August 2014 – Booktalking #kidlit

From Steel to Bicycle

From Steel to Bicycle
by Robin Nelson (Author)

Booktalk: How does steel become a shiny new bicycle? Follow each step in the process—from shaping the steel to testing the finished bike!

Snippet:
First, steel is heated.

Most bike frames are made out of steel. Steel is a metal. A furnace heats the steel in a factory. The steel gets soft.

It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

Do you blog about science or math? Share your posts on the STEM Friday group blog.

Dinnertime for Chickies (board book)

Dinnertime for Chickies
by Janee Trasler (Author, Illustrator)

Booktalk: Eat dinner with the Chickies in this rhyming padded board book!

Snippet:
Dinnertime, Chickies.
Let’s all eat.

Wash your wings
and take a seat.

Hear the book sung in this 2:35 Dinnertime for Chickies book trailer.

**Janee is one of my former students!**

This week’s Poetry Friday Round-up will be hosted by Check it Out.

Slam!: A Tale of Consequences

Slam!: A Tale of Consequences
by Adam Stower (Author, Illustrator)

Booktalk: A slammed door leads to all kinds of consequences in this nearly wordless book that reads like a comic. (The boy who slammed the door is completely oblivious to the chaos he has caused.)

Snippet:

Fleabrain Loves Franny

Fleabrain Loves Franny
by Joanne Rocklin (Author)

Booktalk: Set in Pittsburgh in 1952, Franny Katzenback is recovering from polio. She falls in love with the brand-new book Charlotte’s Web. Bored and lonely and yearning for a Charlotte of her own, Franny starts up a correspondence with an eloquent flea named Fleabrain who lives on her dog’s tail.

Snippet: When Franny read a book, the waiting stopped. Pittsburgh time slipped away when she was reading, and only the hours of other worlds were true. Being a wide and fast reader, she could finish a book in two days. One, if the books were short.

Park Scientists: Gila Monsters, Geysers, and Grizzly Bears in America’s Own Backyard

Park Scientists: Gila Monsters, Geysers, and Grizzly Bears in America’s Own Backyard (Scientists in the Field Series)
by Mary Kay Carson (Author) and Tom Uhlman (Illustrator)

Booktalk: America’s National Parks are protected places and have become living museums for as many as 270 million visitors per year! In addition, researchers are able to perform long term studies of a wide number of subjects from salamanders the size of thumbnails to gigantic geothermal geysers. These parks are natural laboratories for scientists.

Snippet: Taking care of the parks in the responsibility of the National Park Service. NPS depends on scientists to study the best ways to preserve and protect the landscapes and life forms under its care. Park scientists track numbers of bears, eagles, and sequoia trees. They monitor volcanoes, measure glaciers, and look after caves. Scientists in parks collect weather information, restore habitats, and oversee animal populations.

Nonfiction Monday

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

Sun, Moon, and Stars

Sun, Moon, and Stars
by Thea Feldman (Author)

Booktalk: Introduce young readers to the sky above with this Level 2 beginning reader.

Snippet:
A giant star
The Sun is giant star in space.

Gas inside a star is so hot,
it makes the star glow!

It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

Do you blog about science or math? Share your posts on the STEM Friday group blog.

No Nap! Yes Nap!

No Nap! Yes Nap!
by Margie Palatini (Author) and Dan Yaccarino (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Follow Mama on her quest to settle Baby down for nap as she dashes from room to room!

Snippet:
Mama says, NAP.
Baby says, NO NAP!

This week’s Poetry Friday Round-up will be hosted by Live Your Poem.

Manga Classics: Les Miserables

Manga Classics: Les Miserables
by Victor Hugo (Author), Stacy King (Editor), and SunNeko Lee (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Adapted for stage and screen, loved by millions, Victor Hugo’s classic novel of love & tragedy during the French Revolution now appears in a new manga adaptation of Les Miserables. (So read from right to left…)

Snippet:

Preview the first chapter.

101 Things to Do with Baby

101 Things to Do with Baby
by Jan Ormerod (Author, Illustrator)

Booktalk: A little girl and her family find 101 things to do with their new baby in this gentle graphic novel-style picture book. (The sticker on the cover says: 30th Anniversary of a Picture-Book Classic.)

Snippet:

Reporting Under Fire: 16 Daring Women War Correspondents and Photojournalists

Reporting Under Fire: 16 Daring Women War Correspondents and Photojournalists
by Kerrie Logan Hollihan (Author)

Booktalk: A profile of 16 courageous women journalists who risked their lives to bring back scoops from the front lines. Without exception, these war correspondents share a singular ambition: to answer an inner call driving them to witness war firsthand, and to share what they learn via words or images.

Snippet: Peggy [Hull] may have dressed to fit in, but the fact was that any girl reporter would cause a ruckus among thousands of soldiers. Even General Pershing knew her name. Peggy had ridden out to meet the general as he led his soldiers back from Mexico, and their picture ran the next day in the Morning Times. Pershing was not pleased to see himself upstaged by Peggy, whose place in the photo made it seem as if she had led the parade.

Nonfiction Monday

It’s Nonfiction Monday!