Nonfiction

Science Comics: Dinosaurs: Fossils and Feathers by MK Reed, illustrated by Joe Flood

~ Janet Dawson ~ 2 Comments

Published by First Second 

Summary:  Focusing mostly on humans’  gradual discoveries of the history of dinosaurs, this graphic science book covers paleontology from the Industrial Revolution to the present.  In 1800, the reader learns, it was believed that the Earth was 6,000 years old, that dinosaurs had vanished a few thousand years before in Noah’s flood, and that there were no examples of dinosaurs left.  The author updates these beliefs as she moves through history until 2000 when scientists believe the earth is 4.5 billion years old, dinosaurs lived over 65 million years ago, and descendants of dinosaurs are living today.  It’s a fascinating journey, with heroes and villains making discoveries, disputing the claims of their peers, and inching their way toward a better understanding of Earth’s history.  Back matter includes a glossary, a timeline of geologic eras, and a short list of further reading.  Part of a new “Science Comics” series that includes (or will soon include) books on coral reefs, volcanoes, bats, flying machines, and the solar system.  128 pages; grades 4-7.

Pros:  A fascinating history of paleontology with some really spectacular graphics that do a great job of visually depicting concepts like dinosaur sizes and family trees.

Cons:  The list of books for further reading was pretty short, and the titles were several years old.

Wonderful Winter: All Kinds of Winter Facts and Fun by Bruce Goldstone

~ Janet Dawson ~ Leave a comment

Published by Henry Holt 

Summary:  All kinds of facts about winter are presented, illustrated with large, colorful illustrations.  There’s scientific information about the solstice, snow, animal adaptation, cold, and the simple machines that are used to shovel snow.  The sounds, sports, tastes, holidays, and feelings of winter are all highlighted with their own two-page spreads.  The final four pages include photos and instructions for six winter activities.  This is a follow-up to Bruce Goldstone’s book Awesome Autumn, and from the looks of things at the end of this book, I would say Spectacular Spring cannot be far behind.  48 pages; ages 4-8.

Pros:  A very thorough introduction to winter for the primary grades.  Easy-to-understand science information is interspersed with quick takes on some of the words used to describe winter.  Young readers will enjoy the large, clear photos of familiar winter objects.

Cons:  The “fake snow” activity that involves shredding a disposable diaper sounds a bit messy.

Saved by the Boats: the Heroic Sea Evacuation of September 11 by Julie Gassman, illustrated by Steve Moors

~ Janet Dawson ~ 1 Comment

Published by Capstone Press 

Summary:  On September 11, 2001, after the collapse of the World Trade Center, more than a million people were looking to get out of Manhattan.  New York City was under attack, and bridges, tunnels, and subways were closed.  The only way to escape was by water.  When lines for the ferries became miles long, the Coast Guard put out a call for any boat to come help with the evacuation.  “If it floated, and it could get there, it got there,” said an engineer who was part of the rescue effort.  Wondering if there would be more attacks, the ships and their crews knew they were easy targets, but they courageously sailed on.  Some put out sheets with their destinations in New Jersey painted on them.  They tried to help the shocked, distraught people who boarded their boats, and then they took them safely across the water.  In about nine hours, just under 500,000 people were helped, the largest sea evacuation in history.  Back matter includes an author’s note telling of her 9/11 experience being rescued by a boat, a brief glossary, and a few additional resources and source notes.  32 pages; grades 3-7.

Pros:  An interesting and inspiring slice of history, focusing on the courage of the ordinary people who answered the call of duty to help their fellow New Yorkers.  The illustrations are mostly sepia toned, with bright spots of color in the sky and water, symbolizing the brightness of the rescue effort on this tragic day.

Cons:  The glossary (“tragedy—a very sad event”) seemed superfluous for the intended age group.

In the Shadow of Liberty: the Hidden History of Slavery, Four Presidents, and Five Black Lives by Kenneth C. Davis

~ Janet Dawson ~ 1 Comment

Published by Henry Holt and Company 

Summary:  Did you know that thirteen American presidents owned enslaved people or grew up in slaveholding households?  (The last one was Woodrow Wilson, born in Virginia in 1856.)  This book profiles four of them–George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Andrew Jackson—and five of the African Americans who were enslaved by them.  These five were present at many pivotal moments of American history, including various Revolutionary War battles and the burning of the White House in 1812, yet they remained in the shadows due to their positions in life.  As the author points out in his afterword, they were more fortunate than most in that their names and stories have survived and they were all set free by the ends of their lives.  The stories of the four Presidents are equally fascinating, as their thinking about slavery evolved over the course of their lives.  Yet they all bought and sold slaves, punished them, housed them in primitive shacks, and never gave them their freedom.  The extensive research that went into this book is demonstrated in the nine pages of source notes and the four-page bibliography.  304 pages; grades 6 and up.

Pros:  An amazing historical work, heavily illustrated with photos and drawings, with a timeline of slavery at the end of each chapter.  This should be required reading for all high school history students.

Cons:  You’ll never look at the Founding Fathers in quite the same way after reading this.

Lincoln and Kennedy: A Pair to Compare by Gene Barretta

~ Janet Dawson ~ Leave a comment

Published by Henry Holt

 

Summary:  They were born 108 years apart, one growing up in poverty and the other with great wealth and privilege.  Yet Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy had a remarkable number of things in common.  Both were named for their grandfathers and had seven letters in their last names.  Both served in the House of Representatives, elected exactly 100 years apart (1846 and 1946), and both lost the race for Vice President before being elected President in 1860 and 1960.  The two men had somewhat tragic private lives, each losing a child before being elected President and another when he was in the White House.  Lincoln was determined to end slavery while Kennedy worked for civil rights legislation.  And, of course, both had their presidencies and their lives cut short by an assassin: each one sitting next to his wife who wasn’t injured; by a man who used three names and was killed before his trial; and succeeded by a President named Johnson.  Back matter includes presidential accomplishments, trivia, and quotes from each man, a glossary, and sources.  40 pages; grades 1-5.

Pros:  Biographical information is presented in a fascinating manner; this book could be the inspiration for students to research and compare two other presidents.

Cons:  This book only presents the tip of the iceberg for similarities between Lincoln and Kennedy.  Search the Internet if you really want to go crazy with this comparison.  http://surftofind.com/coincidence

Fascinating: The Life of Leonard Nimoy by Richard Michelson, illustrated by Edel Rodriguez

~ Janet Dawson ~ 1 Comment

Published by Alfred A. Knopf

Summary:  Leonard Nimoy grew up in a four-room apartment in Boston’s West End, the son of Russian immigrants.  He got his first taste of acting at a Jewish settlement house.  By the time he was 17, he knew he wanted to be an actor.  Heading to Hollywood where he drove a taxi (he once gave John F. Kennedy a lift), Leonard built a moderately successful career in movies and television.  His life changed in 1965 when he got a call from Gene Rodenberry, asking him to play the alien Spock in his new series Star Trek.  Initially concerned that the pointy ears and weird haircut might ruin his career, Leonard made the fortuitous decision to take the part, and the rest is science-fiction history.  A final note (“The Rest Is History”) gives more information about Nimoy, including his lesser-known careers as a photographer, writer, and musician.  An author’s note tells of Michelson’s close friendship with Leonard Nimoy.  40 pages; grades 1-5.

Pros:  An engagingly-written biography of a man who, in fact, lived long and prospered, rising from a poor immigrant childhood to success in many arenas.  The stories about Nimoy flow together well to tell his story, and the illustrations do a good job of portraying Leonard/Spock.  Readers will enjoy learning the origin of Spock’s famous four-finger salute.

Cons:  The pallette for the illustrations is kind of drab.

A Poem for Peter: The Story of Ezra Jack Keats and the Creation of The Snowy Day by Andrea Davis Pinkney, pictures by Lou Fancher & Steve Johnson

~ Janet Dawson ~ Leave a comment

Published by Viking

Summary:  Andrea Davis Pinkney’s poetic homage weaves together biographical information about Keats with the story of the creation of his most famous book.  Born Jacob Ezra Katz, the son of Polish immigrants, the artist grew up in a poor Brooklyn neighborhood with a father who faced job discrimination and a mother whose secret dreams of becoming an artist never came to fruition.  Young Ezra loved art and won an art school scholarship, but when his father died of a heart attack the day before his high school graduation, his school days were over.  He was helped by the New Deal’s WPA, and went on to become a comic book artist before moving to children’s book illustration.  When he was asked to write and illustrate his own book, he thought of a little African-American boy whose picture in Life magazine had hung on Keats’s wall for many years.  This boy became Peter and the book was The Snowy Day.  Back matter includes “Ezra’s Legacy” with more information about the books that celebrated city life and the people from different cultures who lived there, and “Keats, the Collage Poet”, explaining how the verse narrative used for this book reflects Keats’ collage style of art.  60 pages; grades 2-5.

Pros:  A beautiful celebration of a life and a book, illuminated with illustrations inspired by Ezra Jack Keats’s art.

Cons:  I find the poetic biographies are a hard sell with the elementary crowd.

 

Are You an Echo? The Lost Poetry of Misuzu Kaneko narrative and translation by David Jacobson, Sally Ito, and Michiko Tsuboi; illustrated by Toshikado Hajiri

~ Janet Dawson ~ Leave a comment

Published by Chin Music Press 

Summary:  Born in a Japanese fishing village in 1903, Misuzu Kaneko was fortunate enough to receive more education than most of her female contemporaries.  She worked in her mother’s bookstore and published her poems in magazines.  Then she made the unfortunate decision of marrying one of the bookstore clerks who was abusive, unfaithful, and passed on a devastating disease to Misuzu.  She divorced him, but when he insisted on full custody of their daughter (a right given to fathers only at that time in Japan), Misuzu committed suicide.  The first half of the book tells the story of her life, and the second half is a collection of her poems, written in both Japanese and English.  An author’s note and translators’ note explain the careful work and research that went into creating this book.  64 pages; grades 2-7.

Pros:  This might be the most moving book I have read in 2016.  Misuzu Kaneko’s life was ultimately tragic, but her poetry reveals a beautiful spirit who saw life and hope in ordinary objects around her.  Her poems are accessible to kids, yet infused with deeper meaning.  The gorgeous illustrations should receive Caldecott consideration.

Cons:  I was unprepared for the shock of reading about Misuzu’s suicide.

Pocket Change: Pitching in for a Better World by Michelle Mulder

~ Janet Dawson ~ Leave a comment

Published by Orca Book Publishers

Summary:  What is money?  And why do some people have more of it than others?  This book starts with a history of money, which hasn’t been around all that long, and work, which has increased with the introduction of money.  People used to be self-sufficient, but with the Industrial Revolution, they started working to earn money and buy goods and services from others.  Advertising has created even more demand.  The author then moves on to grassroots movements that are helping to look at wealth in different ways and try to distribute it more equally.  Organizations like Kiva and the Grameen Bank provide microloans to give people an opportunity to work their way out of poverty, while groups such as Habitat for Humanity allow them to provide sweat equity instead of money.  Sidebars labeled “My Two Cents’ Worth” give brief personal stories from the author’s life to illustrate the concepts.  A glossary, index, and additional resources complete the book.  48 pages; grades 3-7.

Pros:  A can-do look at how kids can help others around the world.  The interesting history of economics will have readers looking at money, shopping, and advertising in new ways.  Lots of colorful photos on each page give this an appealing look.

Cons:  Not a topic most kids will be interested in without some adult guidance.

 

 

Giant Squid by Candace Fleming, illustrated by Eric Rohmann

~ Janet Dawson ~ 5 Comments

Published by Roaring Brook Press 

Summary:  Millions of them may live in the oceans, growing to a length of 40 feet or more, yet very little is known of the giant squid.  Scientists first saw a living one in 2006.  Much of what is known about these creatures comes from studying their remains inside sperm whales, whose stomachs can contain thousands of the indigestible squid beaks.  The poetic text of this book tells what little is known of the giants, illustrated with dark undersea paintings that show glimpses of different parts of them.  The final two-page spread is a labeled drawing of the squid’s body.  After that, an author’s note, “The Mysterious Giant Squid” gives more scientific information, and there’s a substantial list of print and online resources.  40 pages; grades K-5.

Pros:  One of my favorite parts of this “job” is learning about topics like the giant squid.  It is amazing that so many of these giant creatures have remained elusive for so long.  The pictures really capture the feel of their deep undersea home, and the author’s note is fascinating.

Cons:  Using the last eight pages to illustrate how the squid’s ink helps protect it (including a few mostly black pages) seemed like a little too much.