When the weather changes daily, how do we really know that Earth's climate is changing? Here is the science behind the headlines - evidence from flowers, butterflies, birds, frogs, trees, glaciers and much more, gathered by scientists from all over the world, sometimes with assistance from young "citizen-scientists." And here is what young people, and their families and teachers, can do to learn about climate change and take action. Climate change is a critical and timely topic of deep concern, here told in an age-appropriate manner, with clarity and hope. Kids can make a difference!

This award-winning book combines the talents of two uniquely qualified authors: Lynne Cherry, the leading children's environmental writer/illustrator and author of The Great Kapok Tree, and Gary Braasch, award-winning photojournalist and author of Earth Under Fire: How Global Warming is Changing the World.

Ages 10 to 14 - 66 pages - color photographs - 11" x 9"

Reach and Teach says:

"What we really like about this book is that it shows concrete ways in which kids around the world are able to participate in climate change research by collecting data in their own communities and contributing the data to world-wide project databases. Some projects have been going on for decades. Other projects have been made possible by the world-wide web. It is also an excellent introduction to scientific methodology and process in simple and approachable language." -- Derrick Kikuchi, Reach and Teach

Awards:

• 2009 AAAS/Subaru/SB&Fs & Film Prize for Best Middle School Science Book
• 2009 Green Earth Honor Book Award
• 2009 Mom's Choice Award - Green Earth Category

Reviews:

This clear, detailed explanation demonstrates that we know about climate change through research by scientists and students at home and in the field - patient observation and investigations that lead to information about Earth's climate history. Environmentalist Cherry collaborates with photojournalist Braasch to distill the information in the latter's adult Earth under Fire (2007), adding examples of young people whose participation in citizen science projects through their schools supports the ongoing work of documenting these changes. The topically organized text is informative and accessible, explicit in its message, positive in tone and particularly useful in its broad array of examples and suggestions for student involvement in both inquiry and solutions. Numerous small photographs show children and adults around the world, a wide range of affected wildlife and effects of climate change on the landscape. A lengthy "Resources" section includes both books and a variety of information and action sources with Internet addresses. The scientists whose work is described are listed in a separate index, identified by position. A must for school libraries, and science teachers may want copies of their own. (index) (Nonfiction. 10-14)

Kirkus Reviews (March 1, 2008)

Meant to be like a youth version of Braasch's Earth Under Fire: How Global Warming Is Changing the World, this beautifully photographed global guide offers a look at how research in diverse fields leads to an understanding of the warming climate - and what children and adults are doing about it. The first and largest of the book's four sections, "Where We Find Clues About Climate Change," presents researchers, citizen scientists and schoolchildren examining the natural world and unearthing data about climate. Spreads jump from topic to topic, from rainforests to tree rings, oceanic mud samples to 800,000-year-old ice cores. The empowering "What Scientists and You Can Do" section provides practical, proactive suggestions, e.g., eating less meat, drinking tap instead of bottled water. While heavy on the jargon, Cherry (The Great Kapok Tree) immediately and clearly defines all science terms. The book would be overwhelming to read in one sitting; kids and educators will find this timely information is best served up via its bite-sized chapters. Readers young and old looking to make a difference will appreciate the book's hopeful tone as well as its comprehensive resource lists. Ages 10-14.

Publisher's Weekly (March 10, 2008)

When middle school students at a school in Vermont noticed that breathing the air made them feel ill, they also realized the buses sat outside with idling motors mornings and afternoons. Upon discovering the fumes contained twelve different pollutants, they petitioned the school board for a "no-idling" policy. In February 2007, it became a state law. That's the kind of environmental awareness promoted in this very timely book. By using science, 4th through 9th graders are introduced to the world around them.

An award-winning childrens author and illustrator of more than thirty books, Cherry wrote the classic The Great Kapok Tree: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest eighteen years ago. Nature is a theme prevalent in later books as well, including Flutes Journey: The Life of a Wood Thrush and How the Groundhogs Garden Grew. Braasch, a photojournalist for over thirty years, takes the photos illustrating his nature articles for such magazines as National Geographic, Audubon, and Scientific America. His photos told the story in his recently published book for adults, Earth Under Fire: How Global Warming is Changing the World.

Cherry and Braasch have combined their talents to show a younger demographic how to "read" the science at their fingertips. In two page segments, they examine how the changing elements may be affecting birds, flowers, butterflies, the ocean's "conveyor belt" (the Gulf Stream), and the coastlines.

In kid-friendly language, the authors incorporate the work of nearly forty-five scientists into easily-understood reads, ranging from Dr. Camille Parmesan's information on the Ediths checkerspot butterfly, to Dr. Lloyd Keigwin, who studies ancient ocean mud cores. The authors also make it a point to showcase students, termed citizen scientists," who assist in various national conservation programs within their schools. Readers are assisted with unfamiliar words. Nearly sixty-five terms are italicized, with their meaning immediately and comfortably defined. For example, in the section entitled "Penguins and Polar Bears in a Changing World of Ice," a major food source is mentioned: "krill, a small shrimp-like creature that swims in huge schools." Braasch took more than half of the photographs that accompany the text, and there are at least two photos per two-page section. The last four pages list numerous resources, including websites and books. A teacher's guide is also available.

The authors seem to lead by example since the book itself is "a product of sustainable forestry practices." They also stand by an old saying: "We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children."

ForeWord Magazine - Robin Farrell Edmunds (March 2008)

More and more information is being shared with us about global warming and climate change. With all of the television, internet, and newspaper articles popping up on these topics, what can we believe? Is there any evidence of this change over time taking place in your neighborhood?

This book introduces the methods through which the scientific community has documented climate change and the responsibilities of citizen scientists as we move to remediate the problem. As you read this timely book, How We Know What We Know About Our Changing Climate: Scientists and Kids Explore Global Warming, you'll find out how some students, teachers, and scientists have become active in collecting data. Many of the examples can be applied in local communities.

Students young and old have become part of the studies in the USA, Mexico, and Siberia. For example, if you have butterflies or birds in your area, perhaps you could start keeping track of such activities as their arrival and departure dates. Or you may be interested in noting plant life changes as the weather warms in spring and summer or cools in fall and winter. Recording ways that plants or animals adapt or change their growth and location are important now and will be in the future as certain trends are examined by students and scientists.

There are even historical connections in this book. Readers will learn, for instance, that by keeping records at his Monticello home, Thomas Jefferson was one of the original phenologists who studied how nature changes with the seasons. You can be a phenologist, too, and ask why changes are occurring. Living things seem to be responding to change in climate where the air temperature affects the lives of animals and plants.

By reading and discussing this book, readers can easily relate to the most current information that is carefully researched and presented in two-page spreads. There are many outstanding full-color photographs of students and scientists actively participating in observation as well as data collection. By using computers, their data can be analyzed, graphs can be created, and hypotheses can be explored. Amateur naturalists around the world are documenting climate change. Some records go back 250 years and are indicating broader patterns of change.

Using maps and data collected, citizen scientist students can explore the work of many leading scientists as they investigate why the numbers of frogs, polar bears, or penguins are decreasing as their special habitats are effected by rising temperatures. Scientists have even been able to reconstruct a 9,000 year timeline of climate records with bristlecone pine tree data.

As you read this amazing book, you will find new vocabulary words defined in context; reading and comprehension go hand in hand. Students and teachers can participate in brainstorming, experiments, water monitoring, or class discussions that might lead to student activism to improve our environment. With others around the world are working on their hypotheses, we explore how life forms are changing due to increases in temperatures. From these efforts, there is a growing realization by students and adults that what we do here in North America impacts life in other places in our world.

By presenting real-life accounts of scientists and their work, author Lynne Cherry helps students and others connect with our environmental problems and actions by becoming active decision makers. Hopefully the interconnections of all living things with their surroundings will lead us to see the Earth as one living system in the past, present and future.

Cherry distinguishes between a climate footprint and a carbon footprint,and presents ways that students can get involved in saving planet Earth. The "Resources" section provides many more ideas about programs that students can join as active participants. This engaging book is a "must read" for students, teachers, parents, and their community at large. A separate teacher's guide is correlated with standards for grades 5 to 8.

NSTA Recommends (Nat. Science Teachers Assoc.) - Suzanne Flynn - (March 2008)

Parents today have the toughest and most important job in the world - passing the torch of knowledge and environmental stewardship on to their children. This magical little book provides an invaluable service to parents by blasting open the doors to the world of climate science. A world that our children will be required to know well in order to solve the problem of global warming.

Heidi Cullen, Anchorperson on The Weather Channel

This beautiful and informative book fills a major gap in environmental writing for children. I'm impressed by the way it covers a wide range of research in different scientific fields, defining technical terms gracefully and naturally as they arise. The overall tone - urgent without being shrill, hopeful without being complacent - strikes me as just right. I would happily recommend it.

Robert Coontz, editor of Science Review

This is a necessary book. It treats kids with respect - they deserve to know what's going on. But they also deserve to know that there's much that can be done, and much that is being done. In a word, it's empowering!

Bill McKibben, author, The End of Nature and Deep Economy

Children of all ages will delight in this introduction to the science of climate change - a thrilling inspiration for one and all to get outdoors and experience the adventure of citizen science.

Thomas Lovejoy, tropical biologist and President of the Heinz Center for Science, Economics and the Environment

They [Lynne Cherry and Gary Braasch] did a fantastic job. Every text was fact-checked multiple times by the scientists who actually did the original studies (and it's filled with Gary's outstanding photos from around the world of global warming impacts.) Their book sticks to the facts, and isn't too scary - it's just realistic.

Camille Parmesan (Scientist mentioned in How We Know... who studied range change of checkerspot butterfly