I Wonder Why by Lois Rock

If I ever need a book to introduce a science unit to elementary school kids, I will turn to this book. This is a book full of curiosity. It asks about clouds - why are they pink when the sun is yellow? It asks about rivers. Do they ever get tired and want to stop flowing? This book really makes the reader turn into himself to search for the answers. It made me question myself. What are my beliefs? Because the book offers no answers. There are only questions. The reader must find the answers in and of himself.

When I was reading this book, I imagined a group of kids from one neighborhood. Exhausted from running around all day in the hot, sticky summer heat, they finally slow down, collapsing on a bed of grass still smelling that freshly-cut smell. Their arms tucked behind their heads, they at first just lay there and simply be. The kids look into the sky and muse silently about the clouds drifting lazily by overhead. Each child sees his own image - a cat, a trumpet, shady tree drawn out in fluffy white, personal to only him. Finally the internal becomes external, one child sparking the timeless conversation about cloud shapes. "Do you see that one that looks like an umbrella?" "Umbrella! That's a kangaroo!"

This book is great because every question is open to interpretation. There is no prescription of what to see, no incorrect responses. You personalize the story as you see fit, just as the clouds whisp in marshmallowy shapes that only you can see.