Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Non-Fiction Picture Book 10for10

It’s time for the wonderful Non-Fiction Picture Book Sharing, otherwise known as #nf10for10, started and hosted by Mandy Robek, Enjoy and Embrace Learning, and Cathy Mere, Reflect and Refine: Building A Learning Community. Get ready to add many wonderful books to your TBR lists!

This year, share at the new Google Community Cathy and Mandy have created HERE!

         Students in my school each study their own chosen topics and the curriculum is built around them. One challenge is to help broaden their outlook of what makes a good way to communicate what they discover. I teach a mixed group of 6th, 7th and 8th graders.

         Here are Books I’ll Use With Middle School to help them present research in new ways:

What Do You Do With An Idea? - written by Kobi Yamada and illustrated by Mae Besom
          I’ve shared this many times, and believe it’s inspiring to all who have that one idea that’s been boiling around and they’re unsure about their ability to make it work. This is what I want my students to know, that they should go for it!

No Monkeys, No Chocolatewritten by Melissa Stewart and Allen Young and illustrated by Nicole Wong  
          Clear and interesting information, tells the story backwards, from the cocoa bean and all the other interrelated pieces that must happen in order to have chocolate. Another way to say it is that connection happen in all sorts of places. Also, there’s a little worm on each page following along with funny asides.


 The Iridescence of Birds - written by Patrician Mac Lachlan and illustrated by Hadley Hooper
                    Reflecting upon one’s background is an interesting thing to do, and my students have loved this book. I’ll use it to show how our past can affirm our present.


An Island Scrapbook-Dawn to Dusk on a barrier island - written and illustrated by Virginia Wright-Frierson
                We do many kinds of trips, both day and overnight at my school. And each student keeps a journal to capture their field work. This will be a great mentor text to show ways of capturing what one observes in both sketches and words.

Feathers: Not Just For Flying – written by Melissa Stewart and illustrated by Sarah S. Brannen
            This is a great text that not only shows one can research for the different uses of something in nature, but also creating a scrapbook with pictures, sketches, original and created text.
Archie’s War – written and illustrated by Marcia Williams
            This is a more traditional scrapbook with a narrative story that includes many pieces of historical ephemera. I know that students will love the ideas that Marcia Williams has included.

Winter Bees & Other Poems of the Cold - Poem by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Rick Allen
            A beautiful way, when appropriate, to communicate research about something, concrete or abstract, is to write poetry about it, and Joyce Sidman does it well. The illustrations are good companions to the text.

Mogie, The Heart of The House – written by Kathi Appelt and illustrated by Marc Rosenthal
           This is a beautiful and interesting story about a dog who won the hearts of all in a Ronald McDonald house. It’s a lovely example of writing a feature story, do the research first, including interviews, taking pictures, and illustrating too.

Ape - written by Martin Jenkins and illustrated by Vicky White
           I love this book, the science of it and that it has a surprise at the end. I know that some students can use the idea when they are doing early research about a topic, and just need to organize and share a group of things.

The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind, Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope – William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer

           Sometimes students discover a special person that connects to their unit topics. This biography is written in an interesting way that shows the background of Kamkwamba along with the innovations in science that he used to capture electricity.  Writing about the “complexity” of a life is a goal, and this book will be good for that example.

         So, that's ten! There are numerous others that will work for these goals, and I use them too, but these are recent favorites, and I wanted to share them. If you have a favorite, please tell me in the comments! Thanks for working out the new problems this year, Cathy and Mandy, and for hosting us. I always look forward to these two days!

29 comments:

  1. Hi Linda! I wrote down all of the titles you mentioned and they were all new to me! I am especially intrigued by Mogie, Winter Bees and Other Poems of the Cold, and No Monkeys, No Chocolate! I will check them all out and I am really looking forward to building a much richer nonfiction book collection. Thanks!

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    1. Terrific! I hope you'll discover some that fit you well. Thanks!

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  2. Linda - Love this list and your organization. Just about to post my list - which has a different theme but two of the same titles! Which speaks to how these titles fit so many purposes! Ape is such a truly beautiful book. Love that you included it here!

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    1. I just saw your post, will add in the idea of POV to this one-and I should! Great books last year...

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  3. I haven't seen Mogie, Ape, or Island Scrapbook! Adding those to my TBR list immediately!

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  4. Hi Linda,

    We love the way you organized this list. What wonderful texts to inspire middle school writers to think about interesting ways to share what they have learned. We just put Ape and Archie's War on our to read list. Thanks for the suggestions.

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    1. They're both excellent in their own unique way. I've done scrapbooks for biography research before, & wish I had had Archie's War then! Thanks!

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  5. I added No Monkeys, No Chocolate and Mogie: The Heart of the House to my list! Thanks for sharing! I love the idea of sharing these books with older readers and writers as a way to share research! Mulling what that might look like with emerging readers.

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    1. Hope you enjoy those two, Kendra, & find a way for the the little ones-perhaps one study at a time? Thank you!

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  6. I love No Monkeys, No Chocolate! I want to read Winter Bees. I love the unique way each author presents information to the reader. What great mentor texts!

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    1. Thanks Elsie, I have great hopes that the students will embrace some new ideas!

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  7. I'm really excited to learn about An Island Scrapbook-Dawn to Dusk on a barrier island. This title is completely new to me. Off to Amazon to check it otu!

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    1. A friend just wrote to me to say this author also has a desert & a rainforest one. Guess I should have looked a little further! Enjoy, Stacey, & thanks!

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  8. How is it that I have not read SEVEN of these? And several I haven't even heard of! Adding to tbr list now. Thanks, Linda, for sharing!

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    1. You're welcome, Laura. Hope you enjoy all those you find! Thanks for looking!

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  9. Pinning this post Linda! What a great resource!

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    1. Thanks Kellee, there are so many wonderful books to choose from!

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  10. Thanks for joining us. What a great collection of titles and I need to check them all out. However, Mogie tugged at my heart right away. I love dog stories and this sounds wonderful for writing.

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    1. Yes, the Mogie story by Kathi Appelt is great, Mandy. Hope you can find it!

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  11. So many wonderful books for us to share with our students! I've read about half of these, but I'm really looking forward to getting An Island Scrapbook and Mogie. Thanks for sharing, Linda!

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  12. I really like your theme Linda. The Island Scrapbook looks like a title I need to read.

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    1. It is lovely, makes one want to live on that island! Thanks!

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  13. Linda,
    Sometimes I feel like research is so overdone, yet I know it is so important. That's why I loved your list! It really speaks to looking at information through a new lens and finding new ways to share with others what we know. You have many great titles here. I reserved a few at the library. Thanks, as always, for joining the event. You continue to amaze me!

    Cathy

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    1. You're welcome, Cathy, research is an important part of our school's curriculum, learning new things and sharing what is found. Yesterday was a lovely gift-thanks to you and Mandy!

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  14. Linda -
    I love how you are gathering these books to share for very specific reasons before students research! This is a list I will be sharing again and again with fellow coaches, teachers, and students!

    An Island Scrapbook is one of my oldies, but goodies. Thanks for reminding me how lovely it is; I am taking it off my home shelf right now and planning to take it to school to share.

    Archie's War is a new must-read for me. Thanks for all these titles!

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    1. Thanks, Karen, so happy it will be useful to you! I'm excited to share the newer ones with my students! Archie's War is terrific!

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  15. I really loved your theme- what a great way to encourage a variety of ways to present research:)

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