Trees: A Rooted History

Trees: A Rooted History
by Piotr Socha (Author / Illustrator), Wojciech Grajkowski (Author), and Anna Burgess (Translator)

Booktalk: Go beyond the basics and explore the important roles trees play in our ecosystem, take an up-close-and-personal look at the parts of trees (from roots to leaves), and unpack the cultural impact of trees from classification systems (like family trees) to art forms (like bonsai trees). Part botany, part history, part cultural anthropology!

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

Copyright © 2019 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

Luna by David A. Aguilar

Saturday July 20, 2019 is the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 Lunar Landing. To celebrate, let’s check out a new middle grade book  Luna: The Science and Stories of Our Moon by David A. Aguilar.

Beginning with how the moon is thought to have come about and how the moon compares with Earth, Aguilar then takes the reader on a ride through other moons, as well as moon myths and hoaxes, before settling down for a detailed discussion of moon features. Perfect for the lunar landing anniversary is a section about what the Apollo astronauts discovered.

The pluses: The book is filled with fantastic illustrations by David A. Agulilar. Also there are three hands-on activities in the back: making a 3D model of lunar craters with Plaster of Paris, using a small telescope to explore the moon, and directions for drawing the moon.

Luna is arriving on shelves just as interest in the moon and lunar landings is peaking. Explore a copy today!

For more, see our full review at Wrapped in Foil blog, as well as Anastasia Suen’s Apollo 11 Quick Tips post.

Copyright © 2019 Roberta Gibson All Rights Reserved.

Marty’s Mission

Marty’s Mission: An Apollo 11 Story
by Judy Young (Author) and David Miles (Illustrator)

Booktalk: It’s 1969 and Marty’s family lives on the U.S. island of Guam, where his father manages the NASA tracking station. It’s important work and never more so than during the Apollo 11 space mission, where the tracking station relays signals back and forth between the astronauts and Mission Control in Houston, Texas. Along with the rest of the world, Marty listens to every mission update, including the historic landing on the moon and astronaut Neil Armstrong’s first steps. But during Apollo 11’s return to Earth, something goes wrong. There is a problem with the tracking station’s antenna during the final hours of the mission. The problem must be resolved–the antenna is the only way Mission Control can communicate with the astronauts before Apollo 11 splashes down. Marty finds himself playing a key role in helping bring the craft safely back to Earth. Based on actual events

Snippet: “Why do you need me?” Marty asked.

“We think it’s a bearing, but we don’t have time to take the antenna apart and replace it,” Dad said.

“What’s a bearing?” Marty asked.

“A ring with metal balls encased inside, like this.” Dad took a bearing from a box and showed it to Marty. “The balls have to roll for the antenna to move, but they’re stuck. We hope if we pack the bearing with grease, it will work again. Trouble is, our arms are too big to reach inside. Do you think you can do it?”

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

Copyright © 2019 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

Dogs in Space

Dogs in Space
by Vix Southgate (Author) and Iris Deppe (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Meet Belka and Strelka, two stray dogs from Moscow who, in1960, became the first animals to orbit Earth and return home safely.

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

Copyright © 2019 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

Scampers Thinks Like a Scientist

Scampers Thinks Like a Scientist
by Mike Allegra (Author) and Elizabeth Zechel (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Scampers is no ordinary mouse. She’s curious. She asks questions. And she experiments. In short, she thinks like a scientist! Her friend Nibbles, reluctantly joins her as they set out to discover the truth about the owl in the garden.

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BONUS! Download the Activity Guides

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

Copyright © 2019 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

The Orca Scientists

June is Orca Awareness Month and, at the end of May, Orca scientists celebrated the birth of a new calf to the J-pod off the coast of British Columbia, Canada. So the perfect time to share this book (that had found a great hibernation space at the bottom of my book basket!).

The Orca Scientists (Scientists in the Field Series)
by Kim Perez Valice; photos by Andy Comins
80 pages; ages 10 – 12
HMH Books for Young Readers, 2018

In the early 1970’s Dr. Mike Bigg, a marine mammal scientist, pioneered a method of photo identification for orcas. He found that the dorsal fin “saddle patch” for each whale was unique, like fingerprint in humans. And that allowed him to follow individual whales and their pods.

Today, Ken Balcomb and other whale researchers use those techniques as they continue the research on resident and transient orcas off the coast of Washington state and southern Canada. Ken is the founder and principal investigator for the Center for Whale Research at Friday Harbor. From May through October, he and other scientists keep track of who’s swimming with whom.

Despite their name of “killer whales”, over his 40 years of observing Ken’s never seen any of his whales kill anything other than the fish they eat. And they eat a lot – about 5% of their body weight in fish each day. Unfortunately, a decreasing fish population creates problems for the whales. They have to travel greater distances to find food, and that means less time for socializing, playing, and resting.

What I like about this book: Reading this book is the next best thing to being in a boat with the whale scientists. We really get to know some of the personalities and lifestyles of the orcas.  We get side ring seats to a mother whale teaching her calf how to hunt. Hint: it’s similar to how mother cats teach their kittens.

We learn about other environmental issues that put orcas (and whales in general) at risk – such as the pollution. And we get a close-up view of scientists taking blubber samples to determine levels of PCBs and DDY. Unfortunately, even banned chemicals remain in the environment for a long time.

There are great sidebars that help explain things like why orcas are black and white, and the Samish naming ceremony for the whales.
There’s a great chapter about Tucker, the detection dog who works with the whale scientists. Tucker’s job: to locate whale scat.

There are a lot of unanswered questions, but it’s not too late to make a difference. Check out the Orca Network and Whale Research Center for more information.

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

Copyright © 2019 Sue Heavenrich All Rights Reserved.

Is That Your Dad?

Is That Your Dad?
by Carles Ballesteros (Illustrator)

Booktalk: Who is Froggy’s dad? Froggy knows who his dad is not–he’s not the roaring lion or the squawking parrot or the growling bear. And with the turn of each board book page, Froggy gets one step closer to finding him!

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

Copyright © 2019 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

Apollo 11 Quick Tips column

Artwork © Thomas Gonzalez, Countdown: 2979 Days to the Moon

My new Focus on STEM column: Apollo 11 is in the June Quick Tips for Schools and Libraries newsletter.

Booktalk: Use the approaching fiftieth anniversary of the lunar landing to inspire school- and library-friendly activities.

Snippet: July 20 will mark the fiftieth anniversary of the first successful lunar landing. Round up these new Apollo 11 books–along with the ones already in your collection–for a book display/activity table in your library.

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

Copyright © 2019 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.

Like a Lizard

Like a Lizard
by April Pulley Sayre; illus. by Stephanie Laberis
32 Pages; ages 4-8
Boyds Mills Press, 2019

Can you run like a lizard? Sun like a lizard?

What about doing pushups? Or dashing across water like a lizard? If you could live like a lizard, you’d have lots of choices about how to behave. That’s because there are about 6300 kinds of lizards living on Earth, and each of them is adapted to its habitat in certain ways. April Pulley Sayre presents an inside look at how 28 lizards make their living.

What I like about this book: I love that each page asks the reader to compare their life with that of a lizard – and each page features specific lizards doing their thing. Like frill-necked lizards showing off their collars, and geckos climbing twigs. I like the bright and realistic illustrations – I never knew about some of these lizards! And I like the back matter, where lizard secrets are revealed. Most of all, I like April’s message that lizards and people can live together in harmony.

Head over to Archimedes Notebook for a book about crocodiles and some beyond-the-books activities.

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

Copyright © 2019 Sue Heavenrich All Rights Reserved.

Flower Talk

Do flowers talk? And if they do, can we hear them? Sara Levine addresses these – and more questions – in her new book.

Flower Talk: How plants use color to communicate
by Sara Levine; illus. by Masha D’yans
32 pages; ages 7-11
Millbrook, 2019

Hey, You! PSSST! Down here! That’s right – I’m a plant, and I’m talking to you!

Plants don’t make a habit of talking to humans, but they do in this book because the plants want to clear up some crazy human ideas about what their colors mean. Red roses do not – at least according to the plants – stand for love. That is, our plant-land guide says, “a load of fertilizer!”

Plants use their flowers to talk to animals. They need bees or birds or bats to carry their pollen from one plant to another so they can make seeds. In exchange, they offer sweet rewards – nectar.

What I like about this book: I love the conversational way it’s written, with the plants speaking directly to the reader. Who knew plants could talk? I mean, with words, not color or scent.

I like that pages are color-coordinated: yellow pages for discussing yellow plants.

I like how the plant, at the end, tells the reader to go take a hike. “I’m pretty busy,” says the plant. “I’m making a new flower.”

And I like the back matter: more details about pollination, things kids can do to protect pollinators, and suggested reading.

Head over to Archimedes Notebook for some beyond-the-book activities.

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

Copyright © 2019 Sue Heavenrich All Rights Reserved.