Founding Mothers

FOUNDING MOTHERS: REMEMBERING THE LADIES by Cokie Roberts with illustrations by Diane Goode. Harper, 2014.

Remembering what
Women contributed to
U.S. history.

Thomas Jefferson

THOMAS JEFFERSON: LIFE, LIBERTY, AND THE PURSUIT OF EVERYTHING by Maira Kalman. Dial, 2014.

Thomas Jefferson
A man of many talents
Has much to offer

Kalman's incredible illustrations and her forthright text combine for a fascinating picture book biography that begs to be shared with older readers, too.

Malcolm Little

MALCOLM LITTLE: THE BOY WHO GREW UP TO BE MALCOLM X by Ilyasah Shabazz with illustrations by A G Ford. Atheneum, 2013.


What was Malcolm X like as a child? His daughter, Ilyasah, gives readers insight into the childhood of the famous leader in this picture book.

The Bronte Sisters

THE BRONTE SISTERS: THE BRIEF LIVES OF CHARLOTTE, EMILY AND ANNE by Catherine Reef. Clarion, 2013.


The Bronte Sisters, whose first books were published under pen names because women were not seen as fit to be authors, experienced much in their young lives: much loss, much love, much success, much failure. Their lives and their deaths are chronicled here by Reef who draws readers in to the time and place with careful detail and meticulous detail.

A HOME FOR MR. EMERSON

A HOME FOR MR. EMERSON by Barbara Kerley with illustrations by Edwin Fotheringham. Scholastic, 2014.

Ralph Waldo Emerson loved his home in Concord. He enjoyed entertaining family and friends. When his house burns down, the neighbors rebuild it to welcome his back home. End papers include quotes from Emerson's essays, great end material as well to provide more information about the man behind the story.

Benny and Teddy

BENNY GOODMAN AND TEDDY WILSON: TAKING THE STAGE AS THE FIRST BLACK AND WHITE JAZZ BAND IN HISTORY by Lesa Cline-Ransome with illustrations by James E. Ransome. Holiday House, 2014.

Benny and Teddy
Played jazz together
Making history.

Daring Women

FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE by Demi. Holt, February 2014.

Demi's biography of Florence Nightingale will introduce readers to a woman well ahead of her time. Nightingale had to struggle against the convention of her time to work to improve conditions in hospitals, work houses, and even the battlefield.

DARE THE WIND; THE RECORD-BREAKING VOYAGE OF ELIZABETH PRENTISS AND THE FLYING CLOUD by Tracey Fern with illustrations by Emily Arnold McCully. Farrar Straus Giroux, February 2014.

Elizabeth Prentiss became adept of navigating and sailing ships thanks to her father's tutelage. Under her guidance and leadership, she won a race from New York to San Francisco at the height of the Gold Rush.

He Has Shot the President!

HE HAS SHOT THE PRESIDENT by Don Brown. Roaring Brook Press, April 2014.

The story of John Wilkes Booth and his plot to assassinate Lincoln is the topic for this picture book with incredible detail. The plotting before and after the murder of the President will keep readers drawn into the narrative. The illustrations that reflect mood and tone are a perfect accompaniment.

The Tree Lady

THE TREE LADY by H. Joseph Hopkins with illustrations by Jill McElmurry. Beach Lane Books, 2013.

Kate Sessions loved trees.
San Diego had few trees,
Til she planted them.

Mad Potter

THE MAD POTTER: GEORGE E. OHR, ECCENTIC GENIUS by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan. Roaring Brook Press, October 2013.

George Ohr's incredible creations were hidden from sight for years. Greenberg and Jordan trace his path to the potter's wheel, a device that freed his creative spirit to experiment with form and design. Ohr took his creations to fairs and local shows and sold them by hand. He invited visitors to his studio inside to see more of the pots and sculptures. Many more became "lost" when Ohr retired from pottry. Now, a new generation can see how form and function and design were pushed to the limits by this more than a little eccentric artist.

Freedom Heroines

FREEDOM HEROINES: ONE MOVEMENT, SIX BIOS by Frieda Wishinsky. Scholastic, 2013.

Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Jane Addams, Ida B. Wells, Alice Paul, and Rosa Parks are each featured in short biographies about their contributions to freedom. This is a good book to show kids the features of nonfiction texts: call out boxes, illustrations, subheadings, etc. Tie it to FREEDOM'S CHILDREN by Ellen Levine, CLAUDETTE COLVIN: TWICE TOWARD JUSTICE by Philip Hoose, and WE'VE GOT A JOB TO DO among others.

NF for young readers

BECOMING BABE RUTH by Matt Tavares. Candlewick Press, 2013.

Tavares' lovingly illustrated biography of Babe Ruth takes the giant down off the pedestal and makes him truly human despite his athletic ability. Through arduous practice and perseverance, Ruth became an iconic part of baseball and American history. <674>

WHO PUT THE COOKIES IN THE COOKIE JAR? by George Shannon with illustrations by Julie Paschkis. Holt, 2013.

How does the cookie get to the cookie jar in the first place? Shannon takes readers into the process that eventually results in a cookie. Not just ingredients, but where the ingredients come from are part of the story. This book might just be step one in a lesson on economics for kids who will come to realize all of the work and workers responsible for bringing goods to market. <675>

LOOK! by Ted Lewin. Holiday House 2013.

An I LIKE TO READ book, the simple text will be a child's introduction to animals of all kinds, including a boy reading a book surrounded by stuffed versions of the animals brought to life through Lewin's watercolor and pencil illustrations. <676>

MILLIONS, BILLIONS, & TRILLIONS: UNDERSTANDING BIG NUMBERS by David A. Adler with illustrations by Edward Miller. Holiday House, 2013.

Math teachers rejoice! Here is a book that shows young readers the enormity of big numbers. Lots of analogies and colorful illustrations help make something that is rather abstract a tad more concrete. <677>

YUMMY! GOOD FOOD MAKES ME STRONGER. by Shelley Rotner and Shelia Kelly with photographs by Shelly Rotner.

Involving kids in all phases of food including preparation leads to healthier choices being easier to make. From growing veggies in a garden, to preparing simply salads for lunch and more, the colorful photographs capture the fun of eating well. <678>

Narrative Nonfiction

IF YOU SPENT A DAY WITH THOREAU AT WALDEN POND by Robert Burleigh with illustrations by Wendell Minor. Holt, November 2012.

Thoreau at Walden
Surely the best adventure
A young boy could have.

<479>



SEAHORSES by Jennifer Keats Curtis with illustrations by Chad Wallace. Holt, September 2012.

The life of seahorses
From small fry to fully grown
Living in the sea.

<480>



LENORE FINDS A FRIEND: A TRUE STORY FROM BEDLAM FARM by Jon Katz/ Holt, September 2012.

Poor Lenore the dog
All she wants is a good friend.
Brutus, the ram, friend?

<481>



FROM THE GOOD MOUNTAIN: HOW GUTENBERG CHANGED THE WORLD by James Rumford. Roaring Brook Press, September 2012.

Paper, ink, and press
Bring books to many to read
And cherish and own.

<482>

all sorts of nonfiction

Maira Kalman's LOOKING AT LINCOLN (Penguin 2012) is a moving tribute to the man. Kalman's distinctive illustrations somehow fit this larger than life historic figure who did not always fit in neatly. Colors range from quiet and somber to bright and festive as readers meet the young man and later the President who would change history. End papers contain the text of the Gettysburg Address. <156>




RALPH MASIELLO'S FARM DRAWING BOOK (Charlesbridge 2012) is another in his series of how to draw books for young readers. Here you can learn how to draw farm animals and buildings and equipment in step by step processes that are reminiscent of Lee J. Ames' books. <157>




CRAZY CONCOCTIONS: A MAD SCIENTIST'S GUIDE TO MESSY MIXTURES by Jordan Brown with illustrations by Anthony Owsley (and some assistance from Dr. Viskus von Fickleschmutz) (Imagine 2012) is a fun experiment book for making all sorts of messes including a form of Silly Putty, some slime, and even some edible creations. Team this with SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS YOU CAN EAT by Vicki Cobb. <158>

Raise a Joyful Noise

FREEDOM SONG: THE STORY OF HENRY "BOX" BROWN by Sally M. Walker with illustrations by Sean Qualls (Harper 2012)is based on the story of Henry Brown who literally mailed himself to freedom. Walker tells of Henry's love of song, from the songs he sang in the fields where he was a slave to the love songs he sang to his wife to the songs he shared with his family. When his family is taken from him and sold, Henry ships himself to Pennsylvania and freedom. Walker's rhythmic language and Qualls' collage paintings combine to make this a terrific read aloud experience. <77>

more nonfiction for the new year

TITANIC SINKS by Barry Denenberg (Viking 2011) will transport readers to the time and place of the sailing and eventual sinking of the Titanic. Denenberg uses primary source documents (logs, newspaper stories, etc.) to set the stage for the events leading to the destruction of the ship once deemed indestructible. <4>




STRANGE CREATURES: THE STORY OF WALTER ROTHSCHILD AND HIS MUSEUM (Disney Hyperion 2011) is a biography of a man who dreamed as a child about a museum that would contain his collections as well as various species of animals. Rothschild was the son of one of the bankers for Queen Victoria. He viewed his son's interest in nature as something that needed to be squashed. Walter, however, persevered in his pursuit of knowledge of the natural world and eventually realized his dream of opening his own museum <5>

Fathers and Daughters

In DOTTER OF HER FATHER'S EYES, Mary Talbot produces a GN that contains two interwoven narratives (Dark Horse Comics 2012). One is the story of James Joyce's daughter, Lucia. The second is Mary's own childhood and adolescence. her father was James Atherton, the definitive Joycean scholar. Though set years apart, the two stories do touch and intertwine as each daughter navigates the rather stormy waters of father-daughter relationships. Use of color, light, and perspective add much to the spare text. Honors English teachers might wish to share this GN with their students to demonstrate mood, tone, and narrative structure. <705>

For the Birds

I am trying to catch up to all those wonderful 700+ books I read in 2011 but did not have the chance to blog. So, mixed in with some new books will be some of the ones that I completed reading over the holidays. Here are two books that pair up nicely in the nonfiction category. One is a biography of a famous birder; the other discusses how birds communicate.



BIRD TALK: WHAT BIRDS ARE SAYING AND WHY by Lita Judge (Roaring Brook Press 2012) uses a bot of anthropomorphism (and what a great term to teach kids) to present information on how birds communicate with sound and with movement. Nicely detailed illustrations show readers grebes, boobies, and mergansers among other more familiar species as they communicate without words to others in their flock, to outside predators, and even to their human co-inhabitants. <688>




FOR THE BIRDS: THE STORY OF ROGER TORREY PETERSON by Peggy Thomas with illustrations by Jim LaMarche (Calkins Creek 2011) is a biography of the man who eventually went on to write the most practical and valuable field guides for birders. Peterson was intrigued by birds as a youth and pursued a career in painting them as an art student. Later, he worked as an environmentalist, a naturalist, a guide: all professions ultimately centered on his passion for wildlife, especially birds. LaMarche's illustrations are lush and seem lit with the same passion as their subject. <689>

Feynman

My head hurts, but in a good way, after reading this incredibly rich biography of physicist FEYNMAN by Ottovani and Myrick (First Second 2011). Richard Feynman was a Novel prize winning physicist who worked in Los Alamos and even was part of the commission that studied the challenger disaster. He was also a brilliant mind, of course, when it came to QED (quantum electrodynamics). He was also a larger than life personality who taught himself how to open just about any safe, who played drums in various bands, and who doubted the importance of his own contributions to science on more than one occasion. Ottavani and Myrick capture this huge spirit and personality somehow on a page without losing any of the details that made Feynman someone unforgettable. Their use of color is spare but still significant to the various threads that made up Feynman's life. High school and college classes in physics would do well to include this as a textbook for students. <475>

GNs rely on illustration for much of the story, of course, and this GN is no exception. Formulae and diagrams populate much of the space in the panels emphasizing to readers the complex nature of the calculations important to Feynman's work. Readers will also meet Bohr, Einstein, and other important scientists of the time.

I grew up in Pittsburgh, PA. One of the rewards for being a nerdy student in those childhood days was that the Pittsburgh Pirate office would issue two free tickets to a summer game for those students earning straight As. I remember once taking one of my sisters who came home from the game at Forbes Field (yes, outdoors!) and told my mother that "Yogi Bear got a run around." As for me, I was in love with the athletic grace that was Roberto Clemente. I say all this as prelude to a new book I adore partly because I fell in love with baseball as a child and partly because I fell in love with this story.




JUST AS GOOD by Chris Crowe (Candlewick, January 2012) is the story of Larry Doby. The year is 1947 and Doby has just signed with the Cleveland Indians. He was the first African American to play for the American League (Jackie Robinson played in the National League). Told from the point of view of a young boy, readers learn of Doby's first home run in the 1948 World Series, a series Cleveland went on to win. Doby's stats were impressive and, combined with the talent of Jackie Robinson, the two helped pave the way for other men of color to integrate baseball. Crowe related the story through his young narrator, a perfect choice for this exciting time in baseball. Mike Benny's illustrations are a perfect accompaniement to the text. <456>