Creature Features

I am absurdly proud of the fact that Frances and Gloria love nonfiction.  I know I just said that nonfiction is hard to find in our local library, and it is.  But they love to learn facts from the books we do bring home.  I rely heavily on other bloggers' recommendations for new titles.  It's often easier to have books on the hold shelf, waiting for me, instead of roaming the stacks.  And when I see a surefire hit mentioned somewhere, I reserve it right away.  That's what happened with Creature Features.  We own several other books by Steve Jenkins & Robin Page.  Gloria particularly loves to pore through these books, learning new facts as she goes.  So when I brought home Creature Features, it was read the same night.  Both Frances and Gloria listened intently, asking questions and laughing as I turned the pages.  I am most pleased, though, that they learned lots of crazy, cool facts in this one.

The subtitle of Creature Features is 25 Animals Explain Why They Look the Way They Do.  And that subtitle is a perfect summary of the book's concise text.  Each page contains a large illustration of an animal (in most pages it is a close-up of the face) on a solid background.  This is an incredibly effective way to make their unique features stand out.  There is a question, posed to the animal itself: "Dear giant panda: Who gave you those black eyes?"  The answer comes straight from the animal themselves: "No one.  We pandas all have them.  The dark fur around my eyes makes me look bigger and fiercer to a predator.  I hope."  It's a pretty simple concept for a book, but it helps readers learn more about animals by questioning and thinking more deeply.  The concept works so well by allowing the animals to speak for themselves.

What I think makes this book interesting to adults are the connections between the animals.  The giant panda faces a spicebush swallowtail caterpillar who uses spots on its tail to mimic a snake.  The caterpillar scares off predators in the same way the giant panda does.  Bighorn sheep use their horns to fight other males; so do babirusa who use their fierce crossed tusks instead.  These connections are subtle, most likely too subtle for a young reader to pick up on the connections themselves.  However it can serve as a way to open discussion between adults and children.  It is an invitation to look more closely, think more deeply about this book.

Another thing we enjoyed about this book was its sense of personality and humor.  The facts about the creature features aren't just a flat recitation of what makes that animal special.  In the case of the giant panda, the text reveals a little bit of insecurity and worry when he says "The dark fur around my eyes makes me look bigger and fiercer to a predator.  I hope."  The same goes for the mandrill, who confesses "My rear end is pretty colorful too, but I'd rather not talk about that."  My favorite laugh of the book is the Egyptian vulture, who, when asked "Why no feathers on your face?", says "Are you sure you want to know? Really?  Okay, I'll tell you.  I stick my face into the bodies of the dead animals I eat, and feathers would get pretty messy..." First of all, yuck! While the facts compiled here are fascinating, it was the warm humor that kept us reading.

The full-page illustrations are so realistic, which is especially impressive considering that they are pieced together with torn and cut-paper collage.  Each animal looks like they could have been photographed rather than assembled.  The solid backgrounds of the pages have the dual benefit of making the creatures' faces stand out as well as emphasizing the unique feature. The papers used give fur-like texture to the animals.  The red squirrel has thin wisps of fur on his ears to help keep his ears warm, and you can see each strand.  The blobfish is shown from two different perspectives, and when shown smushed by gravity on land, the fish is appropriately jelly-like.  It's fun to see these animals up close in the illustrations.

Finally, there's my favorite part of any nonfiction title - the back matter!  Jenkins and Page have created one of the most original pieces of back matter I have seen in a long time.  There is a black and white representation of each animal, all shown at the same scale to help provide approximate scale for readers.  The animals are labeled, along with their general location and diet.  It is a very visual piece of back matter, to go along with the book that emphasizes how creatures look.  The locations of the animals' habitats are shown with small globes, which encourages readers to compare the globes as well. There is a brief bibliography of general animal nonfiction to help start readers who are curious to learn more.  The presentation of the back matter also lends itself to additional research, as does the whole title.  You learn just enough facts about these creatures to make you want to learn more.

Creature Features: 25 Animals Explain Why They Look the Way They Do. Steve Jenkins & Robin Page.  Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014.

Borrowed from Lewis & Clark Library

Think About How Everyone...

I have always loved the kind of books that Harriet Ziefert creates.  I love them for a number of reasons - the silliness that is so simply incorporated in the text, the way the books aren't overly complicated, but are readable time after time.  Her comprehension of literacy and how preschoolers are attracted to reading about subjects is really superb.  Her books teach, but in a very natural way.  And her text always pairs so well with Emily Bolam's illustrations - Bolam has a simple, colorful style that coordinates so perfectly with Ziefert's text.  So last year, on a SLJ webinar, I heard about a new series from Blue Apple Books (Ziefert's own publishing company) from Ziefert and Bolam, and was thrilled to receive it from the publisher a few weeks later.

There were four titles sent to me from the First Nonfiction series: Does a Bear Wear Boots?, Does a Camel Cook Spaghetti?, Does a Panda Go to School? and Does a Woodpecker Use a Hammer?  Each one of  these titles encourage preschoolers to think about topics they might otherwise take for granted.  For instance, you might be able to predict that in Does a Bear Wear Boots?, preschoolers will be thinking about what everyone wears (a popular topic in daycares everywhere).  But there are also topics that encourage more complex thinking, such as understanding how everyone learns and how animals use tools.  Let's take a closer look at each of the titles, because they are each unique.

 



Does a Woodpecker Use a Hammer? focuses on tools.  Each section of the book starts out with a question about an animal" "Can an octopus hammer?"  The animal in question is attempting to use a hammer, which can look really silly, depending on the animal.  The octopus has eight hammers tightly grasped in its tentacles, but it's difficult to find something to hammer on underwater!  When the reader turns the page, they'll find one or two facts about how that animal really uses tools and why.  For the octopus, tools are used more for protection.  The illustration on that page also shows the octopus using the tool correctly.  The text transitions very smoothly from chimps, who use tools in some of the same ways humans do, to humans constructing and manipulating tools.  Astonishingly, Ziefert then takes on what could be the gargantuan task of summarizing the human history of tools...in a book for preschoolers!  And even though it feels like an incredibly difficult topic, she writes about it in a simple and informative way.  Ziefert travels from cavemen to plows, Egyptians and Romans, to modern-day tool use.  In the last double-paged spread, all of the tools are labeled so readers can begin to match the vocabulary with the picture.  The book ends with questions for the reader: "Does your mom use tools? Does your dad?  Do you?"

 

 

On the front cover of Does a Bear Wear Boots? ,  a polar bear is shown wearing very fashionable red polka dotted boots.  He might be able to carry off this look, except for the grouchy look on his face!  The pattern is much the same as the first book, where a question is asked: "Does a musk ox wear an overcoat?"  The musk ox looks very entertaining in a purple overcoat, but the next page explains that its thick fur acts as insulation, keeping it warm.  This text moves from silly questions "Do ducks wear diapers?" to facts - that babies wear diapers until they are potty-trained.  In this title, Ziefert and Bolam  go through many of the types of clothing we wear everyday (although it is fairly Americanized - there aren't any recognizably diverse pieces of clothing).  These are all clearly labeled.  There are also clothes for certain occupations, special occasions, or costumes.  As I mentioned before, this title in particular would be perfect in a preschool classroom as it is a standard classroom topic.  This book brings humor to the topic (reminiscent of Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing), while also challenging readers to draw comparisons and contrasts between ourselves and the animal kingdom.

 

 

 

If you are wondering Does a Camel Cook Spaghetti?, of course the answer is no.  But young readers may not have previously considered how animals get their food.  They can learn that a camel may go a month without food if necessary, or that a raccoon with food may "wash" it without water if none is available.  The human part of this book ties together themes from the other two, as it integrates tools and clothing for cooking.  It also briefly discusses gardening and how people eat in different cultures.  And last but not least, it explains that animals must eat what is in their territory.  They can't eat a taco since it isn't in their territory.  As in the other titles, the books finishes with questions pointed at the readers to draw them in.

 

 

 

The final book is Does a Panda Go to School?  And while we know the answer is no, it is interesting to observe how animals do learn in their own environments.  In this one, young children are guided through a typical school day with animals in the classroom.  An ostrich could not go to school, because it could not follow directions or put its backpack away.  The one animal who might have a good time in the classroom?  A chimp - they learn through very similar methods.  But even the chimp has its limitations!!  This book has a slightly different rhythm than the other three.  It has the added benefit of introducing school structure and routine to preschoolers in a non-threatening way.  They will enjoy the idea of animals cavorting in the classroom and then can learn more about how chimps learn.

 

 

I've said a little about the illustrations, but I love Bolam's ability to keep their illustrations clean, realistic and sharp.  Everything is outlined in black lines, which makes it easier to grasp what is going on.  And she has a real talent for showing what's going on in a realistic way.  But that realism also has plenty of humor in it.  An armadillo sits in the story circle, trying her hardest not to squirm.  A chimpanzee holds hands with a little boy as he crosses the street with a backpack on.  A duck looks bemusedly at its bottom, festooned in diapers.  Bolam helps emphasize the absurdity in us expecting animals to do things just like we do.

 

 

Each of the titles begins a letter from Ziefert to parents.  It addresses how parents can involve children in reading the books together.  It encourages parents to bring the books to life by drawing parallels to the child's own life.  She also discusses the illustrations and how readers can expand on those outside the story.  Finally, Ziefert explains the pages of questions and answers at the end of each book.

 

 

I think the Think About section at the end of each title in the series makes these books useful to a much larger population than just preschoolers.  There are questions to help readers compare and contrast different groups of animals and humans: "What are some things animals eat that you like to eat?"  "If animals don't go to school, what do they all day?"  There are also Research, Observe, and Write, Tell or Draw sections.  In families with children of various ages, this book might be a read-aloud to a younger child and then an older child could work through the Think About section.  It's a series that is equally at home in the picture book or nonfiction sections at the library too.  Blue Apple continues to add new books in this series, and I can't wait to read more of them.

 

 

Does a Bear Wear Boots? Harriet Ziefert; illustrations by Emily Bolam.  Blue Apple Books, 2005, 2014.

Does a Camel Cook Spaghetti? Harriet Ziefert; illustrations by Emily Bolam.  Blue Apple Books, 2007, 2014.

Does a Panda Go to School?  Harriet Ziefert; illustrations by Emily Bolam.  Blue Apple Books, 2003, 2014.

Does a Woodpecker Use a Hammer? Harriet Ziefert; illustrations by Emily Bolam.  Blue Apple Books, 2014.

 

sent by the publisher upon request





 

Here is the World

Perhaps like other families, we have a library visit routine.  We return our books by the front door as we walk in, then we head towards the back of the library where the children's section is located.  Frances likes to look for book on the library catalog, and then we all browse the picture book and children's fiction shelves.  After that the kids sometimes play on the computers or at the train table before we check out.  But our visits often lack trips to one section in particular, and it makes me a little sad.  We rarely visit the nonfiction section.  At our library, the adult and children's nonfiction is interfiled.  There are pluses and minuses to this arrangement - as a librarian, I often recommended that adults researching a subject start with children's books.  Sometimes that was enough information on a subject without seeming too overwhelming.  Other times a children's nonfiction book provided sources for research for the adult reader, just as I often point out to young readers.  So having the adult and children's nonfiction interfiled is useful to provide a broad range of reading material on a topic.  On the other hand, that means that the collection isn't as browsable for young children or parents.  Our nonfiction collection is in a different part of the building. and it's difficult to go over and spend time looking at a particular section.  Either I've left Frances and Gloria in the children's section by themselves and run over to find something specific, or I bring them with me into the nonfiction section.  They might find one or two books they want (on the last trip, Gloria found books on making jewelry and papercrafting), but then the sheer number of books on the shelves becomes overwhelming and they lost interest.

Luckily for me and my voracious interest in children's nonfiction, there is a small display of new children's nonfiction in a corner of the children's section.  It usually has about ten titles on it, and I always check out what's available when we are there.  A few weeks ago I was lucky to find Here is the World: A Year of Jewish Holidays on that shelf.

Here is the World is a luminous picture book, giving short rhymes to describe the Jewish holidays during the year.  Newman starts with the celebrations that happen at any time of year, like Shabbat and naming ceremonies for new baby girls.  Then she begins at the start of the Jewish year, which happens with Rosh Hashanah in the fall.  Each season is introduced with a rhyming couplet and a two page spread.  Then holidays within that season are shown chronologically.  It helps readers who may not be Jewish connect the holidays visually with the season.  Many of the holidays are also tied to the season they are celebrated in.  For instance, on the page explaining Sukkot (which is a fall holiday), the text reads "Here is the sukkah, its roof made of twigs./ Here are some grapes, pomegranates, and figs."  A young reader may not pay attention to the fact that all of the fruits listed are harvested in the fall, but they will see pumpkins and sunflowers scattered around the sukkah too, reinforcing the fall theme.

The same thing happens in the spring, with the holiday of Tu B'Shevat.  The poem reads "Here is some dirt and some seeds to be sown./ Here are some trees that are already grown."  The reader can see trees scattered throughout the illustration, all fully in bloom, as well as see children planting. This connects the holiday immediately to spring, even if a reader doesn't understand the Hebrew name of the holiday.  This is a very effective and simple way to bring the holidays to life for readers, as well as root them in the everyday.

I was impressed with the fluidity of the text.  Newman does a masterful job of creating easy to read rhymes that are catchy yet simple.  I've mentioned before that there are only two lines of text to convey a feeling of the holiday.  It's no easy feat particularly as there is so much symbolism to convey.  There are also Hebrew words used throughout the text, bu it's done so that you can't really accidentally mispronounce them.  Even though words are there without a contextual pronunciation guide, the Hebrew words often rhyme with other words, giving an insecure reader a leg up on how that word is said.

And this book wouldn't be as successful without the amazing illustrations.  The illustrations help readers with clues to the celebration. At Purim, the text reads "Here's a parade - come and march with the crowd! Here is a grogger to shake nice and loud."  You might not know what Purim is, but you can see that the participants are in costume, and three of the four people featured are shaking the groggers.  If you aren't sure what a grogger is, you could recognize it from the illustration.  The picture exudes fun and noise.  There is confetti, strewn about and noisemakers galore.  You feel like you are there, celebrating.  At Passover, the text describes a Haggadah laid at each setting.  Again, the word may be unfamiliar, but you can identify the little boy placing the Haggadah.  Even if you know nothing of the Haggadah's purpose or meaning, you can see its size and shape there.

Another thing that I adore about the illustrations are their connection to family.  The same family is shown throughout the book, always celebrating together.  The family is young, with children.  Each family member wears the same pattern throughout the book, helping to keep them identifiable (an especially genius idea, since the celebrations often involve other people).  They are always smiling, hugging, helping each other - it is clear that they are enjoying their time together.  One of my favorite illustrations takes place at the end of the book.  The family is lighting a paper lantern together.  Their faces are lit with joy, awe, contentment and wonder.  Gal makes you feel like you are eavesdropping on a wonderful moment - one of those times that will become a cherished memory.

And finally, I can't move on without celebrating the exemplary back matter in this title.  There are paragraphs detailing additional information about the Jewish customs and holidays highlighted in the text.  Some of the Hebrew words are defined, some of the symbols explained.  Again, these are done in an easy to read manner, so readers can stop ad refer to them during a reading session without too much interruption.  But my favorite is the final piece of back matter - a section of holiday crafts and recipes! The crafts are all easy for children to perform with little assistance and the recipes also indicate when an adult should help.  It's a terrific supplement to the book's text.  And it all comes together in a glorious book that will interest any reader.


Here is the World: A Year of Jewish Holidays.  By Lesléa Newman; illustrated by Susan Gal.  Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2014.

borrowed from the Lewis & Clark Library

The Dolphins of Shark Bay

"I am summer, come to lure you away from your computer,

come dance on my fresh grass

dig your toes into my beaches." 

- Oriana Green

Sorry for the lack of blog posts in the past month.  It's a combination of things around here.  Summer in Montana is very, very short.  Already this last weekend the temperature was below 50 degrees!  You need to take advantage of every sunny moment.  At the end of the spring, I read this blog post.  It resonated with my worn out feeling at the end of the spring, when we were finishing up with lots of activities, celebrations, and events.  I decided to take the summer off.  We wouldn't schedule anything, but just be free for whatever came up.  I also made the decision to turn off the cable, so they couldn't just sit down and veg in front of the TV after work and daycare.

So, we've basically spent the summer outside, as much as possible.  We have a plot in our community garden, and a playground behind our house to keep us busy. The girls have also taken out all of their toys and played with them over and over again. This leads to other problems this summer, particularly that our house is always extremely...lived-in.  And between spending lots of quality time together, and cleaning up after said quality time together, there hasn't been very much time to create new blog posts.  I had a vision at the start of the summer that I would use all my "free" time to write posts and catch up on my blog pile.  Instead, thanks to some generous publishers I have been reviewing for, my pile teeters even higher.  But I'm not complaining, honest!  I'm just redoubling my effort to get some posts written.

This book is one of those long overdue posts.  But that doesn't mean I am any less excited to talk about it, just that I haven't had time to write up my thoughts.  I couldn't believe my luck last summer when Pamela S. Turner sent me an email, asking if I'd like a copy of the latest in the Scientist in the Field series, The Dolphins of Shark Bay.  If you've been reading my blog for awhile, you'll know I've reviewed many other books in the series, including here and here.  I was so excited to get this title, another quality, fascinating addition to the Scientist in the Field series,  Plus she sent me the best dolphin notecard, too!

This book takes place in Shark Bay, in the western part of Australia.  Janet Mann is a scientist who has made it her life's passion to study one particular trait pf the dolphins that live there - their tool use.  Now don't get any ideas of dolphins using saws underwater to build new homes.  Even more interesting (and more refined!), they are placing sea sponges on their noses (or rostrums) to help them scrape along the ocean's bottom.  The sponge protects their rostrums as they search for fish hiding in the channel's sand, rock and coral.  Once they unearth a fish, they quickly drop the sponge and gulp the fish.

Dolphins as a species are known for their echolocation skills.  This helps them in many ways - bouncing their sonar off an object helps the dolphin form a three-dimensional image of something in the deeps of the ocean.  They use this information to eat, navigate, find mates and survive.  But the dolphins who are "spongers" aren't using echolocation to find food at all.  Turner describes the dolphins who frequent this part of Shark Bay as searching "half blind" (p. 25) for food.  The channel bottom is covered with rocks and other debris that make it difficult for the dolphins to catch fish.  Conversely, the fish have a better survival rate in the channel's rocks because they aren't discovered as frequently.

So Mann, having seen this behavior performed beginning twenty-five years ago, decided to study this interesting phenomenon more closely.One of the more unusual things she and her research team have found is that this sponging is passed down through dolphin mothers in the pods that frequent Shark Bay.  If you are a dolphin, and your mother didn't sponge, you won't learn that tool use anywhere else.  Mann explains this quirk in this way: "Females are the specialists and the innovators because they're under a lot of pressure to support their calves....If you're a female dolphin who can develop a new way of making a living instead of competing with other dolphins, that's a big advantage.'" (p. 27)

As her team observed more than 600 dolphins, they also documented other unusual feeding techniques - a dolphin who hunts at night, beach hunters (they beach their prey and quickly get back into the water after eating it), and many more specialized behaviors.  These behaviors, too, are often shown in mothers and daughters.  Possibly because mothers have to be smart to get enough fish to feed themselves and their children.  It could also be because daughters stay with their mothers longer than sons do, and see the benefits of these hunting behaviors.

I learned so many interesting facts about dolphins through The Dolphins at Shark Bay.  One chapter looks at alliances of male dolphins and how they bully females into mating with them.  They herd a female away from her group, separating her and badgering her.  Young males practice this strategy on each other to learn teamwork.  They also begin to recognize which other dolphins they might want to form an alliance with.  Along with mating, it really is survival of the fittest in Shark Bay.  All of the adaptations that these pods exhibit help them survive in the wild.

And let me re-emphasize that these dolphins, although observed frequently for research, are wild.  One of the changes that have been made at Shark Bay as a result of Janet's research was to something called dolphin tourism.  When Mann first arrived in the bay, hundreds of people might be in the shallows, throwing fish to the dolphins.  The mothers especially began to learn that the beach was the easiest way to get their babies the food they needed.  SO they stayed near the beach, begging for fish.  As a result, dolphin mothers were overfed, and the only feeding technique babies learned was to head for the beach.  As a result of their knowledge, the government regulates this practice much more strictly.  Only a few volunteers feed selected dolphins a few fish - now the mothers aren't overfed, and the young learn the right way to forage, including sponging.

Finally, Turner does a terrific job of detailing the scientists at work.  She shows one of the team "pole sponging" - imitating the dolphins around him to learn how this works, and why dolphins might engage in it.  She writes about different sampling methods used to monitor the dolphins, and even talks about how they select dolphins to be in the study.  I also really appreciated how when a hypothesis was proven wrong by Mann's team, they worked to come up with alternative hypotheses to solve research questions.  It's all fascinating, and Turner conveys her own enthusiasm for this project throughout the book - she even participates in the research!

Another thing I love about this well-designed series is its inclusion of back matter.  There is an index, additional facts about dolphins, websites, recommended reading, and more citations.  I have always loved how this series develops children's understanding of not only science and research, but the world we live in.  There is tons of material for the interested student to continue learning.  

For one brief moment in my young life, I wanted to be a dolphin trainer.  I had grown up in San Diego and loved dolphins for their intelligence and creativity.  I wish this book had been around when I was young.  I might now be out in Australia with Janet Mann, learning more about these amazing creatures.

The Dolphins of Shark Bay.  By Pamela S. Turner, with photographs by Scott Tuason.  Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2013.

sent by the author

Let's Find Out

Part of my New Year's resolution was to catch up on some blog posts that I had waiting.  My "blogging" pile has an assortment of books in it, ones I really liked.  But for one due date (a publisher's or blog tour's due date) or another (due dates at the library), I would move other books past them.  I'm looking forward to sharing some of them with you in the next week, including an honor book from the ALA Youth Media Awards!

Today I'd like to highlight a series I requested last summer from Black Rabbit Books.  Even then, the series (and another series that I blogged about), were from a webinar that School Library Journal hosted last spring.  This series "Let's Find Out" is perfect for the 1st - 3rd grade reader who is interested in learning about lots of different subjects.

I was sent three books in the series for review - Let's Bake a Cake, Let's Go to the Playground and Let's Read a Book.  They are all written and illustrated by Ruth Walton.  Each of them expands on the title topic.  Let's Read a Book starts with the subtitle - Find out about books and how they are made.  But the subject of creating books has lots of tangents - libraries, different types of writing, the creation of paper and ink... Walton spends two pages on each of these topics and more.  With just two pages to devote to each, most are not covered in-depth.  But there is a surprising amount of information covered there too.  On a spread that discusses how paper is made, there are many pieces of information.  There is the main text that gives an overview of the paper-making process.  The illustration depicts the steps that the wood goes through to become paper.  There is text in the illustration as well, giving additional information and overlaying some of the machinery to guide readers' eyes along the way.  There is a text box that describes how pulp is made.  Finally, there are photographs with captions showing a paper mill and paper ready to be used in a book.  That is an incredible amount of information to have in just one double-paged spread.

And that can be a drawback to young, inexperienced readers working through the text.  There is so information that it can be overwhelming.  I suspect that a new reader would need some guidance on how to follow the main text throughout.  But on the other hand, more accomplished readers can pick and choose what information they'd like to read among the many topics.  On a page about wheat in Let's Bake a Cake, there is a large diagram of a wheat grain, with the parts of the grain identified.  There are other pictures on the same page of foods made with wheat (besides the cake of the title).  These foods are very different, yet readers will immediately tie them together.  On the same page, Walton defines self-rising flour (which is called for in the cake recipe) for readers who most likely would have been unaware of the distinction.

All three books use bold text to indicate vocabulary words.  In Let's Bake a Cake, there are words like carbon dioxide, harvest, and durum wheat.  All of these words are defined in the glossary, located in the back matter.    In Let's Bake a Cake, besides the glossary, there is a world map with the chocolate cake ingredients marked in the locations where they grow.  There is also an illustrated recipe for chocolate cake and an index.

My favorite of the three is Let's Go to the Playground.  In this book, the subtopic is forces and motion.  The format just really seems to work in this title.  There are questions for readers - in a photo of children on a teeter-totter that includes a definition of a fulcrum, the text asks readers "Where do you think the fulcrum is?".  There are simple experiments in this book and information that Frances and Gloria found really useful, such as what makes you go down slides faster (clothes made of smooth or shiny material, in case you were wondering).  The book seems to be more simple than the other two, with less information on each page.  It made this title easier for us to interact with and I felt like we learned a lot more from that.

The illustrations are done in a variety of media.  Mostly, Walton collages elements together.  In the picture of the children on the teeter-totter, the children and teeter-totter are a photograph, collaged into a park scene.  The grass, bushes and dirt are other photos, used in unusual  ways.  I'm not quite sure what the photo representing dirt was originally, but it's been manipulated to look more patterned.  Unless you are looking very carefully at the picture, you might miss all the details that go into the harmonious whole, but they are worth noticing.  There are lots of those details to pore over, and I believe they help catch the reader's eye.  A reader who might be speeding through the book, not paying much attention to anything but the main text, will be drawn in by the details and go back to learn more.  And the wide range of informational presentation in these titles will help attract readers of all learning styles.

These are the sorts of books that help springboard young readers.  As overwhelming as I sometimes found the information, the number of topics will be sure to interest any child, and may lead them into other, related topics.  They will work well within the Common Core implementation beginning across the nation, too.  Thank you to Black Rabbit Books for sharing them with me.

Let's Bake a Cake. Ruth Walton.  Sea-to-Sea Books, 2013.
Let's Go to the Playground.  Ruth Walton.  Sea-to-Sea Books, 2013.
Let's Read a Book.  Ruth Walton.  Sea-to-Sea Books, 2013.

sent by the publisher for review consideration

Big Beasts: Eagle, Polar Bear, Tiger, Whale

So as you all know by now, I've become much more focused on children's nonfiction in the last few years.  I went from having very little interest in nonfiction to wanting to find all the latest, greatest, and the unusual nonfiction - the nonfiction that stands out  from the crowd.  So when I got an email earlier this spring that School Library Journal was hosting a webinar called "What's the Buzz? New Books in Nonfiction", I thought I needed to attend.  Unfortunately, my day job comes first, and a meeting was scheduled at the same time as the webinar.  Luckily, School Library Journal offered an archived version.  It still took me weeks to find time to watch it. When I watched the webinar, I had my library's website and Amazon open at the same time, so I could check for many of the books mentioned from Scholastic, Capstone and DK.  We've already read and enjoyed many of them, including some Star Wars books (Frances and Gloria have become Star Wars fans this spring) that we've ended up buying.

But the publisher that most intrigued me was Black Rabbit Books.  I've been in the library world for a long time, and I wasn't familiar with them.  My public library didn't have any of the titles in their catalog.  But the nonfiction that was highlighted in the webinar seemed to fit very nicely with both my girls' reading levels and interests.  So I did something I rarely do, and requested them from the publisher for review.  I was really delighted to receive some of the books for review, and also really pleased to write about them here.

I was sent four books in the Big Beasts series, written by Stephanie Turnbull - Whale, Tiger, Eagle and Polar Bear.  Frances will be going into first grade in the fall, and I thought these might be a good fit for her reading level.  And they are.  Each book is set up in a similar way.  It starts with a statement about the animal or bird about how large they are (tying back into the series title).  Then there are two-page sections with groups of facts organized by a heading.  For instance, in Eagle, there is a section titled Dinner Time!  There are three facts about eagles and their feeding patterns on the double-page spread.  There is a large, clear photograph of the eagle, swooping down into a body of water.  There are also smaller photographs of some of the eagle's prey.  The facts usually tie together clearly and  flow naturally.  The language is concise but exciting.  On the Dinner Time! page, Turnbull includes the fact "They swoop down faster than a speeding car and grab prey in their long talons. " (p. 11).  These are perfect facts for young readers - written at their level and also written in a way that helps them visualize animals they will most likely never see up close.

At the end of each of the four books, there is a spread of BIG facts about the big beast.  Three of the four books I was sent use fabulous graphics to illustrate these BIG facts.  "Polar bears can be longer than you and a friend lying end to end." (p. 22) is illustrated with a photograph of two children stretched out.  Again, these graphics really help new readers envision these facts in a very concrete way.  A picture of a house illustrates the fact that a whale's spout of air and spray shoots higher than a house.  I found most of these BIG facts incredibly informative and well-done.  Tiger, however, just had a list of facts without all the same types of connections made for readers.

All of the books have a variety of photographs on every page.   These photographs all show the animals and birds in the wild, not in zoos, so readers can see them in their own habitats.  As I mentioned earlier, the books include information about the animals' feeding habits.  Photographs of the polar bear and tiger show them bloodied by their kills.  I think these photographs can also be attractive to some readers - they like to see the blood and gore!  The photographs are clear and vivid and demonstrate the Big Beasts' behaviors.

I was surprised by the breadth of facts included in these books.  I was also surprised by what I learned about animals I would have thought I knew everything about.  I really thought that a book aimed at kindergarten and first graders wouldn't have anything new to offer me.  But I learned at least one new thing from every book.  Did you know tigers have three different kinds of teeth for three separate tasks (biting, tearing and slicing)?  I didn't.  Or that polar bears roll on snow to dry their fur after getting out of the water?  I always advocate for adults to read children's nonfiction too, and this series is a great example of how much we can learn, even when the facts are presented in a simple manner.

My favorite book of the four is Whale.  It covered many different kinds of whales, and included lots of fascinating facts about whales.  But all of them are great.  Each book ends with an index, a glossary of "useful words" and a web link to help set the bar for nonfiction for young children.  I am happy to see that information for these young readers still takes the idea of back matter seriously.  I really like this series - I know Frances' school would love to have them, but I'm sure I can part with these books yet!

Eagle.  Stephanie Turnbull.  Black Rabbit Books: Smart Apple Media, 2013.
Polar Bear.  Stephanie Turnbull.  Black Rabbit Books: Smart Apple Media, 2013.
Tiger.  Stephanie Turnbull.  Black Rabbit Books: Smart Apple Media, 2013.
Whale.  Stephanie Turnbull.  Black Rabbit Books: Smart Apple Media, 2013.


books sent by the publisher for review

The Trouble Begins at 8

This is a rollicking, fun biography of Mark Twain, focusing primarily on the time he spent in Nevada, California and Hawaii.  Fleischman has a great way of writing, and his tone is very well-suited to Twain’s story.  He is pretty careful to point out where there are questions about Twain’s claims, which there are many.  He doesn’t necessarily dispute what Twain says, but he does include quotes from Mark Twain about telling the truth.  I took a class on Mark Twain in graduate school, and I don’t remember much of this information about Mark Twain and his life, but I found it very interesting.  One of the things I found so interesting about his biography was how many get-rich-quick schemes he and his brother were involved in, including mining, a newspaper, and other ideas that lost them both money (of course).   Life then was all about money, how to earn it and stay afloat.  The back matter is very rich, including an excerpt from The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, a timeline of Clemens’ life, references (one of my favorite things for encouraging additional research), and an annotated bibliography.  This book tied in so nicely with the review I did a few weeks ago of Bambino and Mr. Twain - the events of that book happen later in Twain's life.   This was a surprisingly quick read for a biography, and made me want to read more Twain.  On to the next book!

The Trouble Begins at 8: A Life of Mark Twain in the Wild, Wild West - Sid Fleischman.  Greenwillow Books, 2008.

borrowed from Lewis & Clark Library

Scientists in the Field, part two

In 2011, I wrote a post on two books in the Scientists in the Field series.  I am a huge advocate for this series - I have raved about it to multiple people and at conferences ever since I first discovered it.  But I haven't written about other books in the series, even though I have continued to explore the series ever since.  I haven't written about them because I haven't found ones that were different from the series formula I had already discussed.  That doesn't mean this is a bad formula.  On the contrary, this is an well-constructed, well-thought-out formula.  All I can wish is that every middle school science classroom had the complete set on their shelves to inspire young scientists.  They show fascinating careers and scientists of all ages and cultures who are passionate about what they do.  Most importantly, they talk about the world around us in interesting ways without trivializing the science involved. The scientists profiled and the authors who create the books take the science seriously and take the time and effort to create something readable but also informative. However, I've read two contributions to the series lately that I believe should be recommended, and I want to talk about those here.

The Elephant Scientist won a Nonfiction Honor from the Horn Book magazine this year, and it is well deserved.  One of the interesting things about this book is that the scientist herself is one of the authors of the book.  Caitlin O'Connell has also taken many of the photographs of her research and field station that are featured in this book.  O'Connell has been studying elephant communication in Namibia, in Southern Africa.  She has been observing elephant behavior with a research team in hopes of deciphering the elephants' calls as well as how they are able to detect noises through vibrations in the ground.  Some of what she is researching has a very practical aspect - farmers in Namibia are frustrated because there is no way to keep elephants out of their farms, where they destroy crops both by eating them and trampling them.  O'Connell believes that elephants' calls may hold the key to protecting the farmers' crops in a non-threatening, inexpensive way.  She has been studying elephants and their behavior for quite some time, and she and Donna M. Jackson (the co-author for this title) find ways to include this incredible knowledge about elephants along with her research and methodology.  Her group creates an incredible field station, and Jackson and O'Connell describe how this field station must function in order to produce credible research, but at the same time, it must not attract negative attention from the animals they are researching.  O'Connell and Jackson also discuss elephant behaviors in this book.  One of the sections discusses male elephants (bulls) and their social structure.  While we tend to think of bulls as aggressive, they also have affiliative (bonding) behaviors and comfort behavior.  The older bull elephants help raise and guide the younger elephants, just as in the female herds.  O'Connell's love and fascination for these animals shines through on every page.  It gives this volume an almost unparalleled intimacy.

In the other volume of this series that I have been thinking about lately, Sneed B. Collard III goes to a reconstructed prairie in Iowa.  I just met Collard at the Montana State Reading Conference a couple of weeks ago.  At that time, I had this book to re-read and review on the blog, and it was hard not to mention it to him.  The grassland that was created in Iowa was the dream of Congressman Neal Smith, who believed that children should be able to see a prairie in their own state, something Iowa had very little of at that time (in the 1980's).  They created the prairie meticulously.  It was a true community effort - there are photographs here of local people helping to sow native grasses and dancing those seeds into the ground.  One of the most unique things about this book is its community - Collard doesn't just profile one scientist in this volume - instead, he emphasizes how many people maintain responsibility for this delicate ecosystem.  There is Pauline Drobney, the National Wildlife Refuge's biologist who carefully monitors the plants and native grasses of the prairie.  There is Dr. Diane Debinski, who searches for one specific butterfly (the Regal Fritillary) on the prairie.  There are the managers who keep the prairie's bison herds healthy, the volunteers who collect and provide seed... this is an ecosystem, and Collard looks at all its working parts in a very compelling way.  This story is one man's dream, but it is the community responsibility, and it brings science to life in a different way than some of the other books in the series.

One of the things that I love most about this series (and if you know me, this is no surprise) is its backmatter.  I believe strongly that students must be able to read a nonfiction title and springboard to additional resources on that subject or related subjects.  I love the bibliographies in these books.  They respect the reader - giving the reader plenty of opportunities to move past this particular volume.  And both books offer readers a diversity of materials - adult books, books written for young readers, web sites and Internet resources, and in The Elephant Scientist, DVD's too.  There are glossaries, indexes and maps to help readers visualize the subject they are learning about.

One of the other things I like most about this series is its design.  The creators of the series are very cognizant of making these books interesting to look at.  The authors and editors present information in multiple ways to readers.  There are sidebars, text boxes and extensive photo captions to pique readers' interest along with the ongoing narrative.  All books in the series are true, contemporary research projects, and as such, are illustrated primarily with rich, vivid photographs.  This choice also brings readers directly into the scientific environment.  These are high-quality books about terrific subjects.  I cannot recommend these books highly enough.

The Elephant Scientist.  Caitlin O'Connell and Donna M. Jackson; photographs by Caitlin O'Connell and Timothy Rodwell.  Houghton Mifflin, 2011.
The Prairie Builders: Reconstructing America's Lost Grasslands.  Written and photographed by Sneed B. Collard III, Houghton Mifflin, 2005.

The Elephant Scientist was loaned to me by a friend; The Prairie Builders was borrowed from the Lewis & Clark Library

Mirror, Mirror

Mirror, Mirror was a book I have heard about for more than a year.  I read reviews and pre-publication discussions about it, I purchased it for the library I worked for, my library consortium added it to their mock list...and still I didn’t actually read it.  After 2010 was over, Mirror, Mirror was on a best of the year list, and that finally spurred me to read it.  Now that I have, I am angry I didn’t read it earlier so I could have advocated for this book all year long.

I am a big fan of poetry, but Marilyn Singer has really done something magical in this book.  Singer uses fairy tales as her framework for this collection.  But she uses a unique form of poetry in this book, called reversos.  Singer uses the same words in two poems, set back to back on the page.  These poems have the exact same words, but the second poem is an exact reversal of the first.  Some of the punctuation may change to reflect the different meanings of the words, but otherwise the words are exactly the same.  It is truly jaw-dropping to see how carefully these poems are constructed.  I can’t imagine the work that went into adding and subtracting words to get the balance and meaning just right.

Not only are these poems exquisitely constructed, but they also turn familiar fairy tales on their ear.  Singer amazingly takes fairy and folktales that we all recognize and reverses the tale just as she does the words of the poem.  For instance, in the pair of poems called “Cinderella’s Double Life”, Cinderella begins the pair of poems bemoaning “Isn’t life unfair?” before describing her stepsisters gaily going off to the ball.  At the end of the second poem, where Cinderella is the belle of the ball, dancing gaily with the prince, she asks “Isn’t life unfair?” in more of a triumphant manner.

I was so awestruck by Singer’s work that I can’t even name a favorite poem in this book.  However, Frances can.  She loved “Longing for Beauty” about Beauty and the Beast.  I actually didn’t set out to share this book with Frances.  But she happened to walk by as I was reading it.  Frances immediately sat down and made me start at the beginning and read it all to her.  While we have read plenty of books with rhyming text, I’m not sure we’ve read an entire book of poetry, and I didn’t think she would be interested through the whole book.  But she was transfixed.  She correctly identified the tales from the pictures and titles and listened intently.  When Gloria walked by after we finished, she told Gloria excitedly “Gloria, look at this book!  It has Cinderella in it!”.

Part of my daughters’ interest in this book was definitely the illustrations.  We have loved Josee Masse’s illustrations before, and once I began to recognize her technique in this book, I felt she was a perfect choice to illustrate these poems.  Her paintings on peeling, striated, cracked wood bring an ethereal, old-fashioned touch to these poems.  She incorporates familiar elements into the paintings (the gingerbread house laden with sweets in the Hansel & Gretel poems), but her characters have a spark of independence, competence and whimsy about them.  They are modern and old-fashioned at the same time.

I can’t rave enough about this book.  It is perfect and I can’t believe it wasn’t more popular with award committees last year.  I would have voted for it over and over!

Mirror, Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse.  Marilyn Singer; illustrated by Josee Masse.  Dutton Children’s Books, 2010.

Borrowed from Lewis & Clark Library

Just One Bite

As a rule, I wouldn’t have said that I am a nonfiction reader.  In fact, if I had to describe my “grown-up” reading habits, I would say that I primarily and heavily read fiction.  But in reality, I do read a lot of nonfiction, including biographies and nonfiction about reading.  I wouldn’t say it is my favorite thing to read – give me a good story anyday – and I’d suspect others would say the same.  But that rule goes out the window when it comes to children’s books.  I gravitate towards nonfiction for young readers, and if you look at my blog, you’ll see many nonfiction books come off the “new nonfiction” shelf at our local library.  I find authors who specialize in nonfiction have such an enthusiasm for their subjects and a passion for making it easily accessible to any reader.  That’s one of the things I loved about working in the youth department of a public library.  I loved introducing a subject to adults by using books aimed at young children.  You can find out the basics about anything in books for young readers, and then adults can decide whether they want to learn more.

Another reason I like these books is that they often make their subjects so cool!  Just One Bite brings animals’ eating habits to life.  Each double-page spread illuminates one animal (life-size, of course) and what they will eat in just one bite.  It ranges from a tiny speck of dirt for a worm to an enormous sperm whale devouring a giant squid.  The information is impactful, and Schaefer’s way of delivering it makes it even more exciting.  Her text, in combination with Geoff Waring’s illustrations, make this a perfect introduction to animals for preschoolers.  There are only one or two lines of text per page, and Schaefer has to distill the facts about that animal and their prey down to just a few words.  Those words have to pique kids’ interest and keep them reading.  The subject (animals) and the life-size concept are very reminiscent of the successful Steve Jenkins books, and I think they are a terrific conduit to those books for young readers.  But this book is designed to appeal to younger readers and thinkers than the Steve Jenkins books.

 To balance the spare text, Waring’s illustrations are simple, eye-catching, and truly life-sized.  He has simplified each animal down to its strongest lines without sacrificing the textures and features that keep them recognizable to young children.  The backgrounds are bright and basic, which makes the animal and its one bite stand out even more.  The animal and its food or prey are realistically drawn, but Waring isn’t tied to the same rules when creating the background.  I think this is a good thing – the backgrounds are primarily solid-colored, and many of these animals would become camouflaged against their natural background.

The last spread, with the sperm whale devouring the giant squid, is appropriately a large fold-out spread.  This gives children such a sense of the enormity of the sperm whale, which is really only indicated by its teeth and a little bit of gray mouth because it is so large.  This last spread made me realize how artfully Schaefer had organized the book.  It begins with that worm’s eraser-sized dirt clump, and moves up to a mouthful that cannot fit on even a double-paged spread – wow!   Readers may want to read the book more than once – the first time through for the information included, the second time to really examine the size of the animals and their particular mouthfuls.

While this is one of those books that boys will connect with because of the weird and gross things that are sometimes eaten (the komodo dragon eats a vicious-looking snake), I think this book would be equally successful in an elementary school classroom.  The illustrations can easily be seen from far away because of Waring’s design choices, and Schaefer has included additional information about all of the animals and their eating habits at the end of the book.  She does an excellent job defining some of the creatures’ unusual habits in context.  For instance, the common octopus drills a hole into its prey’s “shell with its radula – a toothed tongue.”.  This gives eager readers more information to wield.

I would strongly recommend this book to preschoolers and young elementary school students.  Not only is Schaefer’s enthusiasm visible throughout the book, but they will be able to go back and refer to the information over and over again.  I first checked this book out two months ago, but returned it when we went on vacation.  When we came back to Montana, I had already started this blog, and knew I wanted to finish it, so I checked the book out again.  My girls are still just as fascinated by it as I am.  In fact, Frances wants me to read it again right now!

Just One Bite: 11 Animals and their Bites at Life-Size! Lola Schaefer; illustrated by Geoff Waring.  Chronicle Books, 2010.

Borrowed from the Lewis & Clark Library

Dave the Potter

First of all, I have been reading in the last three weeks, just not writing.  I've been up against a couple of deadlines - many library books that I couldn't renew for various reasons (and I would never give up a library book without reading it first!), and I've also been reading the books for School Library Journal's Battle of the Books.  If you don't know about this fun contest, you should.  Each year, they pit 16 books against each other and have children's authors read two books each and decide which book should move on, culminating in one final winner.  In the children's literature world, these decisions are hotly contested, and the authors' decisions are always strongly written and entertaining.  This year, I hadn't read many of the books chosen, so I have been reading like crazy, trying to get to the books before their fate is determined.  The choices the Battle Commanders have made are really interesting - a strong mix of fiction, nonfiction and graphic novels.  If you're interested in seeing which teen-level books I've been reading, check out my YA Challenge page.  While I am only listing the books that I've read that are considered teen books, this gives you an idea of the volume of books that I am reading.

But I have also been reading all of the books that won Youth Media Awards from the American Library Association this year, and I want to talk about a book that won both a Caldecott Honor Award and a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award for its illustrator - Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave.

The author, Laban Carrick Hill, begins with a connection to the young reader who is opening the book.   He invites them to remember the feelings of dirt, mud and clay, how each of these feel trickling through the reader's fingers.  This is a detail that brings readers right into the book and in turn invites them into Dave's world.

While a quick flip through Hill's brief, poetic text might make you believe that this is more of a picture book, it is definitely beyond a young child's capacity.  Because of how Hill deposits readers into the middle of the story, readers have to have a certain amount of knowledge before beginning.  For instance, there is no mention of time period at the beginning of the book.  Readers have to recognize that it is slavery depicted on the first page to get at least an idea of when the book occurs.

From the very first page it is apparent that Dave is a slave, but that he isn't the same as the other slaves on the plantation.  As Dave sifts through dirt in the foreground, there is a line of men behind him, toiling in that same dirt.  As his talent for throwing pots is exposed to the reader, it is obvious that this talent has elevated Dave above the field slaves.  There are often glimpses of slaves working in the hot sun behind Dave as he creates.  So without even describing the conditions in which Dave lives, Hill and Collier have explained how his life is structured.

Although Hill's text is sparse, it is rich in imagery.  Hill doesn't need a lot of extraneous words to describe Dave.  In a particularly strong fold-out spread, Hill's words cascade down the first page and then stack in a corner of the double-page spread as Collier demonstrates Dave's pottery abilities.  Hill evokes sensory images of Dave's work - something important to allow readers to envision the process and its difficulty.

All of this discussion does very little justice to the amazing illustration work that Collier has done.  The technique that he used is a combination of watercolor and collage, and it truly makes the paintings pop off the page.  There is a painting where Dave has finished the jar, making it so large that Hill notes if Dave would have gotten in the jar, "he would have been embraced."  Dave is shown with his eyes closed, arms outstretched.  Behind him is a tree with arms outstretched as well, but on the arms and trunk of the tree are the faces of other people, supporting and inspiring him.  It is truly majestic.

And in the illustration where Dave is described kicking his potter's wheel, Collier does something unusual.  Dave is shown with his back to the reader, hunched over the jar so that the reader cannot see either Dave's face or the jar.  Instead, the reader's eye is drawn to the potter's wheel, peeking out between Dave's legs and feet.  Collier has created a stream of sunlight that burns down through the haze of Dave's workshop onto the wheel, focusing the reader's attention. 

While most of the colors Collier uses are the colors of the dirt - clay, mud, ruddy - the book is somehow luminous and vibrant.  The light sources that Collier shows - from bright sunlight to the stream mentioned above - make Dave's work glow and brings the man to life.
Finally, as the story ends, Hill takes time to describe what little is known about Dave the Potter.  He goes over why Dave's life story and pottery are so unique.  And as in any work of nonfiction that I champion, there is a strong bibliography, a list of websites, and really illuminating author and illustrator's notes.  Collier describes his own creative process and how these illustrations came to be made.  It is truly amazing to me that so little is known about Dave, and yet Hill and Collier were able to create such a rich book about him.

I have to admit that I would have chosen this book as the Caldecott winner over A Sick Day for Amos McGee.  These illustrations really spoke to me.  I felt that they were so elegant and full of humanity.  Of course, I was not on the selection committee, and I do recognize how hard their job is.  But take some time to find and celebrate this book - it's worth it.

Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave.  Laban Carrick Hill, illustrated by Bryan Collier.  Little, Brown and Co., 2010.

borrowed from Helena School District

Scientists in the Field

As you already know, I love nonfiction and learning new things.  One high-quality series that I am enjoying and learning so much from is the Scientists in the Field series.  Books in this series are written by many authors and with many different points of view.  I wanted to highlight two offerings in this series from 2010, including the Siebert Award winner for this year.

Project Seahorse takes place on a small island in the Philippines. Two female scientists are there to preserve the seahorse population and we learn why this is fundamental to the larger work of saving our oceans.  Pamela S. Turner weaves several strands of this story together successfully - she looks at conservationism, coral reefs, the problem of overfishing and the solution of sustainable fishing, information about seahorses and the scientists' work with not only the seahorses but with the Filipino community.  It is a fascinating story and Turner tells it capably.  As I mentioned, the primary scientists are women (and mothers!) and I feel it is so important to highlight female contributions to science.  Turner spends a lot of time writing about how these scientists work in the field - the diving, the collecting of information from the coral reefs and the analysis of that information.  Because seahorses are endangered, the scientists spend time counting them, measuring them and observing them in the wild.  These scientists feel so strongly about the seahorses and their passion for the safe fishing of the seahorses is inspiring.

The Siebert Award winner Kakapo Rescue: Saving the World's Strangest Parrot was next on my reading list.  Honestly, I originally picked this up only because I wanted to compare and contrast two books in this series.  I really thought I would like Project Seahorse much more, but I was wrong.  Sy Montgomery has been waiting to write this book for several years because these parrots do not breed on a regular basis.  The kakapo is so endangered that there are less than 90 parrots in the world!!  They mostly live on an extremely isolated island off the coast of New Zealand, where people cannot harm them.  But there are so many mysteries associated with the kakapo, including why they do not breed regularly.  Montgomery and photographer Nic Bishop are wholly a part of the scientific investigation - they help to monitor these nocturnal parrots and are there when several chicks hatch.  Because of their first-person presence in the book, Montgomery includes their own experiences and dialogue makes the book feel fresh and immediate.  The kakapo story is also very dramatic - as Montgomery introduces the individual kakapo, the reader becomes invested in their survival.  Montgomery makes this story compelling and inspiring.  While there are scientists doing this research, there are many volunteers who help do the work, which also makes the project seem accessible and personal.  Plus the kakapo are so cute!

There are some things about the Scientists in the Field series in general that I would like to talk about.  These books look like picture books (and both have stunning photographs), but they are not designed for a beginning reader.  The reading level in these books is actually quite high - between fifth and seventh grade - so there are bigger words, more challenging scientific concepts, and generally more information than a young student could handle.  However, these books are aimed at exactly the right audience.  Giving these books to any student beginning a research project will make their day - they look accessible and easy to read, but have lots of information (including sidebars of related stories), great photographs and exemplary backmatter.  You know I am a sucker for great backmatter!  Each book includes strong indexes, maps, bibliographies, and contacts for the research projects.  Also, I think that these books do a wonderful job of bringing science to life.  Students are searching for careers at this age, and becoming aware of the world around them.  This series introduces readers to a way of doing science that isn't completely done in a laboratory with test tubes.  Both books also give students ways they can help with these projects by raising and donating money, raising awareness, or helping to clean up the ocean.  These books are stellar examples of today's new crop of nonfiction and are very, very exciting.  Check them out!

Project Seahorse.  Pamela S. Turner; photographs by Scott Tuason.  Houghton Mifflin, 2010.
Kakapo Rescue: Saving the World's Strangest Parrot.  Sy Montgomery; photographs by Nic Bishop.  Houghton Mifflin, 2010.

borrowed from Lewis and Clark Library