Going Deep! Smithsonian Readers World of Wonder Level 3

"Sharks have been around for approximately four hundred million years before dinosaurs roamed the earth.

The largest shark that ever lived was the Megladon. This prehistoric predator may have reached sixty feet in length. Fossilized Megalodon teeth measure up to seven inches high have been found."

The third volume in the series, Smithsonian Readers: World of Wonder Level 3 (Smithsonian/Silver Dolphin, 2015) takes elementary readers deep into the ocean to learn about sharks, deep into the rain forest's shady glades, deep into the eye of a hurricane, deep into the tombs of the Pharaohs, and deep into solar system space to learn all about the planets and their moons. The section on the United States concentrates primarily on famous monuments, national parks, and natural wonders such as the Grand Canyon and Niagara Falls.

Written by author Brenda Scott-Royce, et al, the six subject sections--Sharks, Wild Weather, The United States, The Planets, Rain Forest Animals, and Ancient Egypt, take young independent readers into many diverse areas of intrinsic interest to kids in third and fourth grades, while giving them practice in reading for content with text using a variety of sentence structures, phonics, and wide-ranging terminology. As in the other books in this series, technical terms are printed in boldface and defined in the text, and are also listed in a full glossary at the end of each section. New words and concepts are well supported by multiple colored photos on each page. Self-checking quizzes at the end of each section reinforcement for the information introduced in each section, and punch-out cards provide many opportunities for students to quiz each other on content.

Recommended as supplementary reading for classroom libraries, home-schooling texts, and individual or small-group research, this third volume in the new Smithsonian Readers series offers "engaged" middle graders a change to go deeper into learning about their world, gaining the sort of knowledge that everyone should know.

Auxiliary materials are available in multifaceted activity kits for additional learning by self-directing eager learners.

What's YOUR Cartouche? Hieroglyphics by Sean Callery

PREPARE YOURSELF.

YOU ARE GOING TO HELP ME SOLVE A MYSTERY THAT IS THOUSANDS OF YEARS OLD--AND DISCOVER A NEW ONE.

With our mentor Dr. Cameron Stone, esteemed Egyptologist, we are off on a quest to solve the mystery of the missing golden cat, learning to decipher hieroglyphics which within their code carry the clues to to the secret chamber where the much-sought prize will be found.

In an Indiana Jones-style frame story, Sean Callery's CodeQuest: Hieroglyphs: Solve the Mystery from Ancient Egypt (Kingfisher, 2010) takes us into a dark and mysterious Egyptian museum, where we are met by an equally mysterious green-eyed girl, her face covered by a green scarf, who is our guide.

As we race after the elusive Nefret, she takes us through chamber after chamber where the mystery of hieroglyphics is revealed. Glowing illustrations, photographs and digital art show off the beauty and secrets of this ancient writing. The many fold-outs, sidebars, notes to translate, and a succession of clues which use what is taught along the way will keep the reader moving through the book while deciphering the messages she leaves behind and get them writing and reading hieroglyphs as they go. An accompanying CD gives the reader the option of using the included hieroglyphic fonts to construct their own names (cartouches) and write their own messages like the ancient Egyptians did.

For kids who are fascinated by codes and ciphers, there is plenty here to reward the reader who persists through the quest. Another fun book in the CodeQuest series include Inca Gold: Solve the Mystery of the Golden Corn (Codequest).