TeacherDance: non-fiction Picture Book Wednesday

Showing posts with label non-fiction Picture Book Wednesday. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

Non-Fiction Picture Books Tell About Families

Visit Alyson Beecher on Wednesdays for Non-Fiction Picture Books at Kidlit Frenzy -- hashtag #nfpb2020! Thanks to her hosting and sharing.

From others, too, who add their posts, you can discover and celebrate terrific nonfiction picture books!

June Smalls' poetic text accompanies brief explanations of an elephant matriarch's life. Then, enlivened illustrations by Yumi Shimokawara bring multiple expressions of emotion to these amazing creatures. The book shines on the caring and knowledge of these special elephant leaders. I wish there had been added information in the backmatter, at least links to other sources.

Readers see the lovely line of elephants on their way, perhaps over fifty miles to find a much-needed water source from a long-ago memory. There is a twilight-colored page showing elephants mourning one of their own, sharing that sometimes they stay for a few days and often return to the site years later "to touch the bones of their lost family member."

The life of a matriarch dominates the text, but other behaviors are shown, too. Interest in this animal will heighten, having the book as a springboard to further research or one in a series that underscores themes. It is a lovely book.

Wednesday, September 16, 2020

Non-Fiction Books - Learn About People & Things

Visit Alyson Beecher on Wednesdays for Non-Fiction Picture Books at Kidlit Frenzy -- hashtag #nfpb2020! Thanks to her hosting and sharing.

From others, too, who add their posts, you can discover and celebrate terrific nonfiction picture books!

Thanks to Candlewick Press for the following books!

Learning about one's DNA seems more popular today thanks to businesses like Ancestry.com and so much talk about where one is from. This is one gorgeous book, just perfect for beginning to know about DNA. Nicola Davies revolves her explanation of DNA around different things growing, thus the title. As she explains, all things grow and in vastly different ways because of their environment. I loved seeing the words about bristlecone pines that live in harsh mountain conditions. I've seen some of these trees which grow high in our Colorado Mountains. They adapt and take "forty years to grow the size of a pencil. They can live for more than 4,000 years." Change in growing means seeds do not get bigger, they grow (change) into plants.
The book includes the spiraling ladder of DNA with its thousands of steps, uses the term "code of instructions" that creates all living things, and creates their differences.

The explanation of DNA is clearly worded and illustrated. Emily Sutton has created pictures of so many examples of living things as Nicola explains the way DNA works. For example, a family with mom and dad and five children are shown on a picnic, all similar but not exact copies because "the exact mixture of instructions that you get from your biological parents" is not the same for each child, unless you're an identical twin! The double-page spread of many living things is special to see and to read that while we are all so different, we do share some parts of our genetic code.

There is an Afterword with a specific explanation of how a human grows, from one tiny cells but with growth, all kinds of cells begin to form, in fact, 200 different kinds! It's a gorgeous book that will add to a fascinating explanation of what DNA is and how it works.

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This unique biography of these Zhou Brothers, world-renowned contemporary artists, is written by Amy Alznauer but it is unique in that the Zhou Brothers themselves illustrated it. The tale is told that first there was one brother, then a few years later, another arrived. They had good times together but argued, too. They lived with their grandmother, Po Po who had a bookstore and taught them the beauty of knowledge that comes from books. She also told the ancient legend of paintings that flew through the air, landing on high mountain cliffs, free!

Non-Fiction Picture Books Show us Heroes

Visit Alyson Beecher on Wednesdays for Non-Fiction Picture Books at Kidlit Frenzy -- hashtag #nfpb2020! Thanks to her hosting and sharing and those who add their posts, you can discover and celebrate terrific nonfiction picture books!

No one, I think, starts out to be a hero, but sometimes it happens. An event so strong that one leaps into the start, and the actions become heroic. The two men in these biographies has different beginnings, yet it really all came to doing what was right.

"Kum aher. Sit Down, I want to tell you a story!" Thus started the story told to Aaron Lansky by his grandmother, who had carefully packed her suitcase for her voyage to America. Upon arrival, her older brother greeted her and threw that suitcase into the Hudson River. Aaron did not forget, studied Jewish history in college and learned Yiddish because so much of that history was written in that language. His goals were about to change! He visited his rabbi and noticed a bunch of books in a basket, books written in Yiddish! They were about to be buried, no longer useful. Aaron took them home, beginning his journey for more and more. I liked that Macy has included Yiddish words and phrases throughout the story.

Sue Macy tells the story of this mensch, now an English word from the Yiddish mentsh, meaning a 'person of good character'. There are other words that have move into English, found on a double-page spread in the book, words like bagel, schlep, and klutz. But Aaron wanted the history, the stories, the books! He put the word out, soon had so many books in his apartment in Montreal that he feared the floor would collapse. He said that because Jewish people were really homeless until the creation of Israel, these books were the "portable" homeland of the Jewish people". That was the start, but eventually, with so many books collected, he founded the Yiddish Book Center, collecting always, earning acclamations. This center is digitized, with free downloads, and conducts educational programs. In her illustrator's note, Stacy Innerst writes that she follows the path of Marc Chagall, who was a poor Jewish boy born in Russia. She shows a faded style as if it's an old story, only found in people's memories and in books. There is an afterword by Aaron Lansky, notes from Sue Macy and Innerst, a glossary of Yiddish words, and added information.

Non-Fiction Picture Books Explain Science & History

For everyone who wants to know what being Curiosity on Mars is like, Richard Ho tells it with few words, showing what it does ("It observes, Measures, Collects" and on)and what it's like ("The air is thin. The storms are strong." on Mars. His words explode in meaning with Katherine Roy's gorgeous filled-with-the-color-red" illustrations. Included is a four-fold spread showing Curiosity looking out on what looks like a flat park before mountains. "They call me Mars." Ho writes, "I am not like your world."
At the end, you'll see a double-page showing the rover with all its parts labeled and a graphic list of what those parts do. In the back matter, added information about Curiosity can be found, along with "Curiosity's Friends", those explorers sent before, laying the groundwork for this new and larger rover. There is a brief overview of Mars itself and a bibliography, with the link to NASA.
One fun thing: the outside covers show a large illustration of the camera used by Curiosity!

It feels as if this book will entice kids who are interested in space, add to their understanding of what's going on on Mars, perhaps look further to see what NASA is sharing about what Curiosity is telling them!

Wednesday, December 4, 2019

NF Picture Books Share Stories of Courage

Patricia Polacco tells another special story about Wallace Hartley, the man who played on with his fellow musicians as the Titanic sank. Jonathan Harker Weeks complains he doesn't want to practice the piano, he wants to play stickball with his friends. His grandfather responds with who he really was as a child, a 9-year-old stowaway on the Titanic. Part of his earlier life was as a poor, eventually orphan boy, in the slums of Ireland. He ended up hiding from thieves in a mail sack, found himself a stowaway. He was taken in by the friendly Hartley—who loved the boy's playing the violin so much that he arranged an onboard audition before John Jacob Astor that later led to a life in music. It seemed like a dream until the loud noise and eventual realization that this ship that wasn't supposed to sink, was going down. Saying goodbye to his kind mentor, the boy watched the playing “Nearer, My God, to Thee” for those doomed to stay behind. The illustrations in Polacco's signature style focus on the people but add to the story with the beautiful setting backgrounds. It's another story that focuses on a story many may not know of this brave man. There is a real photo of him and added information at the back. One extra note that is also in the story concerns his violin and special case, given to him by his fiance. It also is pictured. After the recovery of his body, it was recovered as well and is now at the Titanic Museum in Lancashire. It's a special story.

When Lilly Ann Granderson was four, she worked in the master's house, and the children there played school with her, giving her an old blue-black speller (see that cover) and thus she learned to read. In Kentucky, Janet Halfmann tells, it was not illegal for slaves to learn, but not encouraged. She studied, tracing the letters in the dirt and hiding that book to keep it safe. Eventually, she could read the Bible. She realized the power reading gave her and began teaching in the woods, in secret.
Sadly, Lilly's master died and she was auctioned off and sold to someone in Mississippi. There it was illegal to know or learn how to read and Lilly was put in the cotton fields, nearly collapsing from the work. Finally, her master noticed and put her in the kitchen. She missed the teaching, discovered an abandoned cabin where she started again, risking much to do it.
In the inspiring story brought to life by Halfmann's words and London Ladd's beautiful full-color paintings, it is special to read of this courageous woman who knew the importance of knowledge, found through reading. She lived through the Civil War and opened another school, continued teaching all her life.
There is an Afterword, sharing more and the amazing legacy carried on by her descendants, although some information, the author states, cannot be found. There are references and a picture of the Union School in Natchez, Mississippi where Lilly taught for many years after the Civil War.

Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Non-Fiction Picture Books - Stories behind the Art

Visit Alyson Beecher on Wednesdays for Non-Fiction Picture Books at Kidlit Frenzy. Thanks to her hosting and sharing and those who add their posts, you can discover and celebrate terrific nonfiction picture books! I always learn from these books, am happy that they are more and more available today for children, for everyone!

Biographies seem to be coming out more and more in picture book form. Some introduce artists and their art, enticing everyone to know more and more. This particular picture book tells about these brothers, from their growing up, choosing (and not choosing) to make art, finally being in the limelight. No matter their poverty, no matter the austere lives they led, they did art!

Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan tell this true story of the Giacometti brothers, no matter the challenge, they devoted their lives to each other - first! In the story, they showed the importance of beginning at the beginning, showing the closeness of the brothers all of their lives.

Alberto, the oldest, began drawing and reading about everything at a very early age. Younger brother Diego was the opposite. Early on, he actually did some illegal things, but soon moved to Paris to be with Alberto. Alberto was still doing art, continued to waver in the "kind" of art. He thought he fit in with the surrealists, but was rejected by them or rejected it.

Learning from Non-Fiction Picture Books

Again with the computer science nonprofit Girls Who Code, Josh Funk and Sara Palacios take readers on another adventure, this time to an amusement park. One pleasing part here is that Pearl and her robot friend, Pascal whom we met in How To Code A Sandcastle, are back, and discover right away that their top goal, to ride that fabulous Python Coaster, may need to wait a bit. The line is so, so long. Pearl begins with a map and announces she'll use "code" for their day. When a coding term is introduced, Funk gives clear, easy-to-understand, definitions. For example, they have ten tokens for rides and Pearl is going to keep track through using a "variable", which holds information, this time those tokens! They begin with a Ferris wheel (robots ride free) which is one token. And since they love the ride, Pearl explains a "loop", which repeats the action of "one token-one ride". There follows a few other needed actions/terms, all while having a great time on the rides, and all those other amusement park delights: trying to win a prize and ice cream! Oops, having fun this time means spending tokens and suddenly they're out but have still not been on that coaster.
Along with learning this new way to keep track of the new coding rules, the new challenge might also mean another code that's missing? When teachers want a way to introduce coding, using the colorfully designed illustrations in an amusement part, labeled with the instructions will aid the process.

A favorite page gives an idea of the creative way Sara Palacios illustrates Josh's way of explanations, this time more about a "variable", but shown in the ice cream shop menu, with a diverse group of people happy to have some delicious ice cream!

There is an introduction by the founder, Reshma Saujani, of Girls Who Code. Additional explanations of the code words can be found in the backmatter. Thanks to Josh Funk and Sara Palacios for another book that shows how coding works, can be helpful, and is easy to learn!

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Non-Fiction History Books Celebrate the Past, Include the Present

Last week I shared a book titled Suffragette, The Battle for Equality. The 'way-back-when' history of women fighting always for other women, for their right to be heard!

Thanks to Candlewick Press for this book!
This week, I love introducing still another book filled with short biographies of more recent women, some now passed, but who in the past century up to today, continue that fight for women's equal rights, continue to live their lives as examples of how persistence can achieve goals. Illustrations by Kylie Akia and Alexandra Bye carry a patriotic theme.

While reading profiles of fifty women, many whom I enjoy hearing speak today, I am both proud of their achievements, but sad at the obstacles they faced and had to overcome. The authors, Virginia State Senator Janet Howell and her daughter, Theresa Howell have identified eight important character traits that "great leaders often develop, along with some suggestions of how those qualities can be expressed." Wouldn't it be terrific to examine each one, to discuss with students how these traits help in achieving life's goals?

Here are some of the women with a special quote included and a tidbit of information I pulled from the profiles:

I'm proud that Condoleezza Rice achieved a doctorate right here in Denver, at the University of Denver! She developed a reputation through her writings as an expert in Russian affairs and culture.

Non-Fiction Picture Books Fill Readers With History

Visit Alyson Beecher on Wednesdays for Non-Fiction Picture Books at Kidlit Frenzy. Thanks to her hosting and sharing and those who add their posts, you can discover and celebrate terrific nonfiction picture books! I always learn from these books, am happy that they are more and more available today for children, for everyone!

I've been out of town most of the recent two weeks and before and since, I've been reading several books, this one that I'm most excited about thanks to Candlewick Press, out in October in the U.S. from their division, Walker Books. David Roberts, author and illustrator of earlier beloved books like Rosie Revere and Ada Twist, brings to older readers and teens a comprehensive and illustrated history of women's fight for equal rights, Suffragette, The Battle for Equality.

David Roberts' introduction tells of a history teacher's project assignment to take one of the old books strewn across her desk where they must find a topic, research and illustrate it! He discovers a book among them where a photograph shows two women in old-time prison uniforms, above them the title, The Suffragettes. Who they were is the question he has answered in this wonderful book, full of stories really, of this seventy-five-year-old battle, one the foreword by Crystal N. Feimster, a Yale associate professor, writes "is one of the most important political movements in history."

The beginning chapter is "A Man's World", detailing the background of why women weren't allowed to vote. Others define suffrage itself, show the seeds of discontent with even earlier attempts, but as many have seen in other protests, calm does not always succeed although it does get attention. Alternating the history of the U.K. with the United States, one inspiring the other, the varying small stories entice, some showing the persistence of women who worked for this cause for over sixty years. I learned many stories, wonder if classrooms couldn't split up the chapters for research by individual students, deepening the information of the woman or women, the man or men who were in the thick of this struggle? Here are examples of the stories illustrated by Roberts' beautiful stylized watercolors.

A slogan coined by Emmeline Pankhurst that time to be polite was over. It was time for action!

non-fiction Wednesday - Those Picture Book Stories Based on Truth!

I found this on my library's shelf, grabbed it because it is by Maira Kalman. It came out in 2005, a brief and poignant story of the many that have come from that day we won't forget, September 11th, 2001.
The John J. Harvey fireboat was the largest, fastest, shiniest fireboat of its time, beginning in 1931 when Babe Ruth set records, the George Washington Bridge was finished, and Snickers candy bars came out. By 1995, the city retired Harvey, determining fireboats no longer needed. A group of friends decided to save it from the scrap heap, paid to fix it up for fun. When 9/11 happened, firemen realized that water pipes were broken and a desperate call came from the fire department, asking if the Harvey could help. At first, they thought it might only rescue people, but without the water, they attached hoses to Harvey and it pumped water for four days and nights! Maira Kalman's clear words and signature emotional art brings this story to us in an inspirational story you will want to read!

When I read this story of William Carlos Williams's famous poem, I am reminded of Mary Oliver's quote: "Instructions for living a life. Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it." In the story, Lisa Rogers shows Dr. Williams going about his practice, in between "paying attention" to all that surrounds him. In his town, he sometimes saw patients in his office, but often went to them for treatment, but also watched out his windows. This time Rogers imagines him seeing his neighbor, Mr. Thaddeus Marshall, tending his garden, filling his red wheelbarrow with the vegetables that he sold to neighbors while he walked it through the town. Yes, there are chickens, too! Chuck Groenink's illustrations are soft, rather dreamy full pages of this small-town doctor's story, a doctor who wrote what he saw in a new way. In an author's note, Rogers shares that he may not have meant the poem (of 16 words) to be about his neighbor, but she imagines it may be. There is also a selected bibliography. If doing a poetry exploration, this will make a lovely beginning conversation about writing and the "meanings" of poems.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Non-Fiction Wednesday - A Wow Book!

Thanks to Candlewick Press for the copy of this book!

Wow, this book is both huge and filled with the information offered in the title, the beginnings and the history of the 'first four billion years'. The text by Martin Jenkins, the drawings and paintings by Grahame Baker-Smith of the solar system and the life evolving creates an extraordinary reading and learning experience, with extensive information. I imagine a classroom could use it as a support for studying this history and science all through a year, taking each part and expanding with more research.
An illustrated timeline and a glossary is added in the backmatter. Here's one example of a double-page painting.

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Non-Fiction Picture Books Inspire

Perhaps you who are reading this have already seen and read Kwame Alexander's poem, The Undefeated, illustrated by Kadir Nelson. I had not but finally was able to get the book. The poem, first performed for ESPN's 'The Undefeated", includes references to words first said by the people celebrated. Using brief and powerful words for the unforgettable, those who survived, and didn't, the unflappable and those who shone, Kadir Nelson's beautiful art expands those brief words into what feels like a long, long look. Both did not forget the unspeakable, too. Black.Lives.Matter!
Here is one special group of words, accompanied by Nelson's image of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.:
This is for the unlimited,
unstoppable ones,
The dreamers
and doers
who swim
across The Big Sea
of our imagination
and show us
the majestic shores
of the promised land:

How wonderful it would be to use this book in classrooms, each student learning about one or more, perhaps writing a poem or prose piece for a performance celebration? If you have it for a class, or for your grandchildren, it is one to read aloud, to savor the pictures and if you don't recognize them, to discover them as new people to know.
The book ends with a glossary of the figures acknowledged in the book and an afterword by Alexander, who writes that he wrote the poem in 2008, the year his second daughter, Samayah, was born. "Three months later, Barack Obama became the first African American president of the United States." This poem is his tribute to both.

Throughout the pages, cranes are flying, perhaps showing the "rising" written about by Maya Angelou that Alexander references in his Afterword: "I did get knocked down flat in front of the whole world, and I rose."