Second Grade

• Life Science
• Environment & Ecology
• Comics / Graphic Narrative

Why it works: How to Be a Dragonfly follows Chase from pond-dwelling nymph to airborne adult as a grasshopper narrator coaches him through danger, growth, and daring escapes. The comic plot makes each life stage, behavior, and pond adaptation something Chase must use before readers can see what he becomes.

• Life Science
• Environment & Ecology
• Lyrical / Visual Picture Book

Why it works: Over and Under the Rainforest takes readers through ground, canopy, and river views while twenty rainforest animals appear along the route. Moving vertically and horizontally through the forest turns biodiversity and habitat layering into a visual journey rather than a catalog of species.

• Life Science
• Nature Narrative / Field Discovery

Why it works: Chameleons Are Cool invites children into the animal's world through dramatic abilities such as color change, independently protected eyes, and a projectile tongue. The wonder-led visual tour makes each body structure meaningful because readers see what it lets a chameleon do.

• Life Science
• Environment & Ecology
• Lyrical / Visual Picture Book

Why it works: Over and Under the Pond glides a child and adult across a mountain pond while the pictures reveal life both above the surface and below their boat. The quiet journey shows the pond as an interconnected system, so each new plant or animal adds a relationship rather than an isolated fact.

• Life Science
• Environment & Ecology
• Story / Adventure

Why it works: How to Swallow a Pig rewrites animal behavior as absurd step-by-step advice for fishing like a whale, building like a beaver, spinning like a spider, or sewing like a tailorbird. The joke works only when the sequence accurately reveals how each animal solves a survival problem.