Monday, April 29, 2019

It's Monday! What are you reading?


It's Monday! What are you reading? - from picture books to YA is a kidlit meme hosted weekly by Jen at Teacher Mentor Texts and Kellee at Unleashing Readers. The purpose is to recap what you have read and/or reviewed and to plan out your reading for the upcoming week. Twitter #IMWAYR

I've been kinda keeping a low profile the last two weeks while my Kiddo was home, visiting from Qingdao, China, where she is a teacher. She goes back today, and I sure am going to miss her, even though I speak with her all the time, thanks to WeChat.

I read and reviewed Pop-Up Shakespeare by the Reduced Shakespeare Company, which was a lot of fun and informative at the same time:

I read the following, but have not posted my review yet:

Genesis Begins Again by Alicia D. Williams
Atheneum BFYR, 2019, 400 pages

The Last Last-Day-of-Summer by Lamar Giles,
illustrated by Dapo Adeola
Versify, 2019, 304 pages

White Rose by Kip Wilson
Versify, 2019, 368 pages

Caterpillar Summer by Gillian McDunn
Bloomsbury, 2019, 304 pages

Upcoming reads: lots of picture books


What are you reading?

Tuesday, April 23, 2019

Pop-Up Shakespeare: Every Play and Poem in Pop-Up 3-D by The Reduced Shakespeare Co., Austin Tichenor, and Reed Martin, illustrated by Jennie Maizels


Today is Shakespeare Day in the UK and National Speak Like Shakespeare Day in the US. Needless to say, the Bard has been on my mind, but mostly because I have been intensely reading and exploring Pop-Up Shakespeare for the last two weeks. But Shakespeare has always been a favorite writer of mine...so

when my Kiddo was young, I took her on a variety of trips to Britain and Europe. Each one was loosely themed, e.g. the cathedrals and castles trip and the Harry Potter trip, but my personal favorite was the authors and playwrights trip. That trip, taken in 2002 when Allison was 13, involved lots of Shakespeare - visits to Stratford-upon-Avon to see Shakespeare's birthplace, Holy Trinity Church where he was baptized and is buried, and of course, a play at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. Back in London, there were two plays to see at the Globe Theatre, including a all-male performance of Twelfth Night with Mark Rylance. I loved it all so much, so imagine my disappointment when Allison told me she really wasn't too crazy about Shakespeare.

Fast forward to 2019. Allison came home for a 10 day visit from China, where's she is teaching. Imagine my joy when she told me she would like to see King Lear with Glenda Jackson, now playing on Broadway. Apparently she has developed a true appreciation for Shakespeare over the years.

All of which brings me to Pop-Up Shakespeare: Every Play and Poem in Pop-Up 3-D. But wait, every play and poem in a mere 10 pages? Shakespeare was such a prolific writer, how is even this possible? It is and it's all done with clever paper engineering, flaps, and pop-ups and it's all amusingly illustrated.

The book begins with a two-page spread that introduces Shakespeare with relevant facts about his life and his work. This is followed by four two-page spreads, one for the comedies, one for the histories, one for the romances, and finally, one for the tragedies. Each page has an amazing amount of information, including the flaps, some of which are more than on page (unusual for lift-the-flaps). The pop-ups give a short synopsis of of four plays, complete with their own flaps, and a Long Story Short of the basic theme:


In fact, there is so much to be discovered on each and every page of this impressive pop-up introduction to Shakespeare and his plays, that perhaps I should let the illustrator Jennie Maizels take you on a quick (literally) tour of just what can be found:


So, when I showed this book to my Kiddo, her first response was how she wished she had had it when she was younger and how she would like it for teaching her literature class in China.

Shakespeare isn't always the most accessible of writers for young readers, but this is a kid-friendly introduction to his work, and I think many them will find that, after reading the recaps and flipping the flaps, what Shakespeare had to say back in Elizabethan times will still resonated in today's world. 

Have a little fun while reading Pop-Up Shakespeare with a fun Shakespeare Mask that you can print out and wear.

This book is recommended for readers 8+
This book was sent to me by the publisher, Candlewick Press


Friday, April 19, 2019

Poetry Friday: The Day the Universe Exploded My Head: Poems to Take You into Space and Back Again by Allan Wolf, illustrated by Anna Raff


The Day The Universe Exploded My Head by Allan Wolf,
illustrated by Anna Raff
Candlewick Press, 2019, 56 pages

Welcome to a universe unlike any you've ever known before. In a series of anthropomorphic poems, your young readers will laugh as they learn some fun facts about our solar system and it's relationship with man. Each planet, their moons, the stars in the sky, Planet X, eclipses (solar and lunar), even a black hole get their say. One of my favorites is called "The Children of Astronomy." It's told from the point of view of Galileo, often called the Father of Astronomy, and is an homage to all the scientists from the antiquity (Ptolemy) through the present, people like Carl Sagen and Stephen Hawking (and hopefully in the second edition, we will see Dr. Katie Bouman, the woman who developed the algorithm that captured the first ever image of a black hole in among all those men). There's even a memorial page to those astronauts and cosmonauts who gave their lives to travel in space (but, says the educator, no mention of the lone teacher, Christa McAuliffe). There's even an poem dedicated four aging rockets called "The Rusty Rockets Retirement Garden. But my favorite by far is the titular poem "The Day the Universe Explored My Head, a "Poem for One Human, One Heart, and One Brain." It, like others in this book, is color coded so the reader knows who is speaking.

The Day The Universe Exploded My Head is one of the funniest fact-based poetry books I've read in a long time. The illustrations are done with sumi ink washes, salt, pen and pencil, and digitally assembled color collages, and they are every bit as humorous as the poems, capturing the spirit of each one perfectly. Back matter includes Notes on the Poems, a Glossary of Selected Space Terms, Internet Resources.

This is a book my young readers and I will be reading and exploring over and over again. Each and every poems deserved its review.

And since Monday, April 22, 2019 is Earth Day, I thought I would share Earth's poem with you:


This book is recommended for readers age 8+
This book was sent to me by the publisher, Candlewick Press

Poetry Friday is a weekly blogging event in which poets, writers, readers, and lovers of poetry share blog posts about poetry. Poetry Friday is being hosted today by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater at The Poem Farm

Monday, April 15, 2019

🌎Two Books for Earth Day, April 22, 2019


Earth Day is April 22nd and I would like to share two of my new favorite books that help kids learn to appreciate the earth and all its magnificence and to hopefully instill a desire to take care of it. First up is...

A Brief History of Life on Earth 
written and illustrated by Clémence Dupont
Prestel Junior, 2019, 76 pages
This history of the earth and its inhabitants unfolds over time in this accordion-style book, taking readers from the very beginning of earth's life 4.6 billion years ago when it was just a boiling hot ocean, through each period of growth and formation, past, for example, the now familiar Jurassic Period to the present day or Holocene Epoch and beyond. As readers turn the pages, they can explore each of the 16 ages in the earth's life and see what changes each contributed, including the formations of oceans, volcanoes, lands, forests, mountains, as well as life forms such as plants, fish, birds, insects, and animals (which would include mankind).
Each age has a paragraph long clear and coherent explanation describing that period, with simple, labeled illustrations on every page. The illustrations are done in a folk art style, and in soft earth tones to match each era.
Young readers will want to explore each page extensively, so be prepared for lots of questions. This is the kind of book that will lead many to want visit the nearest natural history museum for more understanding and subsequent continued readings of this wonderful book. The accordion-style unfolds to 26 feet, which just happens to be the same length as a triceratops. When the book is unfolded to its complete length, you really get the idea of how old the earth is and what a wonderful place of change and evolution it is, which makes the last page all that much more poignant and important - a single human standing on a glacier that is melting, asking the question of all readers "And what now?" The future of earth is in our hands and how we treat it now will determine its future.  Turn the unfolded book over and there is a timeline of earth's first 4.6 billion years. This is the book I have been using to introduce my young readers to Earth Day and its importance, but it's a book we will be going back to again and again. It is just that wonderful. 

Wilderness: Earth's Amazing Habitats by Mia Cassany,
illustrated by Marcos Navarro
Prestel Junior, 2019, 48 pages
Here is an oversized book that can go hand in hand with A Brief History of Life on Earth because life needs a habitat and this is the book that will tell all about the different kinds of habitats many of the earth's creatures call home. Here you can read about the 16 natural habitats covering only about 5% of earth's surface around the world, and each one is trying to save the animal and plant life that live in them from becoming extinct because of climate change, deforestation and human intervention. Begin your round-the-world journey of these habitats with a helpful map of the world showing just were each one is located, and, as Mia Cassany writes, "Welcome to the most stunning nature show on earth." 
And that is an understatement. Each two-page spread gives the name and location of the habitat being highlighted. Some are protected by the county in which are are located, others are national parks, or UNESCO World Heritage sites, chosen because they have plant and animals living in them that are unique to that area in particular, and the earth in general. Information specific to the location and type of animals there are covered with detailed illustrations that depict them in their natural environment. As you can see, the habitats are located in a wide variety of countries and climates. For example, habitats found in rain forests and other tropical locations may have very similar damp climates, but they also have very different plants and animals from each other. In contrast, the cacti in the dry Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Valley in Mexico is totally different, but they can survive a dry climate because of their ability to store their own water. On the other hand, the Sikhote-Alin Nature Reserve is so big it has a diverse climate and that means a diverse animal and plant populations. 
The illustrations, as you can see, are magnificent, done in bright colors and chock full of big and small details for young readers to explore. Curious kids will appreciate the last 6 pages designed to help readers find out more about what is in each of the 16 natural environments illustrated. And, while Wilderness does not give in-depth information about each habitat and the life each supports, it is certainly a excellent stepping stone to more explorations.

I can't recommend these books highly enough for your young readers Earth Day celebrations and activities.  

To learn more about Earth Day and what you can do, be sure to visit the Earth Day Network

Friday, April 12, 2019

Poetry Friday: The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus



"The New Colossus" was one of the first sonnets I learned by heart growing up and I've been thinking a lot about it lately, especially those last few lines. Interestingly, the poem was written before the Statue of Liberty was completed, yet with those last lines, Emma Lazarus really managed to define what America has always stood for. After all, unless you are Native American, we all are or descend from immigrants and refugees.

"The New Colossus" was written in 1883 by Emma Lazarus and donated to an auction being held to raise money to complete the pedestal upon with the Statue of Liberty stands. France were responsible for the statue, but the pedestal was this country's responsibility. Lacking funds to build it, an exhibition and auction was organized in December 1883 by the Art Loan Fund Exhibition at the New York's Academy of Design.
Source: The New Colossus by Susan Johnson, Museum of the City of New York
Then, in 1903, the sonnet was engraved on a brass plaque and hung inside the completed pedestal. Sadly, Emma Lazarus never got to see this great honor. She passed away in 1887 at age 38, from Hodgkin's lymphoma. 

The National Park Service offers a downloadable Lesson Plan for interpreting the symbolic meaning of Statue of Liberty in relation to Emma Lazarus and "The New Colossus" HERE

Poetry Friday is a weekly blogging event in which poets, writers, readers, and lovers of poetry share blog posts about poetry. Poetry Friday is being hosted today by Irene at Live Your Poem

Wednesday, April 10, 2019

Mini PB Review: I Used To Be Famous by Tara Luebbe and Becky Cattie, illustrated by Joanne Lew-Vriethoff


I Used To Be Famous by Tara Luebbe and Becky Cattie,
pictures by Joanne Lew-Vriethoff
Albert Whitman & Company, 2019, 32 pages

April 10th is Sibling Day, a day to celebrate our brothers and sisters. But sometimes the road to that celebration can be a bit hard and rocky, especially for the eldest sibling, who once was the one and only child until suddenly they find they have some competition for the spotlight.

That is exactly what happens to young Kiely (I am Famous). She's that cute young girl who was the apple of everyone's eye and could almost do no wrong, even when she flubbed, and learned the value of unconditional love.

Well, Kiely's back and now she finds she is getting some stiff competition from baby Abby, the new star in town. The multitalented Kiely has everything a star could want - a personal shopper, a great biography, fame and fans, even paparazzi following her around and taking her photograph.
Until the day comes when they discover a new celebrity, who seems to be more famous than Kiely. But the new kid can't act or sing or dance, so why is Kiely being upstaged by this amateur all the time?

First, Kiely tries a few new things, but but that doesn't help. When she finally concedes the the new kid now outshines her, that she's just a washed up has been, a funny thing happens. Kiely gets a new fan and it's none other than her competition.
So, what to do when you have a cute rival? Why, become a role model and teach her everything you know, and that's just what Kiely does. Pretty soon, Kiely and Abby are sharing the spotlight and having a great time being siblings.

A new baby in the family is often difficult for kids, but Kiely is a great role model not just for Abby but for all kids dealing with a little sibling jealousy. And as all brothers and sisters know, eventually it all works out and sibs generally end up being the best of friends, just as Kiely and Abby do.

This is a fun story and the illustrations capture Kiely and Abby's personality and all of their various emotions. The illustrations are colorful, light and charming, with plenty of white space to help keep kids focused on the story.

I Used To Be Famous is a great addition to any library's collection of sibling stories and a wonderful follow up to the first book - I Am Famous.

This book is recommended for readers age 4+
This book was gratefully provided to my by the publisher, Albert Whitman & Company

Sunday, April 7, 2019

Mini PB Review: A Piglet Named Mercy by Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by Chris Van Dusen


Well, here's a picture book that couldn't come at a more opportune time. Some of my young readers are beginning to transition out of picture books to a combination of picture books and early chapter books. And what better way to this than by reading Mercy Watson's origin story. And I have to confess that after reading 6 Mercy Watson chapter books, I wondered did wonder how the Watsons came to acquire the "porcine wonder" that is Mercy. Well, at last, the mystery is solved.

Mr. and Mrs. Watson used to live ordinary, predictable lives on Deckawoo Drive, next door to elderly sisters Baby and Eugenia Lincoln. But, after a day of doing chores, Mrs. Watson asks Mr. Watson if he thinks they are too predictable. "Predictable? Us?" said Mr. Watson. "Surely not." But in truth, nothing very exciting seems to happen to them. That is, until one morning when the Watsons discover a little piglet on their lawn and are immediately smitten by it. Little did they suspect that Mercy had fallen out of the pig transport truck and right into their lives - which will no longer be ordinary or predictable again.

This picture book prequel delighted my young readers so much we've read it over and over this week. I haven't read the chapter books in a while, but I seem to remember that all the important characters my kids will meet in future Mercy Watson stories are introduced here, personalities and all. Mr. and Mrs. Watson are smitten with Mercy the moment they find her and continue to be; Baby Lincoln is her usual sweet self, and sister Eugenia is her usual grumpy, curmudgeony self. Mercy is cute and pink and hungry, and it is in this that she almost immediately discovers her passion for hot buttered toast.
There is even a preview of sibling neighbors Frank and Stella (whom you meet in Mercy Watson #4: Princess in Disguise) walking down the street with their parents.

A Piglet Named Mercy is everything a prequel should be, a fun, informative story and with the bold, humorous, brightly colored gouache illustrations by Chris Van Dusen, a delight to read.

Don't forget to download the great activity kit that is a companion to A Piglet Named Mercy courtesy of  Candlewick Press. You can download it HERE

This book is recommended for readers age 4+
Thank you, Candlewick Press, for providing me with a copy of this book.

Wednesday, April 3, 2019

3 Books That Are Just Chockablock With Fun Facts

If you have some curious kids in your life, then here are three books are sure to please them as much as they did the older siblings of my young readers - so much so that I was afraid I would never see the books again to write my review. But, they are back now, so here goes...

Everything & Everywhere: A Fact-Filled Adventure for Curious Globe-Trotters 
written and illustrated by Marc Martin
Chronicle Books, 2018, 40 pages, age 7+
Introduce your young readers to the world with this oversized, jam-packed information book. They can explore 16 different places in the world, some well-known, other not so familiar. The adventure begins with Antarctica, then goes on to Alice Springs in Australia; Hong Kong, China; Tokyo, Japan; Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia; New Delhi, India; Moscow, Russia, Cairo, Egypt; Paris, France; Reykjavík, Iceland; New York City, USA; Galápagos Islands, Ecuador; the Amazon Rainforest; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and finally to Cape Town, South Africa. 
Before beginning these explorations, you might want to study the world map on the end papers to help situate yourself. Turn the page and you will find a two page spread for each location, along with 12 or 13 bytes of information, which range from the silly (yes, real New Yorkers do fold their pizza in half to eat it) to the serious (there are 20 million breeding pairs of penguins in Antarctica). The illustrations (and there are lots of them) are done in watercolors, in Martin's distinctive style, and every information byte captures the flavor, culture, and features that are unique to each place.  

Kids (and adults) will love exploring the pages of this book, and discovering all kinds of interesting information. The book is recommended for kids age 5+, but I found it didn't work well with that age and so I have aged it up to 7+ where it does work. They know more about the world by then and they loved going over the pages - repeatedly.  

Make This! Building, Thinking, and Tinkering Projects for the Amazing Maker in You 
by Ella Schwartz
National Geographic Kids, 2019, 160 pages, 8+
I gave this book to a 10-year-old girl who is not particularly STEM-minded to see what she thought about it. And she loved it. In fact, she did one of the projects for school, a report on systems and make a rain forest in a bottle for it (pg 54-55).

Beginning with a definition of what a maker is, Make This! is organized into eight chapters covering simple machines, materials, systems, optics, energy, acoustics, forces, and motion. Within each chapter are quick facts about each topic and the real life uses of the concepts included in this book, followed by projects kids can do to understand what they just learned. For example, under simple machines, kids learn how to make a pulley, or under optics, they can make a periscope and a telescope, and remember those string telephones we all made as kids, well, there are instructions for making one to teach kids how voice vibrations are carried. Each project is rated according to difficulty, number of people needed to complete the project, (some projects might need some adult supervision), materials needed and complete instructions. In addition to projects, Make This! includes ideas for creating a maker space to work in, and a maker box for keeping supplies in.
All of the projects are designed to encourage kids to use their imagination and to support this each chapter ends with a two-page spread called Solve This! which includes a few real life situations that ask kids to apply what they have just learned, with an all important reminder that there is no right or wrong answer to any of the problems, teaching kids that problem-solving can often have more than correct solution.

Each section of this book has copious full-color photographs of young makers at work and each project includes a What's Going On box and a Think About It box to encourage more critical thinking. Make This! is indeed chockablock with information and fun projects, and I can't recommend it highly enough.

Food Fight! A Mouthwatering History of Who Ate What and Why Through the Ages 
by Tanya Steel
National Geographic Kids, 2018, 160 pages, age 10+
Food Fight! is an enticing history of food through the ages. It is divided into 15 chapters and each one covers a different era and various areas of the world: the Prehistoric Era, Egypt, Greece, Rome, Medieval Times, Mongols & the Silk Road, the Renaissance, America Revolts, the French Revolution, the Industrial Revolution, WWI, America's Great Depression, the World at War: Again, the Sixties, and Future World. Each era includes A Bite-Size History that gives an overview of what was going on and what people ate. This is followed by an insert called A Day in the Life that describes what a typical day would have been like for kids; a list of common foods eaten at the time;  Spicing Thing Up, which is really more about the kinds of food eaten according to geographic location than the kinds of spices used, although spices are covered, too; Table Matters, describes how and where food was eaten; Kitchen Tools that were used and how they changed over time; Menus of the Rich & Famished relates what was eaten by kings, queens and others who could afford lavish food over time; and finally a recipe using food items that still around, for example Cave Kid Trail Mix includes nuts, seeds and berries.
I'm a bit of a foodie so I really loved reading this book, and looking at all the different pictures. My Kiddo is also a foodie and she actually wrote down some of the recipes and took them to China with her to try - including the dumpling from the Silk Road recipe. Little did I know that some of my young readers are big food fans, and love watching shows like Master Chef Junior and Top Chef Junior with their older siblings, so this book was a hit all around when I shared it with them.

I should mention that Tanya Steel knows her food facts. She once was an editor at Bon Appétit and Food & Wine, and helped First Lady Michelle Obama get kids interested in healthy foods. Back matter includes a Food Time line, a Recipe Index, a Bibliography and Further Reading and Resources.

Now, normally, I'm not drawn to books called Food Fight! but this one is different. It's a book that should appeal to your foodies and/or history buffs, or really, anyone who eats. And added bonus is the excellent Educator's Guide with great classroom activities available from the publisher HERE  that can be used in conjunction with this book. And so I end with a quote from Julia Child, "Bon Appétit!"
 
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