Month: February 2023

Not Done Yet: Shirley Chisholm’s Fight for Change
by Tameka Fryer Brown (Author) and Nina Crews (Illustrator)
@ Amazon | Bookshop

Booktalk: Shirley Chisholm was a natural-born fighter. She didn’t like to be bossed and she wanted things to be fair. She poured her energy into whatever she did–from teaching young children to becoming Brooklyn’s first Black assemblywoman. Not afraid to blaze a trail, she became the first Black woman elected to Congress and the first woman to seriously run for US president. With a vision of liberty and justice for all, she worked for equal rights, for the environment, for children, and for health care. Even now, her legacy lives on and inspires others to continue her work . . . which is not done yet.

Snippet:

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

Copyright © 2023 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

Love Is Loud: How Diane Nash Led the Civil Rights Movement
by Sandra Neil Wallace (Author) and Bryan Collier (Illustrator)
@ Amazon | Bookshop

Booktalk: Diane grew up on the South Side of Chicago in the 1940s. As a university student, she visited the Tennessee State Fair in 1959. Shocked to see a bathroom sign that read For Colored Women, Diane learned that segregation in the South went beyond schools–it was part of daily life. She decided to fight back, not with anger or violence, but with strong words of truth and action.

Finding a group of like-minded students, including student preacher John Lewis, Diane took command of the Nashville Movement. They sat at the lunch counters where only white people were allowed and got arrested, day after day. Leading thousands of marchers to the courthouse, Diane convinced the mayor to integrate lunch counters. Then, she took on the Freedom Rides to integrate bus travel, garnering support from Martin Luther King Jr. and then the president himself–John F. Kennedy.

Snippet:

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

Copyright © 2023 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

BIG LIES: from Socrates to Social Media
by Mark Kurlansky (Author) and Eric Zelz (Illustrator)
@ Amazon | Bookshop

Booktalk: Big lies are told by governments, politicians, and corporations to avoid responsibility, cast blame on the innocent, win elections, disguise intent, create chaos, and gain power and wealth. Yes, big lies are as old as civilization. They corrupt public understanding and discourse, turn science upside down, and reinvent history. They prevent humanity from addressing critical challenges. They perpetuate injustices. They destabilize the world.

The modern age has provided ever-more-effective ways of spreading lies, but it has also given us the scientific method, which is the most effective tool for finding what is true. In the book’s final chapter, find out how you can deconstruct an allegation. Ask if there is credible, testable evidence to support it. If not, suspect a lie. A scientific theory has to be testable, and so does an allegation. Then ask more questions! Who is the source? Who benefits? Is there a money trail? Especially in the age of social media, critical thinking counters lies and chaos. Are you ready to think for yourself?

Snippet:

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

Copyright © 2023 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

Python Crash Course: A Hands-On, Project-Based Introduction to Programming, 3rd Edition
by Eric Matthes (Author)
@ Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound

Booktalk: Start by learning basic programming concepts, such as variables, lists, classes, and loops, and practice writing clean code with exercises for each topic. You’ll also learn how to make your programs interactive and test your code safely before adding it to a project. Put your new knowledge into practice by creating a Space Invaders-inspired arcade game, building a set of data visualizations with Python’s handy libraries, and deploying a simple application online.

As you work through the book, you’ll learn how to:

• Use powerful Python libraries and tools, including pytest, Pygame, Matplotlib, Plotly, and Django
• Make increasingly complex 2D games that respond to keypresses and mouse clicks
• Generate interactive data visualizations using a variety of datasets
• Build apps that allow users to create accounts and manage their own data, and deploy your apps online
• Troubleshoot coding errors and solve common programming problems

This third edition is completely revised to reflect the latest in Python code. New and updated coverage includes VS Code for text editing, the pathlib module for file handling, pytest for testing your code, as well as the latest features of Matplotlib, Plotly, and Django.

Snippet:

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

Copyright © 2023 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

Africa Is Not a Country, 2nd Edition
by Mark Melnicove (Author), Margy Burns Knight (Author), Anne Sibley O’Brien (Illustrator)
@ Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound

Booktalk: Enter into the daily lives of children in the many countries of modern Africa. This middle grade book counters stereotypes and celebrates the diversity of this continent. The second edition includes updates to the text, statistics, and illustrations to reflect Africa in the 2020s.

Snippet:

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

Copyright © 2023 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.