Every Day On Earth: Fun Facts That Happen Every 24 Hours by Steve Murrie & Matthew Murrie
Review by Chris Singer
About the authors:
Matthew Murrie has an MA in the Teaching of English from Teachers College, Columbia University and has over five years of experience teaching in five countries on three different continents as a public school teacher, private academy instructor, and Peace Corps volunteer. In addition to having coauthored Every Minute on Earth and Guide to the Planet (Planet Earth), Matthew has also written classroom curriculum and reading material for one of Korea’s leading, private educational institutes, Chungdahm Learning.
Steve Murrie, a retired science teacher who still substitutes and teaches classes at a local community college, has been teaching for nearly 40 years. He holds an MA from Penn State University in Science Education. He is the coauthor of Every Minute on Earth and Guide to the Planet, both published by Scholastic, Inc. His dedication to his work and effectiveness in promoting it has been instrumental in the former reaching the 100,000 sales mark in a little over a year.
About the book:
In the minute it could take you to read this page, the Earth will be hit by 6,000 lightning strikes; 2,137 pounds of popcorn will be eaten; 10,000 pieces of skin will be lost from your body; 21,000 pizzas will be baked; 954 camera phones will be sold worldwide; the International Space Station will travel 289 miles in its orbit around the Earth; and 750,000 gallons of water will tumble over Niagara Falls.
The Earth and its inhabitants are active every minute of the day. Isn't it amazing what can happen in such a short amount of time?
The content for Every Minute on Earth is organized into eight chapters: Earth, Space, The Human Body, Technology, Animals, Food, Sports, and Pop Culture. Each page contains an illustrated fact.
The father-and-son team of Steve and Matt Murrie have developed a list of approximately 200 unbelievable facts. For 34 years, Steve taught science to children in grades 6-12. The content for Every Minute on Earth comes from the material Steve created to use in his classrooms to make learning fun and help his students understand the magnitude of what can occur in just a minute around the world.
My take on the book:
There's so much to like about this book but I have to say what I like most is that this is a father and son effort. What a great project for a father and his son to work on!
This is an incredible resource for students and teachers alike. It's above all fun, and has a diversity of facts from many subjects to draw in any later elementary student.
I have no doubt young readers will enjoy learning the answers to some of the following questions included in the book:
* Ever wonder why there are more bald men than women?
* Have you ever heard of the far side of the moon?
* Do you think you could outrun a horse?
* What's the largest land animal on Antarctica?
* How many times do you think in a day?
I also like the fact that Every Day on Earth is different for the other fun facts type books out there in that it has a "Source Notes" section in the back. The list doesn't provide individual sources like a reference list, but rather gives us organizations and source websites where they found the information. This allows students to have an almost endless supply of sources for further exploration.
All in all, this is a real winner and a worthy addition to anyone's home, school or community library.
