“Step into the woods on a warm summer morning…”

(as Rebecca Hogue Wojahn,
with Donald Wojahn)
Lerner, a 12-book series
Grades 3-5, 64 pages each
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An interactive, nonlinear nonfiction series about food webs in different habitats. After reading about an animal, you choose what it eats. Your choices weave a route through the habitat’s food web. But pay attention–you may end up where you never expected to be. And watch out for those dead ends!

Habitats/Books in the Series

Temperate Forest, Coral Reef, Arctic Tundra, Mangrove Forest, Rain Forest, Cloud Forest, Savanna, Australian Outback, Nile River, Estuary, Galapagos, Desert

Honors and Awards

• A Savannah Food Chain is a 2009 Science Grades K-6 Honor Book from the Society of School Librarians International

Reviews

“The interconnections created by the choices effectively illustrate the complexity of food webs while providing information about the plants and animals that form the components. Lively, engaging writing helps…entice a broad audience to learn about life in unfamiliar places.”

— Kathy Piehl, Minnesota State University, Mankato, School Library Journal

“This bright colorful book will attract young readers. The format will hold the reader’s interest as he or she moves through the book following the notes. This is a great way to teach about the importance of food chains.”

— Donald Logsdon, Jr., National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) Recommends (link to full review)

“It’s no coincidence that the food “chain” bordering most of the interior spreads resembles a game board. In fact, each volume in the Follow That Food Chain series is organized like a nonfiction choose-your-own adventure game…most will enjoy this unique interactive method.”

— Daniel Kraus, Booklist, “Spotlight on New Books for Youth on the Environment”

“Readers will learn about much more than food chains as they work their way through these texts. The two books in this series that I reviewed were thoughtfully planned and dense with information. Students in the upper elementary grades are sure to be intrigued and excited about this interactive format. Highly recommended.”

-The Miss Rumphius Effect

Why I Wrote THIS Story

Although I’ve never been a lion on the African savanna or a fiddler crab in a mangrove forest, there’s a lot of me in this book. Or maybe a lot of my kids. This series grew out of their never-ending questions:

“What do anacondas eat, Mom?”

[quick Google search or a flip through an encyclopedia]

“Capybaras! Deer? Peccaries!”

[pause]

What are THOSE like? What do THEY eat?”

[back to Google and the encyclopedia]

“Plants? What kinds of plants? Like ours? Different? But what are they LIKE?”

And so on…

As we say in the dedication, we hope these books answer some of their questions.