Nonfiction Monday

What's your geography IQ?

A new book by TIME FOR KIDS, 50 STATES: Our America, offers young readers a chance to check their knowledge. What was the last state to join the United States -- Hawaii in 1959. Can you name the oldest city in America -- St.  Augustine, Florida founded in 1565.

This quick reference guide devotes a page to each of the states. Individual entries include basic facts such as date of admission to the union, postal abbreviation, capital, nickname, population, land area, state tree, and state bird, along with an illustration of the state with major cities identified. A brief write-up highlights historical facts often beginning with Native American inhabitants and ending with present day.

The book opens with sections on Tribal Nations Before European Settlement, European Settlement, Westward Expansion, and The United States of present day.

The Federal District of Washington, D.C. receives a double page spread similar to that of the states with historical details. The inhabited U.S. Territories and Commonwealths of American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico are treated to a brief discussion and facts: Status, Capital, Population, Geography, and Economy listed. Uninhabited Territories and Commonwealths are listed and mapped.

The five geographical regions of the United States: Northeast, South, Midwest, West, and Pacific States are mapped and discussed with a focus on climate, industry, agriculture, and recreation.

Colorful artwork, maps, and photographs provide visual interest and support the child-friendly text.

Recommended as an introduction to the subject or a quick reference source for home or school.

SAVE THE DATES! If you have always dreamed of writing or are currently working on a book, here's an opportunity to explore your writing options and sharpen your skills.

Picture Book Friday

Here’s a wonderful book for the 2017 Baseball Season.

WAITING FOR PUMPSIE by Barry Wittenstein with illustrations by London Ladd is the fictionalized story about the integration of the Boston Red Sox in 1959 when they brought up their first black player, Elijah “Pumpsie” Green.

Major league baseball began to integrate in 1947 when Jackie Robinson took the field with the Brooklyn Dodgers, but it took another 12 years before fans at Fenway finally saw a black player on their team.

Bernard, the young narrator of the story has waited and waited for that day, and the story brings that moment to life with energy, sensitivity, and honesty. Vivid illustrations are a bold counterpoint to the strong text.

Beginning with spring training, the tension builds as Bernard’s family observes the growing pressure both from stadium crowds and members of the civil rights movement to give Pumpsie Green his moment. Bernard’s family are devoted to the Red Sox and follow the season’s play as the Sox slip in the standings, but It’s not until a July game – the eighth inning with the Red Sox down two to one – that the waiting is finally over. Bernard’s voice transports the reader to both time and place and immerses the audience in the heart-pounding excitement.

Willy Mays and Jackie Robinson are probably far more familiar names. It’s time for Elijah “Pumpsie” Green’s story to be shared with young audiences.

This is an excellent addition to home and school libraries for the young baseball fans in your family.

Nonfiction Monday

In Animal Planet's Chapter Book SNAKES!, Author, James Buckley, Jr. introduces readers to the diverse world of snakes beginning with a basic look at the anatomy and characteristics that differentiate these animals from other reptiles.

The eleven chapters divide focus between general knowledge and the examination of specific types of snakes. How snakes move, attack and defense, foods, life cycles, and senses compare and contrast the ways in which diverse types of snakes function. Additional chapters concentrate on some of the most interesting, abundant, weird, or deadly groups of snakes such as rattlesnakes, boas and pythons, garter snakes, and the elapids which include cobras, kraits, and mambas.

Colorful, detailed photographs enrich the text and provide visual interest. Fang Facts identify snake body parts, and discuss the value of snakes in the ecosystem.  Double-page FACT FILES, highlight some of the United States’ most venomous snakes, details such as food choices that range from termite larvae to birds and mammals, identifies various types of vipers, and discusses habitats. Colored text boxes define terms, and offer extra details.

  

A fun resource for home or school.

Fiction Friday

The Museum of Mysteries by David Glover employs numbers in some of their many uses: decimals, even and odd, factors, fractions, multiples, prime numbers, Roman numerals, and percentages as clues to this mystery adventure. 

Only you can stop the burglars who are determined to steal the Golden Hoard, the greatest of all ancient treasures. Your understanding of numbers in their various forms and uses will determine your success in deciphering the clues, collecting the mysterious objects, and solving the final puzzle. Solve each puzzle correctly, and the reader moves forward through the story.  Make a mistake, and the reader will find an explanation of what probably went wrong before being sent back to try again.

This is one in the Math Quest series of books designed to encourage and develop math skills in an entertaining format. Colorful illustrations paired with a lively text draws the reader into the story. A glossary of Calculation Words explains terms and demonstrates methods to provide support for readers on a variety of topics from addition to percentages.

Not every reader will become a math whiz, but they will discover that math can be fun even when it's also a challenge which is a great confidence booster for reluctant mathematicians.

Picture Book Friday

It’s Just So… by Brenda Faatz and Peter Trimarco takes readers on a light-hearted journey through that most dreaded of scenarios – the first day at a new school.

For our young heroine, Lizzy, everything seems just so overwhelming.  The bus is just so TALL. The school is just so BIG. The books are just so WORDY. But as Lizzy warms to the challenge, she discovers that addition and subtraction are MATHEMAGICAL, art is COLORIFIC, and her geography lesson on Australia is just so WOMBATTY!  In fact, her day has turned out to be “just so fantastical, explorational, colorifical, animalogical – EPIC!”

Lizzy is a charming role model who is willing to take the initiative and her heroism is rooted in her bravery and determination in facing her fears. Her hopeful story is both entertaining and inspiring for any child facing a new challenge whether it is changing schools or encountering other life changes.