Nonfiction

Fire Birds: Valuing Natural Wildfires and Burned Forests by Sneed B. Collard III

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Published by Bucking Horse Books

Summary:  Sneed B. Collard takes the reader to forests after major fires to show how birds thrive in the burned trees.  For instance, certain woodpeckers are almost never found outside of burned forests.  The wood boring beetles that lay eggs in the trees provide food for them, and the trees are perfect for the birds to make nests.  Collard profiles University of Montana professor Dick Hutto as he observes the birds, explaining how his research has helped scientists understand more about fire ecology.  More scientists are now supporting the idea that it’s better to let naturally occurring forest fires burn.  A glossary, index, and full page of additional resources are included at the end.

Pros:  This would make a great mentor text for demonstrating informational writing.  Illustrated with many photographs, the text is engaging and packed with information.

Cons:  Was Smokey the Bear really wrong about forest fires?

Wandering Whale Sharks by Susumu Shingu

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Published by Owlkids Books

Summary:  What is the largest fish in the sea?  The whale shark, measuring up to 60 feet long and weighing in at over 40 tons.  In contrast to its great white cousin, this shark is a gentle giant, gliding slowly through the sea and allowing divers to hold onto their fins and swimming with them for miles.  Susumu Shingu poetically describes these animals in just a dozen sentences, all illustrated in the blue and black colors of the ocean.  An end note gives more information.

Pros:  There’s quite a bit of information in this brief book.  A few sentences could be used to teach similes and metaphors.  The illustrations strikingly capture the way the light reflects off the ocean.

Cons:  Kids who usually like shark books might find the whale shark a bit of a yawn.  No blood was shed in the creation of these illustrations.

Egg: Nature’s Perfect Package by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page

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Published by HMH Books for Young Readers

Summary:  From the royal albatross, which lays one egg every two years and watches over it for almost three months, to the fish tapeworm, which lays over seven billion eggs in its 20-year life, many animals lay eggs.  This book takes a look at where and how animals lay eggs, carry and protect them, and get out of the eggs when it’s time for them to hatch.  Egg sizes are compared with pictures showing actual sizes of all kinds of eggs, and cutaway pictures show how a chicken and alligator develop over the entire incubation period.  The information is given in short snippets, several on a page, with each accompanied by a cut-paper illustration.

Pros:  This husband-and-wife team may be my favorite nonfiction author and illustrator.  They have a real knack for finding fascinating facts about the animal world and presenting them in a way that sustains interest throughout the book.  And the illustrations are phenomenal.  It’s almost incomprehensible how Steve Jenkins is able to get the level of detail into each picture using cut and torn paper.  Check out “A Look Inside How This Book Was Made” on Amazon and the short video on Jenkins’ webpage (http://www.stevejenkinsbooks.com/making_books.html) to learn more about his artistic process.

Cons:  Reading this book right before breakfast kind of put me off my scrambled eggs.

Swing Sisters: The Story of the International Sweethearts of Rhythm by Karen Deans

~ Janet Dawson ~ 1 Comment

Published by Holiday House

Summary:  Piney Woods Country Life School was a remarkable school for African-American orphans in Mississippi.  In 1939, the school’s director organized an all-girl band to raise money for the school.  He called the group the Sweethearts, and they played big band music at schools and churches around the state.  When the girls graduated, they decided to move to Washington, DC to try to make a living.  Eventually, they traveled all over the country, playing for crowds as large as 35,000.  Their biggest concern was making great music; when some of the women left, their replacements were of different races, which made for some complications when touring in the south.  The Sweethearts went on a six-month USO tour of Europe during World War II.  After the war, it was hard for them to make a living with their music, and the group broke up, but they had opened doors for women of all races in the music business.  Recommended for grades 2-4.

Pros:  This inspiring nonfiction picture book reminded me of the movie A League of Their Own about women baseball players from the same era.  It would be fun to share some of the Sweethearts music after reading this.  Here’s a YouTube clip that looks just like one of the illustrations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WczP3PyHt20

Cons:  Too bad these women couldn’t make enough money to keep the band alive after World War II.

Families by Shelley Rotner and Sheila M. Kelly

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Published by Holiday House

Summary:  A photographic celebration of every kind of family imaginable: big, small, multi-racial, two moms, two dads, single parents, extended family.  Each page has a single sentence with several photos illustrating the kind of family described.  The last few pages tell what families do (e.g., help each other, love one another), and finishes with a question, “There are many different kinds of families.  What about yours?”  Recommended for ages 3 and up.

Pros:  This is truly a celebration of family.  Even the dogs in the pictures are smiling.  The first page says that the creators hope the book will lead children and their parents to engage in conversation about their families, and this would indeed be the perfect vehicle for that.

Cons:  People objecting to certain family configurations will probably not want to share this book with their kids.

Trapped! A Whale’s Rescue by Robert Burleigh, illustrated by Wendell Minor

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Published by Charlesbridge

Summary:  A humpback whale is traveling from the Arctic along the California coast, doing all the beautiful and majestic things humpback whales do, when she gets entangled in the ropes attached to crab traps.  Divers work to rescue her, mindful of potentially deadly dangers.  Slowly and carefully, they free her tail and fins, until she is ready to swim away.  She seems to thank them before she makes one last dive and is on her way.  Recommended for preschool to grade 2, although older kids could enjoy this.

Pros:  The spare, poetic text is beautifully illuminated by Wendell Minor’s amazing paintings.  There is plenty of information about whales as well as an exciting rescue story.  The end notes tell a more complete story of the rescue, provide more information about humpback whales, and have a wealth of resources if the reader wants to learn more.

Cons:  The books in the resources section are all several years old.

Elvis: The Story of the Rock and Roll King by Bonnie Christensen

~ Janet Dawson ~ 1 Comment

Published by Henry Holt

Summary:  This picture book biography focuses on Elvis Presley’s early years, growing up in extreme poverty in the south.  From a very young age, Elvis was drawn to music, and he was surrounded by a wide range of influences.  Even though his town was segregated by race and class, the music of jazz, blues, and gospel was everywhere.  When Elvis was 13, his family moved from Mississippi to Memphis, and he learned to play guitar.  A few years later, he managed to get a recording session with Sun Records.  It was turning into a disaster, when Elvis started singing “That’s All Right”, a Delta blues song he infused with country and gospel.  That song became a hit, and Elvis Presley was on his way.

Pros:  Kids today may see Elvis Presley as something of a joke, and this story really humanizes him, portraying him sympathetically as a nervous kid who loved music.

Cons:  Elvis looks a lot better in these illustrations than he did when I saw him in the candy aisle at Walmart last week.

Mesmerized: How Ben Franklin solved a Mystery That Baffled All of France by Mara Rockliff illustrated by Iacopo Bruno

~ Janet Dawson ~ 1 Comment

Published by Candlewick

Summary:  When Benjamin Franklin was in France to get support for the American Revolution, he became intrigued by the new process of mesmerization.  An Austrian doctor named Franz Mesmer was wowing Europeans with his new technique, which he claimed could people into a suggestive trance.  He would then tell them what to do, which was usually healing themselves of diseases.  Franklin arranged to have a demonstration with Mesmer’s assistant.  Using the scientific method, Ben blindfolded patients and was able to prove that their reactions to “mesmerization” were actually caused by their own minds.  Franklin reported his findings to the King of France, and soon after, Mesmer left the country.  Recommended for grades 2-5.

Pros:  Not only is this book packed with information about Benjamin Franklin, 18th-century science, and the scientific method, but it is presented in a way that is both interesting and aesthetically pleasing.  The text is in different fonts, with words of varying sizes, and occasional sidebars to explain related concepts.  The illustrations are both beautiful and amusing.

Cons:  The author’s note, while fascinating, was a bit overlong for the average 21st-century attention span.

Queen of the Diamond : the Lizzie Murphy Story by Emily Arnold McCully

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Published by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux

Summary:  When Lizzie Murphy was growing up in turn-of-the-century Rhode Island, girls didn’t play baseball.  But Lizzie’s brothers played, her father had played, and she wanted to play, too.  She became batgirl for her brother’s team and carried her father’s old ball and glove everywhere.  At one game, both teams realized no one had brought a ball.  Lizzie had her ball, but refused to lend it unless they’d let her play.  After a star turn at first base and four hits, she was a member of the team.  She continued to play into adulthood, making a living on the Warren, Rhode Island semipro team, and was the first person of either gender to play on both the National and American Leagues’ all-star teams.  She even got a single off of legendary pitcher Satchel Paige while playing on a Negro League team.  She finally retired from baseball in 1935, at the age of 40.  Recommended for grades 1-3.

Pros:  An interesting and little-known story about a woman athlete who refused to give up her dream despite enormous obstacles.  Emily Arnold McCully doesn’t disappoint with either the story or the illustrations.

Cons:  Too bad Lizzie didn’t blaze a trail into MLB for other women.

Drum Dream Girl : How One Girl’s Courage Changed Music by Margarita Engle, illustrated by Rafael Lopez

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Published by HMH Books for Young Readers

Summary:  Millo Castro Zaldarriaga, a Chinese-African-Cuban girl growing up in 1930’s Cuba, dreamed of playing drums.  But only boys were allowed to be drummers.  She kept dreaming, though, and practicing any way she could, until finally her father allowed her to take drum lessons.  By the age of 15, she was good enough to play at President Franklin Roosevelt’s birthday celebration, and she went on to perform with many of the great jazz players of her time.

Pros: This is really a poem inspired by the story of Zaldarriaga.  It’s a celebration of following your dream, illustrated with eye-popping neon colors that perfectly capture the celebrations and street cafes where Millo hears the music she loves.

Cons: You’ll need to give some context for kids to understand what this book is about. The historical note at the end is a good place to start.