Bøker av Eric Parrish

Visiting the zoo is a quintessential childhood experience filled with wonder and learning. For most kids, the zoo is the only place they will see exotic and wild animals. It is also a place where they can feel connected to the natural world and learn the importance of taking care of wildlife and the environment. Going to the Zoo is a 1,060-word nonfiction children's picture book designed for ages 5-9. Using informative text, plus blurbs and tidbits of interesting animal and zoo insight, Going to the Zoo follows two young friends as they visit the zoo and learn about the different ways zoos care for their animals. Vivid illustrations bring the zoo and its activities to life as the friends explore everything from how zoos feed their animals to why zoo animals do "tricks." Aimed toward early to middle elementary students, Going to the Zoo's content is less dense than Michael George's Life at the Zoo but it is more sophisticated and challenging than Blake Hoena's The Zoo Book. Going to the Zoo was reviewed by teachers, educators, and Denver Zoo professionals for content and age appropriateness.

In recent years environmental scientists have focused on the co-called Critical Zone, where landscapes are treated as integrated systems that encompass bedrock, soils, water and sky and are teeming with life. The concept is intriguing to young minds, exploring the natural world in an integrated way that has not been imparted often in children's literature. This book discusses how rocks become soil, movers of the Critical Zone such as gophers and other burrowers, how plants provide food and habitats for insects, birds, and animals, how the water cycle functions, the process of photosynthesis, and how humans are part of this vast system. In sum, it explains how all of life can be found in a thin outer layer called the critical zone.