Yanuell began his language arts session by reading, Costa Rica ABCs: A Book About the People and Places of Costa Rica by Sharon Katz Cooper. The book goes through amazing features of Costa Rica with the letters of the alphabet. Yanuell was thoroughly impressed by topics like coffee, brightly painted oxcarts, quetzals, the Montverde Cloud Forest Reserve, and Arenal Volcano. The book does an excellent job portraying this exotic, treasure-filled Central American country. After reading, Yanuell wanted to research Arenal Volcano which was an active volcano in Costa Rica up until a few years ago. He also did some research on the many birds of Costa Rica. Yanuell was amazed to learn that there are more species of birds in Costa Rica than North America or Europe. Next, Yanuell transitioned to reading Puerto Rico by Sarah Tick. This book features topics like: Puerto Rico Up Close, Important Cities, Puerto Rico in History, Hometown Heroes, Fast Facts, and a timeline of the history of Puerto Rico. Yanuell was happy to learn that Barack Obama was the first president to make an official visit to Puerto Rico since John F. Kennedy. Using this informative book, Yanuell added some new details and facts to his Puerto Rico book. We transitioned from the tropics to Pierre the Penguin by Jean Marcello. This book begins when Pierre, an African penguin living at the California Academy of Sciences, begins to lose his feathers. The zoo staff is at a loss as to what to do but understand the direness of the situation. The lack of feathers causes Pierre to lose warmth, making him afraid to swim in the zoo pool. And the other penguins start to shy away, giving Pierre the "cold" shoulder. Unfortunately, heaters and medications fail to correct the situation. But one rainy day, inspiration strikes a biologist named Pam. While walking her dog in the rain, Pam notes that her pet wears a raincoat. Could a "raincoat" or wet suit, help Pierre? A tiny neoprene wet suit is designed especially for Pierre and it saves the sweet penguin's life! Yanuell absolutely loved reading this book because is was told in rhyme and was a true story of how veterinary ingenuity saves the day. Upon completing the book, Yanuell wanted to immediately research, and watch actual news stories about Pierre. Yanuell wanted to continue with our action-packed reading day and transition to Wild Weather: Floods by Angela Royston. He is drawn to books about extreme weather and was impressed with the photographic scenes of large-scale disaster in the Wild Weather series. Using recent examples, Royston describes in simple terms how rain, storms, and climate change in general can cause destructive floods and mudslides. She also explains in very general ways how to prepare for floods, and ways of preventing or at least adapting to them. A few of the photographs are certainly transfixing, the layout is sharp and colorful, the glossary is strong, and the cover shot of a rocking chair caught inside a tree is arresting. Yanuell was especially interested in the section about Global Warming and how it plays a role in extreme weather. We had a lengthy discussion about how Global Warming works and how we can help our environment. He ended the session by finishing the 52nd Magic Tree House book, Soccer on Sunday. The book had an amazing ending with the siblings presenting their findings in Camelot!