Chapter Book of the Day – Page 12

Decoding Our DNA: Craig Venter Vs the Human Genome Project

Decoding Our DNA: Craig Venter Vs the Human Genome Project (Scientific Rivalries and Scandals)
by Karen Gunnison Ballen (Author)

Booktalk: The Human Genome Project launched in 1990, with scientists around the world collaborating on the research. They worked slowly and methodically, trying to produce the most accurate information possible. By 1991 one of these scientists, Craig Venter, became fed up with the HGP’s slow pace. He challenged the HGP to move faster and started his own company to compete with the HGP.

Racing neck and neck, the two organizations reached their goal years ahead of schedule. But the challenge also led to a bitter public argument, especially over who could use the sequence and how. This book reveals how ambition, persistence, ego, greed, and principle combined–often with explosive results–in the quest to decode our DNA.

Snippet: Rosalind Franklin was a British biophysicist. In the early 1950s, she produced extremely high-quality X-ray images of DNA crystals. Her work was key to the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA.

Nonfiction Monday

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

The Wood Queen

The Wood Queen
by Karen Mahoney (Author)

Booktalk: To keep her best friend, Navin, from being killed at the hands of vicious wood elves, Donna Underwood stole the elixir of life. Now she’s facing an alchemist tribunal while her mother lies dying, succumbing to the elven curse that shattered her mind. In desperation, Donna seeks an audience with Aliette, the fierce and manipulative Wood Queen, who offers a deal: if Donna can use her strange and burgeoning powers to help the wood elves, Aliette will free her mother from the curse. Along with Navin and Xan, the half-fey guy she’s falling for, Donna struggles to unlock the secrets of her iron tattoos in time to save her mother’s life. But some secrets are better left untold.

Snippet: And the crows; so many of them. A murder of crows? Circling around and around in an indigo sky, shedding only feathers that look like black petals.
Maybe I’m just having anxiety dreams ahead of the trial. Aunt Paige gets mad when I call it that–my trial–but isn’t that what it is?

City Critters: Wildlife in the Urban Jungle

City Critters: Wildlife in the Urban Jungle
by Nicholas Read (Author)

Booktalk: When we think of wild animals, we don’t immediately associate them with the cities we live in. But a closer look soon reveals that we share our urban environment with a great many untamed creatures. Heavily illustrated with color photographs throughout and full of entertaining and informative facts, City Critters examines how and why so many wild animals choose to live in places that, on first glance at least, seem contrary to their needs.

How do those deer, raccoons, squirrels, skunks, coyotes, crows, gulls and geese—not to mention the alligators, eagles, otters and snakes—manage to survive in the big city? What special skills do city critters have that many of their wilderness cousins lack? Why have they developed these skills? And what are our responsibilities in ensuring that these animals can continue to share our city lives?

Snippet: We are in the midst of what scientists call “the sixth great extinction,” meaning this is the sixth time in geological history that huge numbers of animal species have disappeared in a very short period of time. The last one occurred about 65 million years ago when, it’s believed, either an asteroid or a comet struck the Earth and wiped out the dinosaurs. This time the extinction can’t be blamed on outside events. It’s our fault and no one else’s.

STEM Friday

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

Stella Batts: Needs a New Name

Stella Batts: Needs a New Name
by Courtney Sheinmel (Author) and Jennifer Bell (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Meet Stella Batts. She is eight-years old and she loves to write. She loves to write lists; like her favorite things and kids in her class. And she’s writing her autobiography. Stella’s favorite color is yellow and she LOVES fudge. As a matter of fact, there is a special fudge counter at her family’s candy store because fudge is one of her favorite things to eat!

But Stella has just one problem—her name. A boy from her class keeps calling her ‘Smella’ after she trips on their class nature walk. (‘I don’t even want to say what I landed in, it was too gross, so I’m just going to leave out that part.’). So Stella decides there’s really only one thing to do: she has to change her name. After all, how hard can it be to pick a new name? But it’s not as easy as it sounds.

Snippet: I think it would be good to have a name that had a real nickname. Penelope is a way better name–it sounds kind of sing-songy, and Penny is the prefect nickname for it. But Stella isn’t a sing-songy name. It only has two syllables, and it doesn’t have any good nicknames. I got to be the older sister, but Penny got to have the best name.

172 Hours on the Moon

172 Hours on the Moon
by Johan Harstad (Author)

Booktalk: It’s been decades since anyone set foot on the moon. Now three ordinary teenagers, the winners of NASA’s unprecedented, worldwide lottery, are about to become the first young people in space–and change their lives forever.

Mia, from Norway, hopes this will be her punk band’s ticket to fame and fortune.

Midori believes it’s her way out of her restrained life in Japan.

Antoine, from France, just wants to get as far away from his ex-girlfriend as possible.

It’s the opportunity of a lifetime, but little do the teenagers know that something sinister is waiting for them on the desolate surface of the moon. And in the black vacuum of space… no one is coming to save them.

Snippet: The room was suddenly buzzing, the tension starting to crescendo.

“You don’t want to go back to the south pole, trust me.”

“Of course not.”

“It could kill you.”

“I’m aware of that.”

“If you ask me, I say leave the whole place alone.”

BONUS! See the video!

The Secret Life of Money: A Kid’s Guide to Cash

The Secret Life of Money: A Kid’s Guide to Cash
by Kira Vermond (Author) and Clayton Hanmer (Illustrator)
160 pages

Booktalk: Odd anecdotes, engaging comics, and a wealth of surprising everyday connections help young readers see and understand cash from an entirely different angle.

Snippet: Cheddar. Bucks. Moolah. Funds. Bread. Bacon. Beans. Whatever you call your money, there’s a good chance you’re starting to take it a bit more seriously these days. Maybe you’re thinking about taking a babysitting class or mowing the neighbor’s lawn to turn your spare time into pure moneymaking magic. Sounds like a plan.

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

Big Bad Sheep

Big Bad Sheep
by Bettina Wegenast (Author) and Katharina Buhoff (Illustrator)
64 pages

Booktalk: The big bad wolf is dead! But no sooner do the three little pigs start celebrating than the sheep Karl decides to apply to be the wolf’s replacement. He’s barely slipped on the wolf’s skin when he starts to change before the very eyes of his friends, becoming perhaps a bit more wolf than anyone expected.

Snippet: The dwarf turned to Karl again. “So why should we appoint you to the post of Wolf?”

“Because…” Karl looked at the ground.

“Well?” the dwarf drummed impatiently on his desk.

Karl took a deep breath. “Because…because I want it. Because I’m the best. Because I’m not one of those bell-wearing types.”

Hockey (Record Breakers)

Hockey (Record Breakers)
by Blaine Wiseman (Author)

Booktalk: Whether it is a huge play to win the Stanley Cup or a big trade, hockey is full of exciting moments. Learn about the greatest achievements of hockey’s biggest stars.

Snippet:
Shut the Door
A shutout is very important in hockey. It happens when the goalie stops every shot in a single game. During a game, if the opposing team has not scored, it is considered bad luck for a player to say “shutout.”

Nonfiction Monday

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

Aliens on Vacation

Aliens on Vacation (The Intergalactic Bed & Breakfast)
by Clete Smith (Author) and Christian Slade (Illustrator)
272 pages

Booktalk: Scrub isn’t happy about having to spend the summer with his hippie grandmother in “Middle of Nowehere,” Washington. When he arrives at her Intergalactic Bed & Breakfast, he’s not surprised by its 1960s-meets-Star Wars decor; but he is surprised by the weird looking guests. It turns out that each room in the inn is a portal and his grandma is the gatekeeper, allowing aliens to vacation on Earth. She desperately needs Scrub’s help with disguising the tourists as humans. As if that weren’t difficult enough, the town sheriff is already suspicious of Granny. One wrong move and Scrub could blow Grandma’s cover, forcing the B&B to shut down forever. And when it comes to aliens, every move seems wrong . . .

Snippet: A sheriff’s car cruised down the street, and the driver stared at me as he passed. A wide-brimmed hat cast a shadow over his round face, partially obscuring his frown and bushy mustache. A toothpick jutted out of the side of his mouth. His gaze stayed fixed on me as he drove by.

Friday Reads

Picture Book of the Day

Sir Cumference and the Viking’s Map
by Cindy Neuschwander (Author) and Wayne Geehan (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Xaxon Yellowbearyd was the fiercest Viking warrior of his time. Now a map to his hidden treasure lies in Radius’s and Per’s hands. Together the cousins must decode the strange numbered grid on the map-and figure out the secret of the Viking’s X and Y axes. As bungling bandits pursue them, Radius and Per use coordinate geometry in their quest for “treasure of the greatest measure.”

Snippet: “We’re well and truly lost,” Per said to her cousin, Radius. “How I wish we had a map.”
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STEM Friday

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

Come share your link!

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Chapter Book of the Day

Self-Portrait With Seven Fingers
by J. Patrick Lewis and Jane Yolen (Authors) and Marc Chagall (Illustrator)
40 pages

Booktalk: A biography in free verse, penned by J. Patrick Lewis, the 2011 Children’s Poet Laureate, and Jane Yolen, “the Hans Christian Andersen of America,” with paintings by Marc Chagall on every spread, this collection of fourteen poems is aptly named, as to do something “with seven fingers” is a Yiddish expression meaning to do something well or adroitly. Notes for each painting explain the vocabulary as well as Chagall’s art and personal history.

Snippet:
Paris Through the Window (J. Patrick Lewis)
My window opens to you, Paris!
Inhabit my brushes, dine on my canvas.
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Poetry Friday