Anastasia Suen

June 14, 2021June 13, 2021

Out of the Blue

Out of the Blue: How Animals Evolved from Prehistoric Seas
by Elizabeth Shreeve (Author) and Frann Preston-Gannon (Illustrator)
@ Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound

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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Nonfiction Monday

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

June 7, 2021June 6, 2021

Hidden Black History: From Juneteenth to Redlining

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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Nonfiction Monday

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

May 24, 2021May 23, 2021

And I Paint It

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.

Nonfiction Monday

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

May 17, 2021May 16, 2021

The People’s Painter: How Ben Shahn Fought for Justice with Art

The People’s Painter: How Ben Shahn Fought for Justice with Art
by Cynthia Levinson (Author) and Evan Turk (Illustrator)
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Booktalk: As a child growing up in Lithuania, Ben Shahn yearns to draw everything he sees–and, after seeing his father banished by the Czar for demanding workers’ rights, he develops a keen sense of justice, too. So when Ben and the rest of his family make their way to America, Ben brings both his sharp artistic eye and his desire to fight for what’s right. As he grows, he speaks for justice through his art–by disarming classmates who bully him because he’s Jewish, by defying his teachers’ insistence that he paint beautiful landscapes rather than true stories, by urging the US government to pass Depression-era laws to help people find food and jobs.

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Nonfiction Monday

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

May 10, 2021May 9, 2021

A Shot in the Arm!

A Shot in the Arm!: Big Ideas that Changed the World
by Don Brown (Author / Illustrator)
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Booktalk: Explore the history of vaccinations and the struggle to protect people from infectious diseases, from smallpox–perhaps humankind’s greatest affliction to date–to the COVID-19 pandemic in this nonfiction graphic novel.

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Nonfiction Monday

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

May 3, 2021May 2, 2021

Parents Here and There: A Kid’s Guide to Deployment

Parents Here and There: A Kid’s Guide to Deployment
by Marie-Therese Miller (Author)
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Booktalk: Parents have many different jobs. Some work in the military and are away from home for months or years. When your parent is gone, you miss what you did together. What are some things you can do while they are gone?

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Nonfiction Monday

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

April 26, 2021April 25, 2021

On Wings of Words

On Wings of Words: The Extraordinary Life of Emily Dickinson
by Jennifer Berne (Author) and Becca Stadtlander (Illustrator)
@ Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound

Booktalk: In a small New England town lives Emily Dickinson, a girl in love with small things–a flower petal, a bird, a ray of light, a word. In those small things, her brilliant imagination can see the wide world–and in her words, she takes wing.

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Nonfiction Monday

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

April 19, 2021April 18, 2021

Wilderness

Wilderness
by John Muir (Author) and Giovanni Manna (Illustrator)
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Booktalk: A collection of some of John Muir’s most memorable and inspirational words reminds us of a shared responsibility and inescapable bond–that all inhabitants of this planet “travel the Milky Way together.”

Snippet: The sun shines not on us but in us.

Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.

Nonfiction Monday

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

April 12, 2021April 11, 2021

Science and Me

Science and Me: Inspired by the Discoveries of Nobel Prize Laureates in Physics, Chemistry and Medicine
by Ali Winter (Author) and Mickael El Fathi (Illustrator)
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Booktalk: Discover some of the inspirational men and women who have received Nobel Prizes in Physics, Chemistry and Medicine from 1901 to the present day, among them Marie Curie, Hermann Joseph Muller, and Donna Strickland.

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Nonfiction Monday

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

April 5, 2021April 4, 2021

How to Change Everything

How to Change Everything: The Young Human’s Guide to Protecting the Planet and Each Other
by Naomi Klein (Author) with Rebecca Stefoff (Adapter)
@ Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound

Booktalk: Warmer temperatures. Fires in the Amazon. Superstorms. These are just some of the effects of climate change that we are already experiencing.

The good news is that we can all do something about it. A movement is already underway to combat not only the environmental effects of climate change but also to fight for climate justice and make a fair and livable future possible for everyone. And young people are not just part of that movement, they are leading the way. They are showing us that this moment of danger is also a moment of great opportunity–an opportunity to change everything.

Snippet: In early 2020 the virus grew into a pandemic, a disease that affected people in nearly every country. Rates of sickness and death were tragically high. Millions of people had to change their ways, staying home and avoiding other people, to slow the spread of the virus. Schools closed in many countries, throwing kids into a new routine of learning at home while missing their friends.

At the end of this book you’ll find what I think we can learn from this shared worldwide experience. But as you read the following chapters, keep in mind that the coronavirus pandemic did not halt climate change–or the movement to bring climate change under control.

The movement is underway now. Its goal is to fight climate change while also making a fair and livable future for everyone. This is called climate justice. And young people are not just part of that movement. They are leading the way. Will you be one of them?

Nonfiction Monday

It’s Nonfiction Monday!