Anastasia Suen

May 2, 2022May 26, 2022

Time to Shine

Time to Shine: Celebrating the World’s Iridescent Animals
by Karen Jameson (Author) and Dave Murray (Illustrator)
@ Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound

Booktalk: Have you ever noticed the rainbow-like shimmer on certain bird feathers, insect bodies and animal scales? This effect, called iridescence, changes depending on the angle from which its viewed, and animals across the globe use the effect to both blend in and stand out. Take a closer look at these creatures and their sparkly “clothes” with rhyming couplets and prose text with further context for each animal’s particular environment and adaptation.

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Linda is hosting Poetry Friday at A Word Edgewise

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

April 29, 2022May 5, 2022

Eggs from Red Hen Farm: Farm to Table with Mazes and Maps

Eggs from Red Hen Farm: Farm to Table with Mazes and Maps
by Monica Wellington (Author / Illustrator)
@ Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound

Booktalk: Maps and mazes show children where their food comes from as Ruby and Ned gather eggs from their hens and ride their red truck to deliver the eggs–to the farmer’s market, the restaurant, the school, the grocery story, and the bakery. The baker uses the eggs in her yummiest cookies–and gives them to Ruby and Ned!

Snippet: “I’m good at counting money,” says Ned.
“You take care of business here,” says Ruby. “I’ll make the deliveries.”

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

April 22, 2022April 21, 2022

Road Trip Earth: Explore Our Awesome Planet, from Core to Shore and So Much More

Road Trip Earth: Explore Our Awesome Planet, from Core to Shore and So Much More
by Molly Bloom (Author), Marc Sanchez (Author) and Sanden Totten (Author)
@ Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound

Booktalk: Did you ever wonder why volcanoes erupt? Or why the ocean is salty? How about why no two snowflakes are the same?

Embark on an epic road trip to find the answers to these burning questions and more! Travel deep inside the earth, through the oceans, the land, the clouds, and even into the outer atmosphere in a high-tech ride–to uncover the coolest facts, strangest mysteries, and most incredible marvels of our planet.

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

April 8, 2022April 7, 2022

Amazing Animals

My new Focus on STEM column, Amazing Animals, is in the April Quick Tips for Schools and Libraries newsletter.

Snippet: Butt-breathers, blue whales, and snowy owls! Celebrate all of the amazing animals who share our earth with these new books and Earth Day activities for the classroom and library.

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

April 1, 2022March 31, 2022

Engines!: With 25 Science Projects for Kids

Engines!: With 25 Science Projects for Kids
by Donna McKinney (Author) and Tom Casteel (Illustrator)
@ Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound

Booktalk: From ancient times to now, engines have powered the activities of people’s lives. Readers ages 7 to 10 can explore engines through hands-on STEM projects including building a catapult, a milk-carton conveyor belt, and a magnet-powered car. QR codes link to videos online.

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

April 1, 2022March 31, 2022

Flash and Gleam: Light in Our World

Flash and Gleam: Light in Our World
by Sue Fliess (Author) and Khoa Le (Illustrator)
@ Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound

Booktalk: Follow four children as they experience many different forms of light in this rhyming STEM picture book.

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Heidi is hosting Poetry Friday at my juicy little universe

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

March 25, 2022March 24, 2022

Inside In: X-Rays of Nature’s Hidden World

Inside In: X-Rays of Nature’s Hidden World
by Jan Paul Schutten (Author), Arie van ‘t Riet (Illustrator), and Laura Watkinson (Translator)
@ Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound

Booktalk: Arie van ‘t Riet is a Dutch artist and medical physicist who uses X-ray equipment to create “bioramas”–X-ray portraits of animals and plants. While teaching the physics of radiation and radiation safety, he became interested in the application of low-energy X-rays to capture delicate objects. Now you can discover nature’s secret world with this collection of X-ray photographs of animals and plants!

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

March 18, 2022March 17, 2022

Wheels! All About Transport

Wheels! All About Transport
by Moira Butterfield (Author) and Bryony Clarkson (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Come and hitch a ride in vehicles of every shape and size –from family cars to double-decker buses, chugging tractors to speedy supercars, and gigantic monster trucks to noisy fire engines.

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

March 11, 2022March 10, 2022

MEGA-COOL MEGAFAUNA series

MEGA-COOL MEGAFAUNA series
by Anastasia Suen (Author)

Booktalk: My MEGA-COOL MEGAFAUNA series came out during the pandemic and now all four books are online as e-books. Hooray! Click the links under each title to find them at your library.

@ Hoopla | Overdrive | WorldCat

These middle grade expository books are written in prose, but I’ve been writing STEM poetry for years, so that’s what I did for this author visit mini-comic.

In the What is your favorite BIG animal? mini-comic, I’ve written two pocket poems about two of the creatures in the MEGA-COOL MEGAFAUNA Creatures of Today book. Each pocket poem is based on two facts from the book.

What will the third poem be? That’s up to you–and your students! Write two facts about your favorite BIG animal on page 6 and write a pocket poem using those facts on page 7. Then draw your animal on page 8.

Sylvia and Janet are hosting Poetry Friday at Poetry for Children

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

March 4, 2022March 3, 2022

Bones Unearthed!

Bones Unearthed!
by Kerrie Logan Hollihan (Author)
@ Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound

Booktalk: Combining history with science, the third book of the Creepy and True series unearths the truth about famous bones by exploring forensic evidence, archaeology, anthropology, medicine, and folklore. Chapter by chapter, these cryptic tales of murder and mayhem span across cultures and millennia, covering everything from Aztec skull racks, the cannibals of Jamestown, and Benjamin Franklin’s basement boneyard, to frozen sailors in the Arctic and the centuries-long search for the body of King Richard III.

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