Author: Anastasia Suen

From her studio in Northern California, developmental editor Anastasia Suen reads, writes, and edits books for creators of all ages.
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Nikola Tesla for Kids

Nikola Tesla for Kids: His Life, Ideas, and Inventions, with 21 Activities
by Amy M. O’Quinn (Author)

Booktalk: Nikola Tesla was a physicist, scientist, electrical engineer, and world-renowned inventor whose accomplishments faded into oblivion after his death in 1943. Tesla was undeniably eccentric and compulsive; some considered him to be somewhat of a “mad” scientist. But in reality, he was a visionary. Many of his ideas and inventions that were deemed impossible during his lifetime have since become reality. He was the first to successfully use rotating magnetic fields to create an AC (alternating current) electrical power supply system and induction motor. He is now acknowledged to have invented the radio ahead of Marconi. Among other things, he developed the Tesla coil, an oscillator, generators, fluorescent tubes, neon lights, and a small remote-controlled boat. He helped design the world’s first hydroelectric plant at Niagara Falls.

Snippet:
CREATE AN ELECTROMAGNET
A regular magnet is permanently magnetic–you can’t just turn the charge on or off. But an electromagnet is magnetic only when it is supplied with electricity, and you can easily change the strength of the electromagnet by changing the amount of electricity that flows through it. Find out for yourself!

Nonfiction Monday

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

Copyright © 2019 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

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Reaching for the Moon

Reaching for the Moon: The Autobiography of NASA Mathematician Katherine Johnson
by Katherine Johnson (Author)

Booktalk: As a young girl, Katherine Johnson showed an exceptional aptitude for math. In school she quickly skipped ahead several grades and was soon studying complex equations with the support of a professor who saw great promise in her. But ability and opportunity did not always go hand in hand. As an African American and a girl growing up in an era of brutal racism and sexism, Katherine faced daily challenges. Still, she lived her life with her father’s words in mind: “You are no better than anyone else, and nobody else is better than you.”

In the early 1950s, Katherine was thrilled to join the organization that would become NASA. She worked on many of NASA’s biggest projects including the Apollo 11 mission that landed the first men on the moon.

Snippet: “There is some sort of secret government project out here on the Virginia peninsula, and they are looking for Colored women who are mathematicians,” Eric told me.

“Really!?”

“They call the women ‘computers,’ Katherine,” he said. “I don’t know exactly what they do. But do you think you might be interested?”

“Yes. I want to hear more!”

“Well, I know several women who do that job. I think I can help you get on.”

After the fire we needed a fresh start. So we packed up and moved the 358 miles east to the Hampton Roads area, the largest ice-free harbor in the United States and home to some of the nation’s most important military installations. With so many military bases there, there were lots of jobs in the area.

Nonfiction Monday

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

Copyright © 2019 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

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Susan B. Anthony: The Making of America

Susan B. Anthony: The Making of America
by Teri Kanefield (Author)

Booktalk: America’s famous suffragette Susan B. Anthony was born into a world in which men ruled women: A man could beat his wife, take her earnings, have her committed into an asylum based on his word, and take her children away from her. While the young nation was ablaze with the radical notion that people could govern themselves, “people” were understood to be white and male. Women were expected to stay out of public life and debates. Anthony began her public career as a radical abolitionist, and after the Civil War, she became an international figurehead of the women’s suffrage movement.

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Nonfiction Monday

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

Copyright © 2019 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

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The Apollo Missions for Kids

The Apollo Missions for Kids: The People and Engineering Behind the Race to the Moon, with 21 Activities
by Jerome Pohlen (Author)

Booktalk: In addition to learning about ALL of the Apollo missions, readers can prepare for #Apollo50 next month with these 21 hands-on activities, that include:

  • Determining what they would weigh on the moon
  • Learning to identify the moon’s features
  • Demonstrating orbital mechanics with a marble and a shallow bowl
  • Calculating how far away the moon is using sports equipment
  • Recreating the shape and size of the command module
  • Eating like an astronaut and making “space food”
  • Designing a mission patch

Snippet:
Moongazing
First, locate Tycho, the large white crater on the lunar map above. This will help you determine north and south. The full moon will appear to be lying on its left side if you look at it just after sundown and on its right side just before sunrise. Also, if you look at moon with a telescope, everything will be inverted–upside down–or mirrored left to right.

Nonfiction Monday

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

Copyright © 2019 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.