In a chatty, very simple idiom for reading aloud to preschoolers, this lively picture book presents a wealth of amazing facts about ants, including how they hunt, eat, breed, raise their young, build their homes, and organize themselves. The gouache paintings on colored paper help make the information immediate by showing these busy insects close up in all their myriad activities. This is the kind of first science book that encourages kids to discover the small wonders around them. Hazel Rochman

Selected by Judy Freeman as Nonfiction 71 Top Books of the Century.  “Nonfiction is a crucial genre to emphasize in the classroom, but teachers don’t always have time to research the best. Here, I’ve selected a number of nonfiction books from the past century that have had an impact on my teaching, broken new ground, taught me something extraordinary, wowed readers, and are unforgettable books to introduce to children. Share them, read them aloud, and leave them around the classroom for your students to pore over.” © Scholastic