This column includes activities inspired by children's literature. This month's issue shows that allowing students to use both photographs and information presented through technology helps them begin to construct an understanding of landforms and bodies of water and use models to describe these concepts. This months trade books are: (1) "Our Earth" (John Thomas Matthews); and (2) "How Mountains Are Made" (Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld). In the first activity children identify the features of the Earth and create a model of features that students can find in their local area. In the second activity children assemble a dynamic planet puzzle and discuss the patterns related to features occurring at plate boundaries.