Monday, May 28, 2018

Fact or fiction?


Now this is a book that teachers, librarians and those of us who teach research skills will approve –

Two Truths and a Lie: it’s alive! by Ammi-Joan Paquette & Laurie Ann Thompson is a pretty fun book that teaches us about the natural world (plants, animals and us, humans, too) but promotes critical thinking and digging for the truth, along the way.

The book is divided into three parts each focused on either plants, animals or humans. Each part has three chapters and within each chapter there are three stories written loosely connected about a particular topic. 

Now, the three stories within a chapter has two stories based on facts and one that is fabricated.  All the stories capture the mystical nature and sometimes strange wonder of the natural world making it tricky to figure out which one might be the ‘lie’. The fake story often does contain bits of information that is true but the overarching information is false.

Along the way, there are pull-out boxes that give us additional information, quick lists of true or false statements to research, define words, provide maps and photos, and suggest activities and tips on research.  The answers are provided at the back of the book as well as a bibliography of the sources the writers consulted.

The introduction sets up the book, what to expect and how to read through it.

A section at the back of the book provides the reader with suggestions on how they might tackle figuring out which stories are true and which are not. It promotes using the internet and how to best work through the information found there. They caution the reader to be extra careful as there are people out there who intentionally want to fool us into believing false information. Selecting reliable sources, checking these sources, verifying information from more than one source, visiting libraries and thinking critically about what you’re reading are outlined in the book and promoted as crucial for good research.

This will appeal to a certain kind of reader who will likely be keen to work through it on their own but I think this book will have a bigger appeal for classroom work teaching research and critical thinking skills. The stories have a ‘wow’ factor that holds the reader’s attention and then there’s the gaming element that presents a challenge of figuring out fact from fiction.

I can see introducing this book to student-teachers when I next hold a workshop about information literacy or dealing with ‘fake news’.

I highly recommend this book for grades 4 to 8 but could see it being used at higher levels, as well.

Monday, May 21, 2018

#NotYourPrincess



Editors Lisa Charleyboy and Mary Beth Leatherdale have compiled writings and visual art from over 50 contemporary Indigenous women artists from across North America in their latest book, #NotYourPrincess.

These artists highlight aspects and issues of life as Indigenous women such as identity, assimilation, racism, abuse, murdered and missing Indigenous women, resiliency, connection to the land, hope and change for the future.

Each entry is one or two pages long and vary in format from short essays, poems, interviews, letters, brief quotes, to photographs and drawings.

The writing and images are strong and convey the strength, love and recognition about who they are and where they come from. These are contemporary women connecting past, present and future.

This book is another important resource to make available in high school classrooms for all students.

Charleyboy’s and Leatherdale’s first two compilations are Urban Tribes: Native American in the City and Dreaming in Indian: Contemporary Native American Voices which I also highly recommend.


Monday, May 14, 2018

In celebration of National Sea Monkey Day



Let’s hear it for Sea Monkeys and all cheesy things advertised in the back of comics from the days of yore.

Hurrah!

To celebrate this day, Paula and I thought it would be a great idea to list some of our favorite comic/graphic novels which is where most of us were introduced to the sea monkey phenomenon.

Primary Grades (K-4)
The Bad Guys (series) by Aaron Blabey
Baby Mouse (series) by Jennifer Holm and Matthew Holm
Binky Takes Charge by Ashley Spires
Dragon Breath by Ursula Vernon
Dragons Beware by Rafael Rosado and Jorge Aguirre
Jack and the Box by Art Spiegelman
Little Mouse Gets Ready by Jeff Smith
Squish, Super Amoeba (series) by Jennifer Holm and Matthew Holm
Zoe and Robot by Ryan Sias


Middle Grades (5-8)
Amelia Rules! By Jimmy Gownley
Amulet (series) by Kazu Kibuishi
Graveyard Book by Neil Gaimon, graphic adaptation by P. Craig Russell
Rapunzel’s Revenge by Shannon Hale, illustrated by Nathan Hale
Sisters by Raina Telgemeier
War Brothers: a Graphic Novel by Sharon McKay, illustrated by Daniel LaFrance
Zebra Fish by Peter H. Reynolds


Senior Grades (9-12)
American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
Fagin the Jew by Will Eisner
Ms. Marvel (series) by G. Willow Wilson, illustrated by Adrian Alphona
The 99 (series) by Naif Al-Mutawa, Fabian Nicieza
Noughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman, adapted by Ian Edginton
Red: a Haida Manga by Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas
Saga (series) by Brian K. Vaughan, Fiona Staples
Spinning by Tillie Walden
Three Feathers by Richard Van Camp, illustrated by K. Mateus


Teaching with Graphic Novels
Nonfiction
The Arab of the Future: a Childhood in the Middle East, 1978-1984, a Graphic Memoir by Riad Sattouf
Darwin: a Graphic Biography by Eugene Byrne and Simon Gurr
Feynman by Jim Ottoaviani, illustrated by Leland Myrick
Gandhi: a Manga Biography by Kazuki Ebine
Louis Riel :  a Comic Strip Biography by Chester Brown
Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales (series) by Nathan Hale
The Shocking World of Electricity with Max Axiom, Super Scientist by Liam O’Donnell
Two Generals by Scott Chantler
Understanding Photosynthesis with Max Axiom, Super Scientist by Liam O’Donnell



Fiction
Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 by Tim Hamilton
Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery: the authorized graphic adaptation by Miles Hyman
Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, illustrated by Fabio Celoni
Hamlet (Manga Shakespeare series) illustrated by Emma Vieceli
Romeo and Juliet adapted and illustrated by Gareth Hinds
7 Generations (series) by David Alexander Robertson & Scott B. Henderson

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