Ice cream might be your favorite dessert, but do you know how it's made? This new series explains just that. Come along on the journey as common household foods travel from farm to factory to table. Learn how grapes are made into jelly and peanuts are made into peanut butter. With clear process explanations and charming illustrations, this series answers the questions of curious and hungry kids. A child wonders where ice cream comes from and learns about the jobs of a dairy farmer, a sugarcane farmer, and factory workers in an ice cream factory. (Amazon)

Mama built a little nest

inside a sturdy trunk.

She used her beak to tap-tap-tap

the perfect place to bunk.

There are so many different kinds of birds—and those birds build so many different kinds of nests to keep their babies cozy. With playful, bouncy rhyme, Jennifer Ward explores nests large and small, silky and cottony, muddy and twiggy—and all the birds that call them home! (Amazon)

Simply told, grandly shown, and now with eight additional pages of brand-new art and more in-depth information about the historic moon landing, here is the flight of Apollo 11. Here for a new generation of readers and explorers are the steady astronauts clicking themselves into gloves and helmets, strapping themselves into sideways seats. Here are their great machines in all their detail and monumentality, the ROAR of rockets, and the silence of the Moon. Here is a story of adventure and discovery—a story of leaving and returning during the summer of 1969, and a story of home, seen whole, from far away. (Amazon)

Ada Lovelace, the daughter of the famous romantic poet, Lord Byron, develops her creativity through science and math. When she meets Charles Babbage, the inventor of the first mechanical computer, Ada understands the machine better than anyone else and writes the world's first computer program in order to demonstrate its capabilities. (Amazon)

I’m Trying to Love Spiders will help you see these amazing arachnids in a whole new light, from their awesomely excessive eight eyes, to the seventy-five pounds of bugs a spider can eat in a single year! And you’re sure to feel better knowing you have a better chance of being struck by lightning than being fatally bit by a spider. Comforting, right? No? Either way, there’s heaps more information in here to help you forget your fears . . . or at least laugh a lot! (Amazon)

On the Pacific Coast of North America, sea otters play, dive, and hunt for sea urchins, crabs, abalone, and fish in the lush kelp forests beneath the waves. But there was a time when people hunted the otters almost to extinction. Without sea otters to eat them, an army of hungry sea urchins grew and destroyed entire kelp forests. Fish and other animals that depended on the kelp were lost, too. But when people protected the sea otters with new laws, their numbers began to recover, and so did the kelp forests. Susannah Buhrman-Deever offers a beautifully written account of a trophic cascade, which happens when the removal of a single element affects an entire habitat. (Amazon)

"Hi, I’m Earth! But you can call me Planet Awesome."

Prepare to learn all about Earth from the point-of-view of Earth herself! In this funny yet informative book, filled to the brim with kid-friendly facts, readers will discover key moments in Earth’s life, from her childhood more than four billion years ago all the way up to present day. Beloved children's book author Stacy McAnulty helps Earth tell her story, and award-winning illustrator David Litchfield brings the words to life. The book includes back matter with even more interesting tidbits. (Amazon)

If you could have any animal's eyes, whose would you choose?

What if you woke up one morning and your eyes weren't yours? What If You Had Animal Eyes? -- the next imaginative book in the What If You Had series -- explores what would happen if you looked in the mirror and saw a pair of animal eyes instead of your own! From the chameleon's eyes that can point in different directions, to the colossal squid's eyes that shine in the dark, discover what it would be like if you had these special eyes -- and find out why your eyes are just the right ones for you! (Amazon)

Fayerweather Island had seen blustery blizzards and rip-roaring tides, but it had never seen a pint-sized hurricane until Kate Moore claimed that tiny island as her own. Little Kate was supposed to be the lighthouse keeper’s daughter, but she thought of herself as Papa’s assistant.

The thirty-three spiraling lighthouse stairs finally took a toll on Papa’s body, and so twelve-year-old Kate stepped up. Over the years, she kept the flame lit to guide ships to safety, listened for cries for help, and, time and again, pulled men to safety—twenty-three of them in all. At the age of forty-seven, Kate received word—she had been named the official lighthouse keeper of Fayerweather Island. This girl-power picture book introduces a small heroine, who, with her can-do attitude and incredible spirit, is sure to inspire. (Amazon)

Fauja Singh was born determined. He was also born with legs that wouldn't allow him to play cricket with his friends or carry him to school miles from his village in Punjab. But that didn't stop him. Working on his family's farm, Fauja grew stronger to meet his own full potential.

He never stopped striving. At the age of 81, after a lifetime of making his body, mind, and heart stronger, Fauja decided to run his first marathon. He went on to break records all around the world and became the first person over 100 to complete the grueling long-distance race. (Amazon)

Tornadoes form when hot, humid air rises from the ground and meets with the cooler, denser air that is falling back to Earth. The two airstreams begin to swirl, pulling in more and more air to form a funnel-shaped cloud. The winds can swirl faster than 261 miles per hour!

Newly revised and vetted by weather experts from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, Tornadoes is an accessible introduction to this fascinating phenomenon. Using her praised combination of clear text and detailed illustrations, Gail Gibbons shares more than fifty tornado facts. . . . including how tornadoes form, the scale used for classifying them, and the safest places to go in case one should happen near you. (Amazon)

One sunny day in June 1912, a new super science hero was born. He hadn't figured out he was a super science hero; though everyone else around him was pretty sure about this early on. His name was Alan Turing.

As Alan grows and gains more and more knowledge, Super Evil Nemesis decides to call on his minion Ms. Enigma to confound and confuse Alan. But Alan likes puzzles and isn't easy to defeat...

Follow along as Alan uses his super curiosity to discover patterns, crack codes, and save the world! Includes a glossary, timeline, activities, and bonus facts about ciphers and codes. (Amazon)

Delve into the forests, burrow under the ground, and dive into the deep to discover nature's most peculiar creatures and learn about their behavior, diet, and habitat, as well as folk beliefs about each animal.

Hidden away in Earth’s forests, caves, and oceans, these creatures might look or behave in peculiar ways but, as you will soon find out, every oddity serves a purpose:

• the long, skeletal finger of an aye-aye, used by this lemur to tap on trees to locate hollow tunnels where delicious insects hide

• the barrel-shaped eyes of a Pacific barreleye fish that turn upward to watch for prey above through its transparent head

• the big, bulbous nose of a proboscis monkey designed to attract mates

• the armor-like scales of a pangolin that are so tough that even lions and tigers can’t bite through them

Come face-to-face with the most curious creatures from across the globe, and decide for yourself who’s the weirdest of them all.  (Amazon)

What if a tarantula and a scorpion met each other? What if they had a fight? Who do you think would win?

This nonfiction Reader compares and contrasts two ferocious small creatures. Kids learn about the tarantula and scorpion's anatomy, behavior, and more. Book is packed with photos, charts, illustrations, and amazing facts. (Amazon)