INTRODUCING BIRDS Pamela M. Hickman Illustrated by Judie Shore Markham (Ont.), Pembroke Publishers, 1992. 96pp, paper, $12.95 ISBN 0-921217-93-5. (Hands on Nature series). CIP INTRODUCING FLOWERS, FERNS, FUNGI & MORE Pamela M. Hickman Illustrated by Judie Shore Markham (Ont.), Pembroke Publishers, 1992. 96pp, paper, $12.95 ISBN 0-921217-94-3. (Hands on Nature series). CIP INTRODUCING INSECTS Pamela M. Hickman Illustrated by Judie Shore Markham (Ont.), Pembroke Publishers, 1992. 96pp, paper, $12.95 ISBN 0-921217-92-7. (Hands on Nature series). CIP INTRODUCING TREES Pamela M. Hickman Illustrated by Judie Shore Markham (Ont.), Pembroke Publishers, 1992. 96pp, paper, $12.95 ISBN 0-921217-91-9. (Hands on Nature series). CIP Grades 4 to 6/Ages 9 to 11 Reviewed by Peter Croskery. Volume 21 Number 4 1993 September These four books are all part of the Federation of Ontario Naturalists' new "Hands on Nature" series. They are designed for teachers working with students in the Junior grades. And, for the most part, they are well done. Because all four are part of the same series, it would be expected that there would be some similarity of content. And there is. Each chapter has an introductory backgrounder to give you the information needed for the concept of the chapter. The bulk of the chapters consists of a set of lessons (Trees, 27 lessons; Flowers, 26; Insects, 25; Birds, 21), each based on several activities. Particular background is given at the beginning of each lesson. Although the format is similar for each of the books, it is refreshing to see that the activities aren't. This means that an imagina­tive teacher can take a "procedure" from any one book and modify it to fit any other theme. For example, "Bird Bingo" (Lesson 2, Introducing Birds) is an approach used to show the variations that exist within birds. None of the other books has a similar bingo game approach, but it could be used for any other theme. In some cases, activities have an accompa­nying student activity sheet that can be reproduced and given to the students. (These are a real time-saver, as all teachers appreci­ate.) Produced as line pen-and-ink drawings, they were designed for photocopying. Each book is approximately 100 pages long with the page breakdown being similar for each book: 50 pages of activities, 40 pages of Student Activity Sheets, and 10 pages of Fact Sheets. And each book comes with a large, colourful poster designed for class­room display, perhaps the focal point of an activity centre. As excellent as these publications are, there are a few things I felt were missing. First, there is no glossary. Any time a natural history theme is taught, an important part of that "teaching" should be the vocabulary of that topic. A glossary reinforces vocabulary for students but more importantly empha­sizes, for the teacher, the importance of the precise language of that topic (theme). Secondly, lists of additional and/or support material are noticeably absent. It seems to me that without a ready list of recommended support material, teachers wishing to go "one step beyond" are left on their own. The books do contain a few technical errors but these are minor (i.e., the metric and non-metric measures for the largest Eagle's nest don't match; the Common Loon fact sheet is in error regarding the nesting behaviour, since loons seldom use muskrat houses). I highly recommend these books. Peter Croskery is a biologist, freelance writer and instructor specializing in environmental issues in Grimsby, Ontario.