Anastasia Suen

April 4, 2022April 3, 2022

Child of the Flower-Song People

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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Nonfiction Monday

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March 28, 2022March 27, 2022

Only Margaret: A Story about Margaret Wise Brown

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.

Nonfiction Monday

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

March 21, 2022March 20, 2022

Close-Up on War

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.”

Nonfiction Monday

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

March 14, 2022March 13, 2022

MEGA-COOL MEGAFAUNA series

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

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.

Nonfiction Monday

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

March 14, 2022March 13, 2022

Stacey Abrams: Champion of Democracy

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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Nonfiction Monday

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

March 7, 2022March 6, 2022

Pura’s Cuentos

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.

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Nonfiction Monday

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

February 28, 2022February 27, 2022

The Life of Clara Barton

The Life of Clara Barton
by Gillia M. Olson (Author)
@ Amazon | IndieBound

Booktalk: This timeline biography explores Clara Barton’s incredible life as a humanitarian. Chapter book readers will learn about Barton’s careers as a teacher and nurse, and how caring for wounded Civil War soldiers inspired her to create the American Red Cross.

Snippet: When the U.S. Civil War (1861-1865) began, Clara wanted to help. She brought soldiers food, water, and other supplies.

Nonfiction Monday

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

February 21, 2022February 20, 2022

National Geographic Readers: Kamala Harris (Level 2)

National Geographic Readers: Kamala Harris (Level 2)
by Tonya Grant (Author)
@ Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound

Booktalk: Explore one of the most powerful and highest-ranking female figures in American history with this biography of Vice President Kamala Harris in this Level 2 beginning reader.

Snippet:
Who Is Kamala Harris?
On January 20, 2021, Kamala
(KAH-muh-luh) Harris became
vice president of the United States.
It is the second highest job in the
United States after president.

Nonfiction Monday

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

February 14, 2022February 13, 2022

Have I Ever Told You Black Lives Matter

Have I Ever Told You Black Lives Matter
by Shani Mahiri King (Author) and Bobby C. Martin Jr (Illustrator)
@ Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound

Booktalk: Celebrating Black accomplishments in music, art, literature, journalism, politics, law, science, medicine, entertainment, and sports. Black lives have always mattered.

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