Check It Out

This is “Banned Book Week”. I love teaching about this week to fifth graders. It gives me an opportunity to tie in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights at a level of their understanding.

Today, I put lots of books on the tables for the students to examine and come up with a list of common traits. Of course, no one thought about books being challenged or banned. 

Then I asked for them to stand up if they had read some of the books: Bridge to Terabitha, The Goosebumps series, The Captain Underwear series, Harry Potter, etc. You get the drift.

Then we talked about that these books had all been challenged.  And it was here that I could book talk the following books:

From the “We the People” series, The Bill of Rights  by Michael Burgan.  It is a no frills, very factual explanation of the Bill of Rights, what they are and how they are formed.  Complete with maps, illustrations, photos, and great appendices, this is a great jumping off spot for the First Amendment.

The other book, We the People by Lynne Cheney, tells the story of the how the Constitution was written.  Cheney offers up quotes, great sources at the end of the book.  I think it gives a clear picture about how the founding fathers struggled.  Really great to use in the beginning of the school year as classrooms are establishing their rules and expectations. Greg Harlin illustrated the book.  He has done the painting for several of Cheney’s books.

It is always fun to see the faces on students regarding my own experiences with book challenges, with learning that the have a right to read but until they are 18, their parents can also tell them what not to read, and the surprise that some books are on a challenged list. 

The conversation today, provided a wonderful follow up to last weeks, “choosing a “good-fit” book since knowing what is appropriate for your family’s values and beliefs ties back to book selection.

Nonfiction Monday is hosted by Wendie’s Wanderings.  Head over and see what is happening in the world of nonfiction this week.

Get ready.  It is almost time to nominate for the CYBILS.  Nominations open October 1 and close October 15.  You can nominate one book per category. If the book has already received an nomination, be ready to nominate something else.

So last week a student came to me and asked, “Do you have a book with a camp for watching the total eclipse and a boy named Jack?”  I raised my eyebrows because it just did not sound familiar.  Asked my assistant and she didn’t have a clue.  Emailed the rest of the elementary library media specialists and sure enough a response, “Every Star a Soul by Wendy Mass”. Well it was sent to me and I read it on the out of town trip this weekend. 

I know what you are thinking. This is Nonfiction Monday not what MsMac read this weekend.  Well, this morning I perused the book fair which was magically put up in my absence last week. 

Lo and behold, Night Skyby Tammi Salzano jumped out at me.  What a perfect companion book for Every Star a Soul.

The 48 paged book is chock full of constellations, an explanation of the name and when to best see them in the sky.  Unlike H. A. Rey’s The Stars, Night Skyfeatures the constellations from actual photos with the lines drawn atop.  There is a list of the 10 brightest stars in the sky, a glossary, and other sky watching treasures.  And of course, the publishers added some “glow-in the -dark features.

Any stargazer is going want to get this book and use as a resource.  I wish I would have had it this past weekend as I looked at the Milky Way. (Where I was had very little light pollution.)

Title: Night Sky
Author: Tammi Salzano
Date Published: 2009
Pages: 48
Reading Level: Middle grades
Publisher: Tangerine Press
ISBN: 978-0-545-13832-1
Source of Book: Book Fair Display

It is almost time to nominate your favorite books to the CYBILS.  Panelists and judges for each category will be announced soon, very soon.

The third Kidlit Con will be happening in Washington, D.C. in October.  Organized by non other than Mother Reader, it should be fabulous.  I am soooo sorry not to be attending(family committments) More information is here.

Nonfiction Monday is hosted by Bookends. Thank you for letting others nknow about great nonfiction.

Happy Reading.

MsMac

I am thrilled that the Washington Children’s Choice Picture Book Award (WCCPBA) has several of the nonfiction books from last year’s CYBILS Nonfiction Picture Book nominee list.  It is a vast improvement over last year’s list.  Some one must have been listening.

Two titles on the list made our CYBILS short list. One is Wangari’s Trees of Peace: A True Story from Africa, written and illustrated by Jeanette Winter.

I briefly mention the book last winter in my blog post about the CYBILS shortlist.  Never got around to fully sharing the book for Nonfiction Monday.

“Peopel fight over water, over food…we plant the seeds of peace.”–Wangari Maathai.  This quote is found in the back of the book. 

Wangari’s Trees of Peace: A True Story from Africais the story of Wangari Maathai, a Kenyan girl who went to America to school and upon returning home from her studies discovered that land stripped of its beautiful tree.  Wangari proceeded to make it her mission to revive the land.  She began in her own backyard and encouraged other women to do the same.  Eventually the “Green Belt Movement”  planted over 30 million trees.

Wangari’s work had such an impact that she was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2004 for her work.

Winter uses spare vocabulary and vivid acrylic painting in a folk style to depict this lovely story.  She includes an author’s note at the end of the story.   I am thrilled to share this book with students this coming year.

Title: Wangari’s Trees of Peace: A True Story from Africa
Author: Jeanette Winter
Date Published: 2008
Pages: 32 pages
Reading Level: Ages 4-8
Publisher: Harcourt Children’s Books
ISBN-10: 0152065458
ISBN-13: 978-0152065454
Source of Book: Silver Star Library

Nonfiction Monday is hosted by Diane Chen at School Library Journal this week.  Head there for other great nonfiction titles.

Happy Reading.

MsMac

Yellow Star by Jennifer Roy is a rare blend of poetry and memoir.  Roy has retold the story of aunt Sylvia, one of 12 children who survived the Lodz ghetto during World War II.  The story is broken up into five parts with a factual overview of each section. Then, Roy  brilliantly tells her aunt’s story in poetic free verse.  The book includes a timeline at the end.

Aunt Sylvia did not share her story with many for almost 50 years. Thankfully, she agreed to taped phone interviews which Roy used as the basis for the story.  She creates a strong first person character in  Sylvia as we see the invasion of Poland by the Germans through her eyes. 

Sylvia is just four at the story’s beginning. She is among the 270,000 Jews rounded up and put into the ghetto with barbed wire. At ten, Russians liberate the ghetto’s 800 survivors of which 12 are children.  She has seen it all the brutality, the need to hide in the cemetery with her father, and not allowed to be outside for four years, hiding in the cellar with other children.

In the final push to get all the Jewish people on the trains  to concentration camps, it is indeed a miracle that the children and their families survived the Lodz ghetto.

I have always been fascinated with the period of history.  It has been about two month’s but I keep coming back to a scene in which her father had her hide in the cemetery as he did not believe the Germans when they said would keep everyone safe.  This book is on the reader’s choice list for my state. I am looking forward to sharing it with my staff and students.  I am thankful that Jennifer Roy decided to honor here aunt by writing her story.  She almost didn’t, having avoided talking about the Holocaust for years.

Title: Yellow Star
Author: Jennifer Roy
Date Published: April 15, 2006Pages: 242 pages
Reading Level: Ages 9-12
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish ISBN-10: 076145277X
ISBN-13: 978-0761452775
Source of Book: Listened to audio book from public library.

Nonfiction Monday is rounded up at Wrapped in Foil today.

My  four and a half year old grand-daughter visited on Saturday.  It was a perfect day for sitting on the patio swing and reading books together. It marked the first time she sat and listened to not just one book but several.  Thank goodness for the stack of picture books received from publishers.

Among the books I read was Shape by David Goodman and Zoe Miller.  The bold shape filled cover with the letters slightly raised just invites the reader to peek inside. 

Shapes of all kinds and ways to create shapes are described in the book.  My favorite was the way to make a star with fingers.  We had to wait for grandpa to return home to do it though.

The book includes both 2-D and 3-D shapes.  It also covers tessellation, patterns and symmetry. Granddaughter and I spent a lot of time on this book.  Text is minimal with the focus on visual presentation.  We poured over the pages looking for the specified shape.  After the book, granddaughter wanted scissors to make her own shapes.

Miller and Goodman have a fun blog about shapes.  This book is a winner for young and old. I enjoyed its creative presentation

Title: Shape
Author: David Goodman and Zoe Miller
Date Published: 2009
Pages: unpaged
Reading Level: Ages 4-8
Publisher: Abrams Books
ISBN: 978-1-85437-779-1
Source of Book: Sent by publisher.

In Need of Chocolate is hosting Non-fiction Monday today. Head over and find out what others are reading.

Last fall I was privileged to read Seven Miles to Freedom: The Robert Smalls Story .  It was a CYBILS nominee in the Nonfiction Picture Book category.  Have you read it?  What a wonderful story of courage as a slave,  Robert Smalls escapes and becomes a Civil War hero. A great story about rising up from unbelievable odds.

Janet has graciously donated both this book and Little Skink’s Tale to the Bridget Zinn Auction.  I wanted to know more about her so I asked a few questions.

How long have you been writing/ illustrating?

I have been writing pretty much all of my life, but I have been a children’s book author for about ten years. Before I became a full-time children’s author, I was a daily newspaper reporter, the managing editor of a national children’s magazine called Country Kids, and a creator of coloring and activity books (Mickey Mouse, Lion King, Batman, etc.) for Golden Books. But being a children’s author had always been my dream, so I am delighted to be living that dream now!

When you aren’t illustrating/writing, what might we find you doing?

Two days a week, my husband and I have our 2-year-old and five-year-old grandsons, so those are busy, fun-filled days. I also enjoy working in my garden, exploring nature, visiting new places, and spending time with the rest of my family.

Who influenced you as a writer/illustrator?

One of my biggest influences is animals and nature. Most of my books are on these themes. I grew up on a farm in Michigan and spent many hours with my mother and dad in the fields, barn, and garden. My dad was what I call a “farmer’s farmer” and I think his love of animals and the land rubbed off on me.

What is your current project?

I am working on my tenth book for Soundprints, which publishes books on animals and nature in association with the Smithsonian Institution. My ninth book with them, Little Black Ant at Park Street, is coming out this summer. Good Night, Little Sea Otter will come out from Star Bright Books next spring and a second book from Sylvan Dell Publishing, the publishers of Little Skink’s Tail, will come out in 2010.

What books are on your nightstand?

Right now I am reading From Slavery to Freedom by John Hope Franklin. I also have a huge, ever-changing stack of children’s picture books in my living room that I share with my grandsons.

Where do you find inspiration?

I find inspiration all around me-in nature, in what people do and say, from my children and grandchildren, in events, in experiencing new places. Often research for one story leads to another.

What was your favorite book as a child? As a teen? As an adult? Any particular genre stand out?

I grew up in a home without many books, so my favorite story as a child was from one of my parents’ old schoolbooks: Rumpelstiltskin. As a teen I liked Little Women and Wuthering Heights. As an adult, two of my most memorable books have been The Negro in Our Historyby Carter G. Woodson and The Underground Railroad by William Still. From the time my children were young until the present, my favorite books have been children’s picture books.

Favorite time of the day to work?

Probably the afternoon, but I’m not really fussy.

Chocolate: white, dark, or milk?

Dark

Coffee or tea or —?

Herb tea once in a while, but mostly water or juice.

Dance: Funky chicken or the tango?

My husband and I square dance-great exercise and an activity where we meet some of the friendliest people in the world.

 Thank, Janet.  I see that you list on of my favorite teen books, Wuthering Heights. Love that story. Love dark chocolate as well.  You can bidd on either of the books that Janet has donated at the Bridget Zinn Auction.  If you have not read Seven Miles to Freedom: The Robert Smalls Story, put it on your short list to read.

Nonfiction Monday is being round-up at ACPL Mock Sibert.

Happy Reading.

MsMac

No, I have not mixed up the days.  I know this is Monday. I know this is the day reserved for nonfiction.  Thank goodness poetry is non-fiction. I must talk about the book of poetry I stumbled into over the weekend.

The first weekend in May is usually the “college girls” weekend, in which my friends from college have gotten together for about 18 years.  This year, however, it fell apart, things came up for just about everyone. That was the bad news.  The good news was that my husband and the pooches and I drove to Seaside, OR spending the weekend with our friends. 

So Saturday afternoon, my friend Barbara, my husband and I decided to hit the local bookstore, Beach Books.  We walked in just in time for  cheese, crackers, wine, and the poetry reading by Rosalee van Stelten, author of Pavlov’s Elephant.  Talk about serendipity! 

Rosalee’s poetry is visual, makes you laugh and think.  Even my poor husband( who thought we were just on a trip to the grocery store) was engaged. At one point I thought I might lose it when I looked over at him and he had his mouth covered.  Images of our teenage daughter and her first experience with melted brie flooded my brain. (She had no idea of its texture and about lost it at the table).  My husband, however, was worried that the crackers were too noisy in his mouth.

Pavlov’s Elephant is a great little addition to my personal poetry collection.  She has drawn on her own experiences to create the following categories for poems: “Knifing toward spring”, “Under the Same Small Sky”, “the petals against my flesh”, and “echoes”

I blurted out that I missed writing 30 poems in 30 days by one poem.  She shared the following in acknowledgement of my even attempting to write 30 in 30.

Begetting

Some believe
spiders hatch their eggs
by staring at them

I believe
by staring at this page
I will hatch a poem.

Oh yes, that is the way I feel some days.

The other favorite section of her are the “Echoes” poems, her own creation.  From each longer line, she uses the last word to “echo”

Cannon Beach, Oregon

before dawn                                                                                          dawn
bled into break of day, rain wrapped                                                     wrapped
the moonless beach                                                                               beach
in sheets of slate, while shorebirds                                                       shorebirds
like strewn boulders, hunched                                                               hunched
against the wailing wind,the thundering                                                thundering
surf, and cloud piled upon cloud                                                           cloud
turned all the world to grey                                                                    grey

midmorning                                                                                           midmorning
on the wet wash of a receding tide                                                        tide
a lone gull                                                                                             gull
reflecting                                                                                               reflecting

I love this. It reminds me of how I am playing with combining pantuom and haiku together.  Chicken Spaghetti is rounding up the books today.

Thanks for indulging me with my poetry book round-up today. It just could not wait until Friday.
Please visit the blog to support Bridget Zinn.
Happy Reading.

MsMac

I love the poem “This is Just to Say” by William Carlos Williams.  I was thrilled to receive a copy of his biography, River of Words by Jan Bryant, last fall during the CYBILS  judging. 

River of Wordsis a wonderful read.  It is written in a style accessible to students of all ages.  My first and second graders loved listening to it last week.  What surprised me was the close proximity of Williams hometown to my father’s hometown, Lodi, NJ. 

This book is on my list as an excellent example of a book with a strong metaphor.  Blending the Passiac River with the volume of ideas, thoughs, and words flowing from Willaims’ mind is brilliant.

I asked my aunt about it and she said, “Yes, I know who he was.  But we didn’t know much about him when we were growing up.  Sometimes the locals don’t know much about the home town folks.” 

I love the artwork by Melissa Sweet.  Her illustrator’s note at the end of the book tells a personal story how she was introduced to this great poet.  Her collage and art medium variety complements the text. Readers will want to linger awhile on each page.

I love Bryant’s message that a person can have a day joy, a career and yet find time to write poetry.  The time line at the end of the book is an asset. More to think about. The quote at teh book’s beginning should be one for all of us:

“When I was younger, it was plain to me, I must make something of myself.”– William Carlos Williams, “Pastoral”.

Anastasia is hosting Nonfiction Monday today. Thanks.

Happy Reading.

MsMac

 A big box of books arrived on my doorstep a couple of weeks ago.  Among a new poetry book by Lee Bennett Hopkins, the sequel to The Library Mouse, and others was a new nonfiction book on dinosaurs.  What is it about dinosuars that children love the subject so?

Dinosaurs in Your Backyard The Coolest, Scariest Creatures Ever Found in the USA is written by Hugh Brewster and illustrated by Alan Barnard. The book is chock full of interesting facts about dinosaurs only found on the North American continent.

Did you know that more than 85 different kinds of dinosaurs have been found in North America? Do you know what New England state has fossilized footprints called Eubrontes? (Connecticut) Have you heard of the Gorgosaurus? This dinosaur matched the viciousness of T.rex.   The book details many dinosaurs from  the sea monster types to the  bird types.

The book has a nice combination of text, illustrations, charts, and photos.  Bernard’s illustrations draws the reader along with the photos of the fossils and skeletons from a variety of Canadian museums.

The book includes a timeline, a pronunciation guide (I need that), glossary and index.  A bonus is a listing of where readers can visit to see dinosaurs.  Plan your summer trip now.  Dinosaur books never sit on the shelves for any length of time.  They do not collect dust.  Neither will this one.

Title: Dinosaurs in Your Backyard The Coolest, Scariest Creatures Ever Found in the USA
Author: Hugh Brewster
Date Published: 2009
Pages: 32
Reading Level: Dinosaur lovers of all ages
Publisher: Abrams Books
ISBN: 978-0-8109-7099-1
Source of Book: Sent by publisher.

Pam at Mother Reader is rounding up the nonfiction today.
Happy Reading.

MsMac

“I want to do it because I want to do it.  Women must try to do things as men have tried.
When they fail, their failure must be but a challenge to others.~~Amelia Earhart

March is Women’s History Month. What better way is there to celebrate than to take a look at a book that was nominated for the CYBILS in the Nonfiction Picture Book category (and I believe we ended up moving it because of the text difficulty to middle grade nonfiction)?

Amelia Earhart, the Legend of the Lost Aviator by Shelley Tanaka is a great addition to the biography section of any library. The main focus of the book is her career as an aviator from her first flight to her disappearance in the South Pacific.

The book is rich in archival photos, quotes, time lines, and an extensive resources at the end including the index.  The color illustrations are an added bonus and bring the text to life.  It is a book that will appeal to those readers in the upper elementary grades and beyond.  I can see teachers using portions with students to model think alouds and determining importance. 

This book demonstrates to readers of all ages the importance of following your dream despite the challenges.

Title: Amelia Earhart,The Legends of the Lost Aviator
Author: Shelley Tanaka
Date Published: 2008
Pages: 48
Reading Level: Upper middle grades and beyond
Publisher: Abrams Books
ISBN: 978-0-8109-7095-3
Source of Book: Sent by publisher for CYBILS consideration.

L.L. Owens is hosting Nonfiction Monday here.  See what else is available in the nonfiction world.

Happy Reading.

MsMac