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MargaretBolingMullin

MargaretBolingMullin

No Monkeys, No Chocolate

No Monkeys, No Chocolate - Melissa Stewart

6/22/14 ** This book is essential for any unit on environmental issues and the rain forest.  Stewart & Young do an exceptional job presenting the complex scientific information about the interconnections among the various animals (and other living organisms such as fungi) that contribute to the health of the cocoa tree.

 

The book is written in a three-layered format - with the primary "story" presented in a larger font that builds through the book.  Stewart described this as a "house-that-Jack-built" approach.  This layer of text is also somewhat circular as we begin and end with the cocoa seed.  The second layer is written in a smaller font and presents the information about the specific topic addressed in that page.  For example, there are pages about the cocoa flower, maggots, the seed pod, and midges.  Finally, each page has a third layer of text with two book worms commenting on the scientific content or anticipating upcoming topics.

 

Stewart was a guest in a CCBC listserv discussion and shared this link:

I developed a video timeline that chronicles the research and revision process:  http://www.melissa-stewart.com/timeline/10yr_timeline.html