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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Absolutely Everything!

Absolutely Everything! Revised and Expanded: A History of Earth, Dinosaurs, Rulers, Robots, and Other Things too Numerous to Mention
by Christopher Lloyd (Author) and Andy Forshaw (Illustrator)
@ Amazon* | Bookshop*

Booktalk: Embark on a journey across millennia and around the world, from the latest understanding of the origins of the universe through the birth of the Earth, the very first life, the age of dinosaurs, the rise of humans, ancient civilizations, colonialism, wars, technology, everyday life, global struggles for freedom and equality, pandemics — and much more.

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Nonfiction Monday

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

Copyright © 2023 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved. (*bookstore affiliate)

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Everything You Know About Dinosaurs is Wrong!

Everything You Know About Dinosaurs is Wrong!
by Dr. Nick Crumpton (Author) and Gavin Scott (Illustrator)
@ Amazon* | Bookshop*

Booktalk: Each time you turn the page in this 64-page book for middle grade readers, you’ll see a dinosaur “fact” that has been proved wrong with more research.

Snippet:
ALL DINOSAURS BECAME FOSSILS
WRONG!

Everything we know about dinosaurs comes from fossils, so we depend a lot on finding them. But there’s a problem . . . a bone becoming a fossil hardly EVER happens. It is an incredibly rare event and the chances of one single bone being fossilized is about one in a billion!

Nonfiction Monday

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

Copyright © 2023 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved. (*bookstore affiliate)

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Beulah Has a Hunch!

Beulah Has a Hunch!: Inside the Colorful Mind of Master Inventor Beulah Louise Henry
by Katie Mazeika (Author / Illustrator)
@ Amazon* | Bookshop*

Booktalk: Growing up in the 1890s, when Beulah Louise Henry spotted a problem, she had to find a solution, turning it around and around in her mind until..aha! She had a hunch–what she called the inventions she came up with to solve the puzzles she saw all around her.

Beulah’s brain worked differently. She had hyperphantasia, which meant she saw things in extreme detail in her mind, as well as synesthesia, which caused words and numbers and even music notes to show up as different colors in her brain. Beulah’s unique way of seeing the world helped her think up vivid solutions to problems–Her hunches came to her fully formed with gears whirring and wheels spinning. She invented everything from a new and improved parasol to cuddly stuffed animals and from ice cream makers to factory machinery. Beulah’s inventions improved daily life in lots of ways, earning her the nickname “Lady Edison,” and she became one of the most prolific inventors in American history.

Snippet:

Nonfiction Monday

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

Copyright © 2023 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved. (*bookstore affiliate)

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Malala Speaks Out

Malala Speaks Out
Speech by Malala Yousafzai, Translation by Susan Ouriou, Commentary by Clara Fons Duocastella, Illustrations by Yael Frankel
@ Amazon | Bookshop

Booktalk: When Malala was fifteen years old, she was attacked by the Taliban for defending girls’ rights to education. She survived and recovered to become a world leader in education rights. In 2014, at the age of seventeen, she was the youngest person to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. This is her acceptance speech, in which Malala tells her story — the story of 66 million girls around the world deprived of education.

Snippet: We could not just stand by and see those injustices of the terrorists denying our rights, ruthlessly killing people and misusing the name of Islam. We decided to raise our voice and tell them: have you not learnt, have you not learnt that in the Holy Qur’an Allah says, “If you kill one person it is as if you kill all of humanity”?

Nonfiction Monday

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

Copyright © 2023 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

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Enlightened

Enlightened
by Sachi Ediriweera (Author / Illustrator)
@ Amazon | Bookshop

Booktalk: In this first-of-its-kind graphic novel retelling of the life of Siddhartha, the founder of Buddhism, the young prince lives in a beautiful palace in the heart of Kapilavastu. His father, the king, ensures that he has the best of everything–he just can’t go outside. He is locked up away from the city, away from anything that might cause him pain. He knows nothing of illness, aging, sorrow, or death, yet Siddhartha feels the pain regardless, and it instills a burning curiosity to understand the world outside–and the nature of human suffering.

Snippet:

Nonfiction Monday

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

Copyright © 2023 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

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Autumn Peltier, Water Warrior

Autumn Peltier, Water Warrior
by Carole Lindstrom (Author), Bridget George (Illustrator), and Autumn Peltier (Introduction)
@ Amazon | Bookshop

Booktalk: Indigenous women have long cared for the land and water, which in turn sustains all life on Earth–honoring their ancestors and providing for generations to come. Yet there was a time when their voices and teachings were nearly drowned out, leaving entire communities and environments in danger and without clean water.

But then came Grandma Josephine and her great-niece, Autumn Peltier.

Snippet:
The seventh generation is creating
A sea of change.

It was a soft voice, at first.
Like a ripple.
But with practice it grew louder.

Nonfiction Monday

It’s Nonfiction Monday!

Copyright © 2023 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.