Author: Anastasia Suen

Jackie and the Mona Lisa
by Debbie Rovin Murphy (Author) and Jen Bricking (Illustrator)
@ Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound

Booktalk: Jackie Kennedy loved the arts. And America loved Jackie Kennedy. The first lady knew she had the country’s attention–what would she do with it? Encourage Americans to appreciate art, of course! She turned the White House into a historical site filled with some of America’s most treasured artifacts and pieces of art. She brought Shakespearean theater to the White House and ballerinas to the South Lawn. And most epically, she brought the Mona Lisa to the states (much to the chagrin of many Parisians) to encourage Americans to visit museums–and it worked!

Snippet: The first time eleven-year-old Jackie visited the White House, she wasn’t very impressed.

Drab curtains.
Boring furniture.
And no guidebook to teach visitors about the most famous house in America.

The next time Jackie visited the White House, she was the First Lady. But the White House looked the same.

Drab curtains.
Boring furniture.
And no still guidebook!

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

Copyright © 2022 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

The Gardener of Alcatraz: A True Story
by Emma Bland Smith (Author) and Jenn Ely (Illustrator)
@ Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound

Booktalk: When Elliott Michener was locked away in Alcatraz for counterfeiting, he was determined to defy the odds and bust out. But when he got a job tending the prison garden, a funny thing happened. He found new interests and skills–and a sense of dignity and fulfillment. Elliott transformed Alcatraz Island, and the island transformed him.

Snippet:

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

Copyright © 2022 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

Be the Change: Rob Greenfield’s Call to Kids–Making a Difference in a Messed-Up World
by Rob Greenfield (Author) and Antonia Banyard (Author)
@ Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound

Booktalk: Rob Greenfield loves this planet, and he’s willing to go to extremes to show kids how our way of life is causing it harm. He’s walked around New York City dressed in his own garbage, cycled across the U.S. on a bamboo bike (three times), and survived one year on food he foraged or grew himself. For Rob, it’s all worth it: he brings attention to important topics like food and water waste; our dependency on fossil fuels; our piles of stuff (and the energy required to produce it); and our disconnection from community and the wider world. In this book for ages 8 to 12, Rob uses his own experiences to show kids that no one is too young to make a difference, and no action is too small to make a start.

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It’s Nonfiction Monday!

Copyright © 2022 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

Amanda Gorman: Inspiring Hope with Poetry
by Artika R. Tyner (Author)
@ Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound

Booktalk: Poet Amanda Gorman delivered her poem “The Hill We Climb” at the 2021 presidential inauguration, winning wide acclaim. Read about Gorman’s early life, her children’s and poetry books, and what she plans to do next.

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It’s Nonfiction Monday!

Copyright © 2022 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

Child of the Flower-Song People: Luz Jiménez, Daughter of the Nahua
by Gloria Amescua (Author) and Duncan Tonatiuh (Illustrator)
@ Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound

Booktalk: As a young Nahua girl in Mexico during the early 1900s, Luz learned how to grind corn in a metate, to twist yarn with her toes, and to weave on a loom. By the fire at night, she listened to stories of her community’s joys, suffering, and survival, and wove them into her heart.

But when the Mexican Revolution came to her village, Luz and her family were forced to flee and start a new life. In Mexico City, Luz became a model for painters, sculptors, and photographers such as Diego Rivera, Jean Charlot, and Tina Modotti. These artists were interested in showing the true face of Mexico and not a European version. Through her work, Luz found a way to preserve her people’s culture by sharing her native language, stories, and traditions. Soon, scholars came to learn from her.

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It’s Nonfiction Monday!

Copyright © 2022 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

Only Margaret: A Story about Margaret Wise Brown
by Candice Ransom (Author) and Nan Lawson (Illustrator)
@ Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound

Booktalk: When Halley’s comet arrived in 1910, so did an extraordinary person: Margaret Wise Brown. Margaret had a boundless imagination and a gift for spinning stories. Most grown-ups thought children’s books were frivolous and silly, but Margaret didn’t agree. Could writing stories for children be important work–a incredible way to share truth, beauty, and wonder?

Other people might call Margaret strange, and sometimes her own worries and doubts felt overwhelming. But only Margaret and her original ideas could lead to Goodnight Moon, The Runaway Bunny, and other classics beloved by children around the world.

Snippet: One night, Margaret dreamed of a green room and a red balloon and a picture of a cow jumping over the moon. The next morning, she reached for the notebook by her bed. Her pen sped, scrawling line after line about a bunny who named all the things in his room before he went to sleep.

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

Copyright © 2022 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

Close-Up on War: The Story of Pioneering Photojournalist Catherine Leroy in Vietnam
by Mary Cronk Farrell (Author)
@ Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound

Booktalk: French-born Catherine Leroy, one of the war’s few woman photographers, documented some of the fiercest fighting in the 20-year Vietnam War. Although she had no formal photographic training and had never traveled more than a few hundred miles from Paris before, Leroy left home at age 21 to travel to Vietnam and document the faces of war. Despite being told that women didn’t belong in a “man’s world,” she was cool under fire, gravitated toward the thickest battles, went along on the soldiers’ slogs through the heat and mud of the jungle, crawled through rice paddies, and became the only official photojournalist to parachute into combat with American soldiers. Leroy took striking photos that gave America no choice but to look at the realities of war–showing what it did to people on both sides–from wounded soldiers to civilian casualties.

Snippet: Her parents and friends did not understand her desire to leave home, travel across the globe, and drop herself into danger. For Catherine, it was simple.

“I want to become a photojournalist, and the biggest story at the moment is the Vietnam War.”

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

Copyright © 2022 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

MEGA-COOL MEGAFAUNA series
by Anastasia Suen (Author)

Booktalk: My MEGA-COOL MEGAFAUNA series came out during the pandemic and now all four books are online as e-books. Hooray! Click the links under each title to find them at your library.

@ Hoopla | Overdrive | WorldCat

@ Hoopla | Overdrive | WorldCat

@ Hoopla | Overdrive | WorldCat

@ Hoopla | Overdrive | WorldCat

These middle grade expository books are written in prose, but I’ve been writing STEM poetry for years, so that’s what I did for this author visit mini-comic.

In the What is your favorite BIG animal? mini-comic, I’ve written two pocket poems about two of the creatures in the MEGA-COOL MEGAFAUNA Creatures of Today book. Each pocket poem is based on two facts from the book.

What will the third poem be? That’s up to you–and your students! Write two facts about your favorite BIG animal on page 6 and write a pocket poem using those facts on page 7. Then draw your animal on page 8.

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

Copyright © 2022 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

Stacey Abrams: Champion of Democracy
by Artika R. Tyner (Author)
@ Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound

Booktalk: Stacey Abrams is a lawyer, entrepreneur, and voting rights activist. After working in government, she founded Fair Fight Action to improve voting access. Learn about Abrams’s early life and what she plans to do next.

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It’s Nonfiction Monday!

Copyright © 2022 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

Pura’s Cuentos: How Pura Belpré Reshaped Libraries with Her Stories
by Annette Bay Pimentel (Author) and Magaly Morales (Illustrator)
@ Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound

Booktalk: Pura’s abuela always has a cuento to share. She crows ¡Qui-qui-ri-quí! for Señor Gallo, booms Borom, Borom for Señor Zapo, and tells of a beautiful cockroach who loves a mouse. Pura clings to these stories like coquíes cling to green leaves.

When Pura grows up and moves from Puerto Rico to Harlem, she gets a job at the library, where she is surrounded by stories–but they’re only in English. Where is Señor Gallo? Where is Pérez the mouse? Where is Puerto Rico on these shelves? She decides to tell children the tales of her homeland in English and in Spanish.

Snippet:

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

The author, Annette Bay Pimentel, is one of my former students.
Copyright © 2022 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.