Author: Anastasia Suen

My Life with Dyslexia
by Mari Schuh (Author) and Isabel Munoz (Illustrator)
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Booktalk: Meet Scott. He likes coding and playing basketball. He also has dyslexia. Scott is real and so are his experiences. Learn about his life in this nonfiction picture book for elementary students.

Snippet: People with dyslexia have a unique way of thinking. I love to code. I’ve learned how to give computers the instructions to do all kinds of things.

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

Copyright © 2021 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

Mia Hamm: Striking Gold
by Joe Levit (Author)
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Booktalk: Soccer superstar Mia Hamm was a goal-scoring machine. At 15, she joined the US Women’s National Team. In college, Hamm led her team to four straight national championships. And in 1999, she made history, breaking the all-time record for goals scored in international matches. Learn more about Hamm’s life and the moments that made her a soccer legend.

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It’s Nonfiction Monday!

Copyright © 2021 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

Flip! How the Frisbee Took Flight
by Margaret Muirhead (Author) and Adam Gustavson (Illustrator)
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Booktalk: Fred Morrison is credited with inventing this classic toy, but for centuries folks have been flipping for flying discs. Ancient Greeks flicked discs, and beginning in the 1920s, college kids at Yale University were tossing pie tins.

Fred’s invention quest began in 1932 after tossing a tin popcorn lid around the backyard. For more than twenty years, Fred and his wife, Lu, tried and failed to perfect a flying-disc concept. Eventually they created what we know today as the Frisbee.

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It’s Nonfiction Monday!

Copyright © 2021 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

Kids vs. Plastic: Ditch the straw and find the pollution solution to bottles, bags, and other single-use plastics
by Julie Beer (Author)
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Booktalk: It’s in your toothbrush … your clothes … your earbuds. Chances are, you’re touching it right now. We’re talking about plastic! Plastic is absolutely everywhere and in practically everything we touch, from pens to water bottles to sports equipment. And a lot of it is used once and then thrown away. Unfortunately, it takes a REALLY long time for plastic to break down and it can be harmful to our environment, especially wildlife. But why and when did we start using it in so much stuff? And how do we stop?

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It’s Nonfiction Monday!

Copyright © 2021 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

The Floating Field: How a Group of Thai Boys Built Their Own Soccer Field
by Scott Riley (Author), Nguyen Quang (Illustrator), and Kim Lien (Illustrator)
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Booktalk: After watching the World Cup on television, a group of Thai boys is inspired to form their own team. But on the island of Koh Panyee, in a village built on stilts, there is no open space. The boys can play only twice a month on a sandbar when the tide is low enough. Everything changes when the teens join together to build their very own floating soccer field.

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It’s Nonfiction Monday!

Copyright © 2021 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

The Science and Technology of Marie Curie (Build It Yourself)
by Julie Knutson (Author) and Michelle Simpson (Illustrator)
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Booktalk: Delve into the world of Marie Curie, a person who revolutionized the way we perceive the universe while getting the world to question gender roles and social norms. Then follow in her footsteps with hands-on STEM activities for ages 9-12.

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It’s Nonfiction Monday!

Copyright © 2021 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

The Elephants Come Home: A True Story of Seven Elephants, Two People, and One Extraordinary Friendship
by Kim Tomsic (Author) and Hadley Hooper (Illustrator)
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Booktalk: One day in 1999, Lawrence Anthony and Françoise Malby hear that a herd of wild African elephants needs a new home. They welcome the elephants to their wildlife sanctuary–Thula Thula–with open arms. But the elephants are much less sure they want to stay. How will Lawrence prove to them that they are safe and loved?

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It’s Nonfiction Monday!

Copyright © 2021 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

Out of the Blue: How Animals Evolved from Prehistoric Seas
by Elizabeth Shreeve (Author) and Frann Preston-Gannon (Illustrator)
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Booktalk: Life on Earth emerged “out of the blue.” It began in the vast, empty sea when Earth was young. Single-celled microbes too small to see held the promise of all life-forms to come. Those microbes survived billions of years in restless seas until they began to change, to convert sunlight into energy, to produce oxygen until one day “Gulp!” one cell swallowed another, and the race was on.

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It’s Nonfiction Monday!

Copyright © 2021 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

Hidden Black History: From Juneteenth to Redlining
by Amanda Jackson Green (Author)
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Booktalk: Many important moments in history have not been taught in schools or explored in the mainstream media. These events often include people of color and involve Black history. Intentional or not, this puts all Americans at a disadvantage. Learn about Black history moments that shaped America, from the arrival of the first enslaved Africans in Virginia in 1619 to the Freedom Summer of 1964, and read about efforts to reshape how we teach Black history in schools in the 21st century as we prepare for Juneteenth on June 19th.

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It’s Nonfiction Monday!

Copyright © 2021 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

And I Paint It: Henriette Wyeth’s World
by Beth Kephart (Author) and Amy June Bates (Illustrator)
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Booktalk: A father and daughter sneak away from their big, busy family to paint in the wild landscape. Together, they paint a lily, bright and white as a star; the green growing into the cap of a strawberry; the blue in the sky running pink. Henriette’s father is N.C. Wyeth, the famous artist, who encourages her to paint what she sees, to awaken into her dreams, and she does, in this picture book inspired by a famous American family of artists.

Snippet:
So that it’s only Pa and it’s only me,
sensing deeply, like Pa says.
Looking. Seeing. Smelling the air
and the earth,
and the turpentine,
and also that flower.

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

Copyright © 2021 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.