Nonfiction Monday

Rivers and Streams! With 25 Science Projects for Kids by Rebecca Siegel with illustrations by Tom Casteel provides a reader-friendly opportunity for children, ages 7-10, to dive into the stated subject. 

The introduction explains that there are more than 165 major rivers and goes on to define the properties of a river and contrast rivers with other bodies of water such as oceans and canals to establish a basis for the chapters that follow. In addition, it details how good science practices will facilitate completing the ongoing science projects that appear throughout the book at the conclusion of each chapter.

The well-organized and engaging chapters that follow encourage youthful scientists to explore multiple topics:

How and why rivers and streams are important to the water cycle, habitats, and their value as a resource.

How rivers influence migration, transportation, and farming as well as the value of rivers as a source of energy.

The diversity of animal-life from insects to mammals and the ways in which they have adapted to the specialized environment that exists in flowing water.

Ways in which plants prevent erosion and create unique habitats such as the Everglades.

The relationship between rivers, streams, and climate.

Ways in which humans have changed rivers from ancient times through the present.

Cartoon-style illustrations are augmented here and there with photographs to create visual interest. Text boxes set out challenges labeled INVESTIGATE or CONSIDER AND DISCUSS. WORDS TO KNOW defines important vocabulary. DID YOU KNOW? highlights special facts. Each chapter concludes with a series of hands-on STEM projects to enable students to reinforce learning, enhance understanding, and develop critical thinking skills.

Recommended as a valuable STEM resource for home, school, and library collections.

Picture Book Friday

Butterflies On The First Day of School by Annie Silvestro with illustrations by Dream Chen is an ideal story for young readers facing the beginning of a new school year.

Playing off the familiar “butterflies in my stomach” description for feeling nervous, Silvestro crafts her story of a little girl who truly has butterflies in her stomach. Rosie begins her day feeling too anxious to even enjoy her mom’s chocolate chip pancakes and climbing on the unfamiliar school bus doesn’t help. But Rosie soon discovers that making a new friend enables her to release the first butterfly that flutters from her lips. As the day progresses, Rosie finds more friends and fun, releasing all her butterflies one after another.

Silvestro contrasts the butterfly fantasy against the reality of kindergarten life: meeting the teacher, sharing, painting, building with blocks, romping on the playground, and telling her mother all about her fabulous first day of school.

Chen’s vibrant colors and richly detailed illustrations are a charming backdrop for the lively text.

Now’s the time to add this charmer to your home or school library.

Midwest Book Review -- Praise for GRACIE JANE

I was delighted to receive the following review for my latest picture book.

"Gracie Jane" is the first title of a cowgirl series that is full of action, humor, charm, and character. Written in exciting action prose with a hint of rhyme, and fully color illustrated, "Gracie Jane" tells the tale of a cowgirl who rescues a little lost pup from a flooded river and takes the orphan, named Fifi La Rue, home to the ranch. Now the question was, what could Fifi La Rue do that would be helpful and useful on the ranch? Kids will love the amazing tricks and troubles that just sprout around Fifi La Rue on the ranch. One scrape after another, Gracie Jane's refrain is, " Fifi La Rue, what did you do?" The overwhelming good humor of Gracie Jane is exemplary in view of the many escapades of Fifi la Rue. For a larger than life portrait of an honest Western cowgirl, read the series of adventures that begins with "Gracie Jane."

 at http://www.midwestbookreview.com

Picture Book Friday

Koala Is Not A Bear by Kristin L. Gray with illustrations by Rachel McAlister explores the nature of family as Koala tries to find her place in a camp full of animals. 

Grizzly is happy to welcome Koala to the bear cabin, but Kangaroo insists Koala is not a bear. As the story unfolds, Koala and Kangaroo take turns offering evidence to support their opposing viewpoints. Koala can climb trees agrees Grizzly, but so can lemurs, Kangaroo is quick to point out. New clues are disclosed with each turn of a page. Does Koala hibernate? No! Does he have a pouch like Kangaroo? Yes!

The humorous text encourages critical thinking in young readers as they assess the clues and gradually narrow down the options until the answer is revealed. Cartoon-style illustrations enhance the reader-friendly narrative.

Recommended for home and school libraries.

Nonfiction Monday

The Renaissance Explorers with History Projects for Kids, by Alicia Z. Klepeis is part of the Renaissance For Kids Series from Nomad Press. Klepeis structures her work around chapter biographies of Niccolo de Conti, Bartolomeu Dias, Vasco da Gama, Pero da Covilha, and Ferdinand Magellan in her focus on the lives of early European explorers.

An introduction, Exploration During the Renaissance, asks the question, “Why leave the comfort of home and family to strike out to new lands where danger might lurk?” Of course, there is the familiar answer, “Europeans were searching for a sea route to India and Asia.” But there were a number of other factors that influenced the timing of this exploration. Improvements in the technology of navigation, shipbuilding, and map making created better opportunities for success. European monarchs sponsored expeditions to expand empires, gain wealth, monopolize trade, and impose Christianity on indigenous people.

Each biographical chapter utilizes primary sources and a timeline to trace the life of an explorer and identify their contributions to the growing body of knowledge about exotic places and their people, culture, plants, and animals. Conti, a Venice merchant, self-funded his twenty-five-year-long expedition to Persia, India, Sumatra, and Borneo. He returned with information about the inhabitants as well as spices, animals, and geography. Dias was sent by King John II of Portugal to find a trade route to India. Dias was the first to sail around the Southern tip of Africa into the Indian Ocean before being forced to return home by his crew. Vasco da Gama, a Portuguese navigator, built on the experience of Dias and became the first to sail from Europe to India. Covilha traveled to India and Ethiopia as an emissary of King John II of Portugal, successfully establishing a relation between Portugal and Ethiopia. Magellan’s circumnavigation of the world changed navigation forever by improving maps and establishing new trading routes.

  

As with the other volumes in the series, readers are challenged to ask questions and use critical thinking skills in response to a series of hands-on projects that are offered at the end of each chapter. Maps, photographs and illustrations highlight the subjects and provide historical context. Multiple text boxes offer additional facts, quotes, and insights on a variety of topics from the famous Moroccan explorer Ibn Battuta to the use of an astrolabe for navigation. Calls to action are strategically placed throughout: Wonder Why? poses additional questions for consideration.  Connect contains QR codes for audio and video files. Words of Wonder directs readers to a multi-page glossary at the end of the book. Resources provides a list of books, videos, and museums for further exploration.

The book is well organized and the content expands on familiar facts and introduces readers to details that are often overlooked such as the cruelty that often accompanied the explorers in their encounters with people of other cultures or religions. The text and illustrations are richly detailed. The conversational tone and age-appropriate vocabulary is appealing.

Recommended for home and school libraries.

Picture Book Friday

Holy Squawkamole! By Susan Wood with illustrations by Laura Gonzalez is a lively twist on the traditional tale, The Little Red Hen.

In this rollicking Southwestern-themed story, the Little Red Hen hankers after some guacamole and tries to enlist the help of Coati, Armadillo, Snake, and Iguana to gather the ingredients from her garden and then mash and mix them in her cocina. True to the original plot, everyone has an excuse to avoid the work, but each is quick to offer to share in the treat. So, the Little Red Hen, la gallinita roja, gathers avocados, plucks tomatoes, digs onions, and snips cilantro all by herself. She mashes and mixes all by herself. Then … she adds a secret ingredient and invites all the lazy animals to share in the dish.

The lively text utilizes Spanish terms that are cleverly integrated into the narrative. Gonzalez’s vibrant illustrations are detailed and warmly appealing.

Wood enriches the content with two author notes: The History of Guacamole traces this delectable dish back to ahuacamolli (avocado sauce) first made by the Aztecs of Mexico in the 1300s. And there is also, La Gallinita Roja’s Guacamole Recipe with some helpful hints.

A glossary provides definitions for the Spanish terms.

Recommended for young readers or as a read aloud.

Picture Book Friday

When Grandma Gives You A Lemon Tree, the debut picture book by Jamie L.B. Deenihan with illustrations by Lorraine Rocha, is a light-hearted twist on the familiar phrase, “When life gives you lemons…”

In this instance, Deenihan imagines what would happen when a gadget-obsessed child, whose birthday wish list is laden with electronics, receives a lemon tree from Grandma instead. What’s the point of a lemon tree? It doesn’t do anything and it requires looking after. Told in the second person, the narrator begins by reminding the astounded child to mind her manners – No faces! No tears! And definitely, no tossing Grandma’s gift! Just smile and say thank you.

Once past her disappointment, the narrator gently guides the girl through the steps of caring for the young tree, sharing a wealth of valuable gardening information with the reader along the way. With the passage of time, the tree matures and so does the young gardener who discovers that there is something even more fun than growing, naming, and decorating her tree.  She can pick lemons, and with grandma’s help, make lemonade (the recipe is included) to sell on the sidewalk. Cash in hand, she heads to the store where we discover her passion has changed. She returns home, not with the once longed for technology, but with an abundance of plants to share with her urban neighbors!

Deenihan does more than celebrate the joys of a garden in this humorous tale. She subtly reminds us of the benefit to be found in patiently working toward a long-term goal, the joy of being outside in nature rather than cloistered with electronics, and the importance of community.

Rocha’s diverse cartoon-style characters are a perfect fit for the urban environment of the story. The illustrations are colorful and richly detailed, encouraging readers to take a second and third look.

A charming story that I happily recommend for home and school libraries!