Author: Anastasia Suen

Save the Crash-test Dummies
by Jennifer Swanson (Author) and TeMika Grooms (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Cars take us to work. To school. To soccer practice. To the grocery store and home again. Can you imagine a world without them? It’s not easy! One of the reasons we can use cars so much in our everyday lives is because they are safe to drive. But that hasn’t always been the case. If it weren’t for the experiments conducted over decades that involved all kinds of crash test volunteers–dead, alive, animal, or automated–cars as we know them might not be around. And then how would you get to school?

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See the book trailer.

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

Copyright © 2019 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

My new Focus on STEM column: Coding is in the October Quick Tips for Schools and Libraries newsletter.

Booktalk: Catch up on computer science with this list featuring female coders, interactive guides, and other coding activities.

Snippet: The first computer-to-computer message was sent on October 29, 1969, and the system crashed before the entire message was entered. (Sound familiar?) Only the letters “L” and “O” were delivered to the other three computers. Fifty years later, even pre-readers are learning to write computer code. As December’s annual Hour of Code approaches, look to these recent books about coding to inspire and prepare.

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

Copyright © 2019 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

A Different Story
by Adolfo Serra (Author / Illustrator)

Booktalk: Sometimes the world is a small place. Other times it feels huge. Sometimes we feel as though we’re sinking. Other days we can soar. And every creature on Earth is unique. But no matter what the circumstances are, no matter how different we may seem, even a rhinoceros and a beetle have something in common.

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

Copyright © 2019 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

The Forest in the Trees
by Connie McLennan (Author / Illustrator)

Booktalk: It’s common knowledge that coast redwoods are tall, tall trees. In fact, they are the tallest trees in the world. What most people don’t know is that there is a whole other forest growing high in the canopy of a redwood forest. This adaptation of The House That Jack Built climbs into this secret, hidden habitat full of all kinds of plants and animals that call this forest home.

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These are the sprouts,
new little trees;
shooting from trunks,
massive and tall;
that lead to the forest
in the trees.

See the book trailer.

BONUS! Download the Activity Guide

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

Copyright © 2019 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

Silent Swoop: An Owl, an Egg, and a Warm Shirt Pocket
by Michelle Houts (Author) and Deb Hoeffner (Illustrator)

Booktalk: An owl swoops down to lay her egg in a coal yard–a dangerous spot for a fragile egg! Rescued by Walter, a bird expert with a big heart and warm shirt pocket, the egg miraculously hatches and is aptly named Coal. Additional pages of science information, literacy connections, and STEM activities can be found in the back of the book.

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BONUS! Download the Science and Engineering Activities

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

Copyright © 2019 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

Fun with Nature Projects: Bubble Wands, Sunset in a Glass, and More
by Megan Borgert-Spaniol (Author)

Booktalk: Photos and step-by-step instructions guide readers through projects that introduce them to the science of nature. While making a volcano or a thermometer, readers will learn about light, temperature, and more.

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

Copyright © 2019 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

So You Think You Know About… Velociraptor?
by Ben Garrod (Author)

Booktalk: Discover dinosaurs, new science, how to find a fossil and ask an expert — world-renowned paleontologist, Dr. Ben Garrod.

Snippet:

See the book trailer.

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

Copyright © 2019 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

Summer Green to Autumn Gold: Uncovering Leaves’ Hidden Colors
by Mia Posada (Author / Illustrator)

Booktalk: Find out why leaves change color in autumn. Back matter offers additional scientific details as well as suggested further reading and links to hands-on activities.

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

Copyright © 2019 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

Migration: Incredible Animal Journeys
by Mike Unwin (Author) and Jenni Desmond (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Animals of all shapes and sizes make epic journeys across our planet, through harsh weather, avoiding hungry predators, in their efforts to survive. Travel around the globe with some of the world’s most incredible animals and discover their unique migration stories.

Follow the emperor penguin through snow, ice and bitter temperatures; watch as the great white shark swims 10,000 km in search of seals; track huge herds of elephants, on their yearly hunt for water and be amazed at the millions of red crabs, migrating across Christmas Island.

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POLE TO POLE
The Arctic tern travels farther than any other–all the way down the Atlantic Ocean to the Antarctic. While it’s winter in the Arctic, it’s summer in the Antarctic. So with twenty-four hours of daylight there, the tern can keep fishing as long as it likes.

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

Copyright © 2019 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

My new Focus on STEM column: More Summer Travel is in the August Quick Tips for Schools and Libraries newsletter.

Booktalk: Celebrate two historic travel achievements with a summer travel book display and activity center.

Snippet: This past July, we celebrated the first moon landing that happened fifty years ago. Fifty years prior to that, John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown flew an airplane with an open cockpit through fog and ice from Newfoundland to Ireland in the first nonstop, transatlantic flight. And it has now been five hundred summers since Ferdinand Magellan and his crew of 270 left Spain in five ships on their quest to circumnavigate the globe.

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

Copyright © 2019 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.