Author: Anastasia Suen

Thankful
by Elaine Vickers (Author) and Samantha Cotterill (Illustrator)
@ Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound

Booktalk: When the first snow falls, a little girl writes down the things she’s thankful for on strips of paper and links them together. As one idea leads to another, her chain grows longer. Mindfulness meets the seasons of the year at school and at home.

Snippet:

It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

Copyright © 2021 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

Night Creatures: Animals That Swoop, Crawl, and Creep while You Sleep
by Rebecca E. Hirsch (Author) and Sonia Possentini (Illustrator)
@ Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound

Booktalk: As the sun sets, night creatures awaken. In their rural backyard, a parent and child camp out, watching as fireflies flicker, bats flap, and rabbits race.

Snippet:
A cool night breeze
blows softly
on your face
as night creatures wake
in quiet dens
and dusky nooks.

See the book trailer.

It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

Copyright © 2021 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

The Chemistry of Food
by Carla Mooney (Author) and Traci Van Wagoner (Illustrator)
@ Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound

Booktalk: Middle school readers can learn the science behind the food they love to eat as they explore the chemistry within the meal, how nutrition works, what creates flavor, and why texture is important with hands-on science investigations (and recipes!), links to online resources and media, career connections, and text-to-world questions. What makes ice cream melt? Why does pasta go limp when you cook it in boiling water? Why does tomato sauce taste different from fresh tomatoes? Discover the answers yourself!

Snippet:

It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

Copyright © 2021 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

For Every Little Thing: Poems and Prayers to Celebrate the Day
by June Cotner (Editor), Nancy Tupper Ling (Editor), and Helen Cann (Illustrator)
@ Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound

Booktalk: Arranged from waking up to falling asleep, this poetry anthology gathers classic selections, modern prayers, and new poems from multiple cultures and faiths to celebrate the day and its delights. From Emily Dickinson to Amma, from Ken Nesbitt to Rabbi Rami M. Shapiro, fifty-one voices encourage children to be present and thankful at all hours.

Snippet:
DAY’S END

Night is come,
Owls are out;
Bettles hum
Round about.

Children snore
Safe in bed;
Nothing more
Need be said.

–Henry Newbolt

A 2021 Cybils Poetry nominee

It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

Copyright © 2021 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

COVID-19: The Coronavirus Disease
by Jackie Golusky (Author)
@ Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound

Booktalk: Scientists and health-care workers around the world are battling COVID-19. Find out how the disease attacks the human body and see how people are fighting back in this middle grade book written at first grade reading level.

Snippet:

It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

Copyright © 2021 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

Let’s Explore Migration
by Emma Carlson-Berne (Author)
@ Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound

Booktalk: Each year, butterflies, whales, and many other animals travel long distances in search of better food, weather, and more. Then they return to repeat the pattern. Learn all about migration, one of nature’s amazing cycles, in this beginning reader.

Snippet:

It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

Copyright © 2021 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

It Takes Guts: How Your Body Turns Food Into Fuel (and Poop)
by Dr. Jennifer Gardy (Author) and Belle Wuthrich (Illustrator)
@ Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound

Booktalk: A science-based resource for classroom learning and home-schooling for kids age 9 to 13, with information about:

• The surprising role that food and digestion play in your mood and immune system.
• The amazing tools your body uses to break down food including acids, which do their thing without burning a hole in your stomach!
• The incredible truth that not all bacteria is bad! Billions of “helpful bacteria” belong in your gut.
• And so much more.

Snippet: Microbes can even influence our mood! We’ve already seen how our gut talks to our brain through nerves and hormones, and it turns out that these conversations can be influenced by our resident microbes. In one study, researchers gave one group of healthy volunteers milk or yogurt enriched with friendly Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus bacteria every day for 30 days. The other group was given a placebo–a pill that did nothing. At the end of the month, the group that took the bacterial pill reported fewer bad moods and stressful moments, and they were producing less cortisol–a hormone produced when you’re under stress–than they were at the start of the experiment.

It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

Copyright © 2021 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

Sight: Glimmer, Glow, SPARK, FLASH!
by Romana Romanyshyn (Author) and Andriy Lesiv (Author)
@ Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound

Booktalk: A multi-faceted visual exploration of one of our critical senses–sight!

Snippet:

It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

Copyright © 2021 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

Seasons
by Hannah Pang (Author) and Clover Robin (Illustrator)
@ Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound

Booktalk: Watch six landscapes from around the world transform as you turn the pages (of different widths) to travel through the seasons in each location. Discover simple facts about the creatures and plants that are found in each location during the different seasons.

Snippet:
A WILD LAND
Alaska is bigger and colder than you could ever imagine. It rests high above the sea, where mountains decorate the distance and rivers flow with fish. Stand at the water’s edge and watch the seasons change before your eyes.

It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

Copyright © 2021 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

Marvelous Machines: A Magic Lens Book
by Jane Wilsher (Author) and Andrés Lozano (Illustrator)
@ Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound

Booktalk: Using the see-through magic lens that you pop out of the book cover, you can learn about mathematics, physics, chemistry, and engineering by exploring the inner workings of machines. The see-through magic lens will reveal how all these machines work, showing all the elements hidden within them — from wires and pipes, to magnetic and gravitational forces.

Snippet:

It’s STEM Friday! (STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)

Copyright © 2021 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.