family. The reall life illustrations were helpful.

[Izzy Templeman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This delightful and fun book teaches children all about fruit! From types of seeds to how they taste, Matthews covers the full spectrum of fruit in a fun and easy way that young children will understand. It's bright pictures really bring your eyes to the pages, so it won't be hard to keep a child's attention.

I thought this book was absolutely adorable and so precious. It truly would be an excellent way to teach kids about fruit and all the different kinds that there are. I especially loved that it talked about animals eating fruits as well.

In a classroom, this book could easily be used to teach kindergartners and first graders about fruit. Especially if they are learning about healthy eating.

[Ruhama · Rating 5 out of 5]

Note: this review includes the book Flowers as well.

These short nonfiction books focus on a different part of nature, featuring a ‘host’ through the whole book. For Fruit, a little blonde named Mollie helps us understand different types of fruit, and for Flowers, Mary shows us the different aspects and uses of flowers. The text is simple (with a nifty font) and photos are bright and colorful. At the end of each book is a note for teachers and parents, with extra activities and discussion linked to certain parts of the book.

Other books in the series: Leaves (Jack is the host), Sand (Blaise), Water (Nikhita) and Seeds (Jack).