Month: January 2019

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Snails Are Just My Speed!

I’m running a bit behind this morning, so Snails Are Just My Speed! by Kevin McCloskey is a perfect choice to read.

Part of the Giggle and Learn series, this title combines fun illustrations with serious information about snails.

The first thing I love is that Keven McCloskey put the eyes where they should be, on the eye stalks or tentacles. Yes!

The second thing I love is that he puts in a lot of mucus for the “ick, gross” factor, but also adds useful information, like humans make mucus too, but it is mostly on the inside.

The thing I love most? The awesome lesson on how to draw a snail in the back! (Turn the page for useful tips for parents and teachers about “How To Read Comics With Kids.”)

The books in this series are marketed as beginning readers, which may discourage some older children from picking them up. That would be too bad because they have potential to appeal to a larger range of ages.

Snails Are Just My Speed! should fly off the shelves. Check out a copy today!

If you want a bit of snail silliness, visit my post at Growing With Science blog.

Copyright © 2019 Roberta Gibson All Rights Reserved.

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Planting Stories

Planting Stories: The Life of Librarian and Storyteller Pura Belpré
by Anika Aldamuy Denise (Author) and Paola Escobar (Illustrator)

Booktalk: When she came to America in 1921, Pura Belpré carried the cuentos folklóricos of her Puerto Rican homeland. Finding a new home at the New York Public Library as a bilingual assistant, she turned her popular retellings into libros and spread story seeds across the land. Today, these seeds have grown into a lush landscape as generations of children and storytellers continue to share her tales and celebrate Pura’s legacy.

Snippet: The library needs a bilingual assistant.
Pura speaks Spanish, English, and French.
She is perfect for the job.

But where are her abuela’s stories?
Not one folktale from Puerto Rico is on the shelves.

Nonfiction Monday

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

Copyright © 2019 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

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The Things That I LOVE about TREES

The Things That I LOVE about TREES by Chris Butterworth and illustrated by Charlotte Voake is a wonderful picture book for winter and for all seasons.

Combining facts about how useful trees are with a narrative tour of how trees change from season to season, Chris Butterworth’s gentle prose is relaxing and enlightening.

Summer trees are shady
and so full of leaves that
when the wind blows.
they swish like the sea.

Voake has an obvious affinity for trees and her watercolor and ink illustrations are mesmerizing. With a few strokes she can create the feel of an ancient forest or a swaying sapling.

The Things That I LOVE about TREES is a delightful book. It might not be for everyone, but for youngsters who love nature and want a comfortable, quiet book, this is a good choice. Curl up with a copy today.

The complete review is at Wrapped in Foil today.

Copyright © 2019 Roberta Gibson All Rights Reserved.

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The Civil Rights Movement

The Civil Rights Movement
by Eric Braun (Author)

Booktalk: The Civil Rights Movement started in the 1800s and remains a prominent movement within our modern society. Find out how activists such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Fannie Lou Hamer set the stage for activists in modern times and learn how activists are speaking out today to expand rights for African Americans.

Snippet:

Nonfiction Monday

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

Copyright © 2019 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

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The Vast Wonder of the World

The Vast Wonder of the World: Biologist Ernest Everett Just
by Mélina Mangal (Author) and Luisa Uribe (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Ernest Everett Just was not like other scientists of his time. He saw the whole, where others saw only parts. He noticed details others failed to see. He persisted in his research despite the discrimination and limitations imposed on him as an African American. His keen observations of sea creatures revealed new insights about egg cells and the origins of life.

Snippet:

Nonfiction Monday

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

Copyright © 2019 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

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Struttin’ with Some Barbecue

9781580897402Struttin’ with Some Barbecue: Lil Hardin Armstrong becomes the First Lady of Jazz 

by Patricia Hruby Powell

Illustrated by Rachel Himes 

Charlesbridge, 2018

Almost everyone has heard of jazz trumpet player Louis Armstrong, but what of his wife, Lil Hardin? In this illustrated,  novel-in-verse, Patricia Hruby Powell introduces us to the the talented piano player and composer, Lil Hardin. She was Louis Armstrong’s wife, his early manager, and the composer of several famous jazz hits of the day, including “Struttin’ with Some Barbecue.” With or without her famous husband, Lil Hardin was destined to be a star.

Short chapters in chronological order start with Liz’s upbringing with her strict mother—a staunch foe of “race music,” as jazz was called at the time.  However, Liz’s talent, drive, and ability to make money, finally won over her disapproving mother.  Lil began dating the shy Louis Armstrong in 1922. Together they played music, married, and rose to the top,

Lil and Louis

were struttin’ high on the hog

right there in Chicago,

up from the South,

makin’

raw and raucous

rompin’, rollickin’

music.

Dang, they were musical royalty—

inventing

a new kind of sound—

makin’

jazz.

After reading Struttin’ with Some Barbecue, you won’t be able to look up
a recording of Lil’s music fast enough.  I’ve saved you the trouble.
A link to listen to “Struttin’ with Some Barbecue” is on my blog, Shelf-employed.

In addition to a glossary, bibliography, index, etc., back matter includes additional information on Lil, jazz, and racial conditions of the era.

My copy of Struttin’ with Some Barbecue was provided by the publisher.

You can read all of my reviews on my blog, Shelf-employed.

nonfiction.monday

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

Copyright © 2019 L Taylor All Rights Reserved.

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Picture Books: Nonfiction, Fiction or Both?

For a little different approach to Nonfiction Monday, let’s take a look at some recent picture books that push the boundaries of traditional nonfiction.

As you may already know, I recently was a round I judge for 2018 Cybils Elementary/Middle Grade Nonfiction. It turned out a few of the nominated books were hard to categorize. Were they fiction or nonfiction?

For example, one of the nominees was Janet Halfmann’s Midnight Teacher (reviewed last year at Wrapped in Foil).

Midnight Teacher looks and reads like a typical nonfiction biography. The publisher’s website says it is “based on a true story,” but calls it historical fiction in some of the press materials. In this case, it is probable that there was too little information about Lilly Ann Granderson for a strictly nonfiction biography.

Another example is Walking the City with Jane:  A Story of Jane Jacobs by Susan Hughes.

Again, it has all the appearances of a picture book biography. My library had it shelved in nonfiction. Yet, if you read the author’s note in the back matter, you find out that this is a “fictionalized” account (no details given.) This is more problematic for me, because what is fact and what is fiction is unclear.

Recently, Carol Hinz had an excellent discussion of four picture books that blend fiction and nonfiction at Lerner Blog.

In these, the fictional elements are easier to spot. For example, in Flower Talk by Sara Levine a cactus narrates the book.

A talking cactus is pretty obviously fictional.

In Love, Agnes by Irene Latham, which was categorized in Cybils as Fiction, a octopus sends postcards to her neighbors (reviewed today at Wrapped in Foil).

Again, the fictional aspects are clear. There’s also, however, a wonderful factual underpinning and the back matter is all hardcore nonfiction. Rather than in some gray area between fiction or nonfiction, this book shouts that it is clearly and loudly BOTH.

What do you think of picture books that explore the limits of nonfiction?  Do they belong here at Nonfiction Monday or do we need a new category — other than creative nonfiction — that celebrates books like these?

Copyright © 2019 Roberta Gibson All Rights Reserved.