Put scientists out in the field-where they observe and learn from their subjects-and exciting things happen. Join thirteen American scientists as they watch sleeping hippos, avoid cactus thorns, hide snakes under their skirts, make jokes, and draw elephants, termites or squid.

Drawing from the original journals of scientists, kids will learn about descriptive, informative, humorous, expository writings. Scientists use notebooks to summarize data, draw maps, or draw specimen. Represented are scientists studying birds, cactus, zoo keeping, human diseases, termites, mollusks, fish, grasses, Mayan ruins, Chinese plants and animals, taxidermy, and peanuts. Kids will be inspired to create their own field notebooks.