Nonfiction 10 for 10

#nf10for10 is an online celebration of nonfiction picture books. Whether you'd like to contribute or just pop into see what others are featuring, I strongly recommend doing so.

Click on this link to follow along at Enjoy and Embrace Learning blog or twitter with the #nf10for10 hashtag.

Every year I find out about new and sometimes older picture book titles that teachers, librarians, booksellers and parents are giving and reading to children.

My picks are pretty eclectic this year.  It's a list of picture books I enjoyed, found beautiful or made me chuckle.

So in no particular order...


#1. The Butterfly Garden by Laura Weston
      A lift-the-flap book that portrays the life cycle of the monarch butterfly in a beautiful and unique way. This is a black-and-white board book with flaps that open into brightly coloured butterflies, caterpillars, leaves and flowers. Recommended for Kindergarten to grade 2.

#2. Picture the Sky by Barbara Reid
     Barbara Reid's illustrations always amaze me. Composed from clay, she creatively conveys every mood she describes. In this book, the reader is shown variations in the light from skies in different landscapes at different times of the day and night and everything in between. Would be a great mentor text for art and language arts classrooms. Recommended for Kindergarten to grade 2.

#3. The True Adventures of Esther the Wonder Pig by Steve Jenkins, Derek Walter, and Caprice Crane.
      A few years ago Esther the Pig had an adult book written about her. This picture book tells young readers how she came to live in the family that took her in and what life is like living with a  650 pound pig. Emphasis is on lots of love. Lots of love!  Recommended for Kindergarten to grade 3.

#4. Hawk Mother: the Story of a Red-Tailed Hawk Who Hatched Chickens by Kara Hagedorn
     This book is filled with fantastic photographs detailing the journey an injured red-tail hawk lived through, from a wildlife rehabilitate centre to living with a human who tries to give her a life that is as authentic as possible. To that end, Shineshine (the hawk) was given a couple of chicken eggs to hatch after several years of trying to hatch her own infertile eggs. The question would she see these chicks as her's or potentially, as a meal? Excellent nonfiction writing with additional information and glossary.  Recommended for grades 2 to 6.

#5. Welcome to Country: a Traditional Aboriginal Ceremony by Aunty Joy Murphy 
       Written by a Wurundjeri woman from Australia, we learn about the importance of the welcoming ceremony as cultural greeting offered by Elders to visitors to enter onto their traditional lands.The illustrations are reminiscent of bark paintings. Emphasizes the importance to connecting to the land and respecting the people and ancestors of that land.
Recommended for grades 1-6.

#6. The Secret Kingdom: Nek Chand, a Changing India, and a Hidden World of Art by Barb Rosenstock.
      A creative, little boy loves the stories he learns from his family that reflect the rich Indian culture of his village. This is India in 1947 at the time of partition when Hindus and Muslims were separated into two countries. Nek and his family are forced to leave their homes. Moving to a new city that seemed devoid of the culture he loved, Nek collects and re-purposes trash and constructs his own village from it over a period of year.This renown folk artist has up to 4000 people a day visit his Rock Garden of Chandigarh. You need to check out the Foundations website to see some of his sculptures and how he changed the landscape. Amazing! Recommended for grades 3-7. Great book to tie in to units about recycling trash into art, science units about waste in our world and social studies units about India and partition. 

#7. Inky's Amazing Escape: How a Very Smart Octopus Found His Way Home by Sy Montgomery
     I've a soft spot for stories about octopues since reading Sy Montgomery's book, The Soul of an Octopus. This book conveys the intelligence of this marvelous animal while he learn about how they live. This one has the added bonus of an adventure story as a rescued octopus finds his own way back to the ocean from an aquarium that had been his home. Recommended for grades 3-6.

#8. The Brilliant Deep: Rebuilding the World's Coral Reefs by Kate Messner and Matthew Forsythe
      Recounts how Ken Nedimyer was fascinated with oceans as a boy. He noticed that corals in the Florida Keys were in distressed and dying. Through his interest and endeavors he discovered a way to cultivate introduced corals into areas that were in dire need of help. Beautifully illustrated. Recommended for grades 3-6.

#9.  Around the World in Numbers by Clive Gifford and Josh Hurley.
      Divided by continent, the reader who loves trivia will enjoy this book. Lots of statistics are given for a range of eclectic things related to specific countries or specific areas in countries. Examples: 1,500 paintbrushes and 66 tons  of paint are used repaint the Eiffel Tower; 38,000,000 motorbikes are the most popular form of transport in Vietnam; 2.25 gallons of water can be held in an African elephant's trunk; 100,000,000 leather slippers are made in Morocco every year; 5.9 million pounds of maple syrup were stolen by thieves in Canada in 2012, etc. Because such large areas are covered there are not a lot of details for any one country. Good for browsing. Recommended for grades 4-7.

And....

#10.  Mama Africa!: How Miriam Makeba Spread Hope with Her Song by Kathryn Erskine.
       Born in South Africa apartheid was enforced, Miriam uses her amazing voice to sing songs of protest to raise awareness and protest the oppression that black South Africans live  under. This picture book tells of the trials and tribulations that she endured. Extensive author's notes, timeline, glossary, bibliography and additional reading list are included. Recommended for grades 4-7.

Top 10 on 10 – The picture book fiction edition

Well, I’m back from holidays and what better way to get back into the swing of things but by highlighting some of my favorite picture books.

For the last several years, I’ve participated in the Top 10 on 10 event where bloggers and other types of children’s literature aficionados  recommend their favorites picture books.  It can be a nail biting experience as you try to figure out how to rave about only 10!  count’em 10! books when really you could rave about 100s. But it’s a great exercise and I always come away with so many new (and old) titles that I know will be of interest to the student-teachers who use the Doucette Library.

I decided to focus on a theme and because I’m still in holiday mode decided to highlight mystery and detective stories. I do love mysteries and it’s what I typically read when I’m not working.  The following is my list of books some, new and some oldies-but-goodies which keep me guessing and leave me in awe of remarkable observation and deductive reasoning skills. 

 

Hermelin the Detective Mouse by Mini Grey

Whether you’ve lost a pair of eyeglasses, a cat or a goldfish, Hermelin is on it. A master of observation, he finds all that is lost for those living in his neighbourhood. The gratitude of these neighbours turns to shock and horror when they realize he’s a mouse. All except for one aspiring detective…

Who Pushed Humpty Dumpty? And other notorious nursery tale mysteries by David Levinthal and John Nickle

Who knew that Fairy Tale Land was a hot-bed of crime? Five classic fairy tales are framed as if a crime has been committed and it’s up to Officer Binky to save the day. Goldilocks is behind bars for breaking and entering. In the case of Hansel and Gretel, killing the witch  was a clear case of self-defense. Humpty Dumpty was pushed and will not be living happily-ever-after. Snow White will no longer have to fear for her life from the evil, vain queen. And figuring out what the real story behind Jack, his beanstalk and the goose who can lay golden eggs is all in a day’s work for Officer Binky.

Pigeon P.I. by Meg McLaren

Another noir-type detective story involving an old-timer and a keen youngster looking to crack the case of missing birds. Did they fly the coop? Or, is there some other nefarious plan about to hatch?

The Strange Case of the Missing Sheep: a thriller by Mircea Catusanu

Apparently, this one was inspired by true events. Ten sheep go missing and it’s up to Doug, the sheep dog to find out where they went.  “Careful” deduction indicates that Wolf living in the Dark Forest is responsible. But as will all good mysteries, things are not what they seem. The twist is – well, you’ll just have to read and find out for yourself. The illustrations are a treat.

Piggins by Jane Yolen

This one falls into the classic category for me. In this case, “the butler did it” refers to the butler solving the mystery of the stolen diamond necklace belonging to his employers. I love the early 1900s vibe and details.

The Eleventh Hour by Graeme Base

If you love solving puzzles then this one’s for you. Every page has clues and codes to be figured out. The illustrations are detailed and will give you a run for your money. The answers are provided in the back of the book.

Detective LaRue: Letters from the Investigation by Mark Teague

The LaRue dog books, are hilarious! In this caper, LaRue is accused of catnapping a neighbour’s two felines. As he explains to his human who’s on vacation, writing her frequent postcards it’s all a big misunderstanding. It’s up to LaRue to find the cats and perhaps, those responsible for the crime spree that is spreading through town that started the same night the cats went missing. Coincidence? I think not!

Mystery at the Club Sandwich by Doug Cushman

I love this noir mystery for the puns it works into the narrative. (See title.) We have an elephant detective who “works for peanuts”, a chanteuse whose “lost her marbles”… you get the idea. This one works through the clues and a list of suspects in a pretty linear way. The black and white illustrations add to the atmosphere of a gritty 30s noir flick.

The Mysterious Collection of Dr. David Harleyson by Jean Cassels

Ever notice how many picture book mysteries and detective stories feature fairy tale and nursery rhyme characters? Well, this one feels like it’s a bit of a pop quiz. A traveling painter requests that his family return several portraits he’s painted to their owners. There are clues attached to each painting that will help with this task. This one will appeal to kids who really like fairy tales.

The Mysteries of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg.

My last recommendation is not so much a mystery but definitely falls into the category of mysterious. The set-up is an illustrator, Harris Burdick, dropping off a portfolio of his illustrations to a children’s book publisher. It features a single picture from several different stories with only a title and a caption to give us a clue about what’s going on. Each picture has some element of spookiness, creepiness or intrigue. It leaves the reader wanting to know what the stories are about and what happened to Harris Burdick. He never did return to pick up his illustrations.

So, there’s the list for this year. Please check out some of the other blogs and lists for going to 2018 #pb10for10.  You won’t be disappointed.

Top Ten for Ten – Indigenous children’s literature

I love this event. #pb10for10 is such a great way to see what teachers, librarians and others who use children’s literature are reading and teaching with. I always collect a large number of titles from these lists and sometimes, new ideas about using the books, too. 

The premise is to list your 10 best picture books. These can be the 10 picture books you love most in the world. Or the 10 best picture books connected to a specific topic. Or it might be the top 10 authors of picture books. Or any other top 10 theme you might want to create.

I encourage everyone to visit and browse through these lists.

Last year I created four Pinterest boards that support a course in the education undergraduate program focusing on First Nations, Metis and Inuit peoples. One of the assignments has students evaluating children’s literature. The Pinterest boards lists books for different grade levels for both fiction and nonfiction.

And, so here’s my list for this year’s Top Ten on the Tenth Event.

A Coyote Columbus Story by Thomas King, illustrated by William Kent Monkman

This is not your typical Christopher Columbus story. It presents a native perspective about the arrival of Chris with Trickster Coyote responsible for the whole terrible mess. She only wants to have some people to play baseball and instead creates a group of greedy, ill-mannered thieves. Very interesting illustrations. The book can be used with younger grades but I think older students will have a rich opportunity for deconstructing it.

I am Not a Number by Jenny Kay Dupuis and Kathy Kacer, illustrated by Gillian Newland 

This picture book is based on the author’s grandmother’s experiences in a residential school where she endured many horrific hardships. Recommended for upper elementary grades.

Jingle Dancer by Cynthia Leitich Smith, illustrated by Cornelius Van Wright and Ying-Hwa Hu

This book demonstrates a wonderful sense of community of support as a little girl from the Muscogee Nation looks to create a dress to wear for a jingle dance. Family and friends all contribute jingles from their own dresses to help Jenna. Recommended for early elementary grades.

Mwakwa Talks to the Loon by Dale Auger 

Mwakwa is a skilled hunter who provides many essential supplies for his village. But he becomes conceited after receiving much praise from the other villagers and loses his ability to talk to the animals he has always hunted. This traditional story speaks to the importance of being humble about one’s abilities and respectful of the sacrifices others make for the greater good. Recommended for elementary grades

Orca Chief by Roy Henry Vickers 

I am a big fan of this illustrator’s work. In this traditional story, we learn about respecting nature. When a group of men are careless about how they treat the ocean the chief of the orca whales teaches them how to sustainably harvest food from the ocean. It's about being respectful and thankful for what the earth provides us. Stunning illustrations with Northwest Coast aboriginal motifs.  Recommended for elementary grades.

Saltypie: a Choctaw Journey from Darkness into Light by Tim Tingle 

Based on the author’s grandmother’s experiences facing adversity and racism, this picture book shares a unique perspective about resiliency. Recommended for elementary grades.

Secret of the Dance by Andrea Spalding 

A boy sneaks out one night to watch a potlach, a ceremony forbidden by the Canadian government. Those involved risk arrest, confiscation of artifacts and even their children by participating. Recommended for elementary grades.

Thunder Boy by Sherman Alexie 

This one is all about identity, individuality and wanting to be recognized for one’s own abilities. Little Thunder is named after his father which he finds frustrating. He wants a name for himself that acknowledges who he is. Yet, at the same time, he worries about hurting his dad’s feelings. Recommended for primary grades.

What’s the Most Beautiful Thing You Know About Horses?By Richard Van Camp, illustrated by George Littlechild 

When you live in a small village where horses are not all that prevalent, how would you describe one? One cold day when there is nothing better to do, a young boy asks different family and friends what they think about horses. The illustrations are a really strong element in this picture book. Recommended for primary grades.

Wild Berries by Julie Flett 

What could be better than being outdoors picking wild blueberries with your grandmother? For this boy, exploring the forest and observing wildlife, it’s an enjoyable and educational experience. Swampy Cree words are included identifying the various things that the pair see.  Recommended for primary grades.

Top 10 Nonfiction Picture Books - Activists

I’m posting a little early this time so that I can contribute to this year’s Top 10 for 10: the Nonfiction Edition. I love these events.

Now in the fifth year, Nonfiction Picture Book10 for 10 (#nf10for10) is co-hosted by Cathy Mere of Reflect & Refine and Mandy Robek of Enjoy and Embrace Learning.  Go to Picture Book 10 for 10 Community to see all the contributors.  There’s no better way to build your library than with recommendations from people who are really passionate about children’s literature and many of the teachers in the crowd generously share teaching ideas, as well.

This time round, I’m focusing on nonfiction books about people who are the do-gooders of the world, the righters-of-wrongs and the impossible optimists of causes, lost or otherwise.

#1.  Nelson Mandela by Kadir Nelson.

 The illustrations are particularly strong as you can see from the cover. This image introduces us to the man who had vision and was a great leader. The free-verse text sketches out the basic story of his life and a 2-page author’s note fills in more of the details of Nelson Mandela’s struggle. Recommended for elementary grades.

#2.  14 Cows for America by Carmen Agra Deedy.

 I’ve blogged about this book numerous times and included it at least twice in past lists for the Top Ten event. It really is a must-have. Again, the illustrations only emphasize the beauty of the story. A young Kenyan man studying in New York in 2001 when the Twin Towers collapsed returns home to seek support from his community to give a herd of cattle to the Americans as a way to show sympathy, support and as a way to heal. To the Maasi of Kenya, cattle are a way of life and mean everything to them as a people. I still tear-up when I read it.

  

#3. OnePlastic Bag by Miranda Paul

 I love this story because of the initiative taken by a Gambian woman named Isatou when she saw a problem that needed to be addressed. Single-use plastic bags were a problem in her community, polluting the area, killing livestock and attracting insects. With help from the community, repurposing the plastic bags, into crocheted carrying bags she is able to generate income and, at the same time, as reducing waste.

#4. Viola Desmond Won’t Be Budged! By Jody Nyasha Warner & Richard Rudnicki

This is a Canadian story about Viola Desmond, a black woman who in 1946 was asked to move from a main floor movie theatre seat to a seat located in the balcony. When she refused, she was jailed, charged, and fined. This incident rallied the black community in Nova Scotia to push back against long standing racial discrimination.

#5. Rachel Carson and Her Book That Changedthe World by Laurie Lawlor  AND

      Rachel: the Story of Rachel Carson by Amy Ehrlich

Having just watched a PBS documentary about Rachel Carson it reminded me about the importance of her work. These two books tell us Rachel’s life story, her strong connection to nature, and why she was committed to increasing awareness to environmental issues. The book by Laurie Lawlor really ties into the impact a single person can have in the world. The beginning of the environmental movement is attributed in part to Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring. 

#6. A Boy and a Jaguar   by Alan Rabinowitz

This book also speaks to a person committed to the environment. I really appreciated how this story illustrates a man’s commitment to wildlife conservation and how his connection to animals helped him overcome a debilitating stutter. Finding his voice has enabled him to speak for the animals found in the wild.

#7. The Watcher: Jane Goodall’s Life with theChimps by Jeanette Winter

Jane Goodall is the quintessential conservationist, internationally renowned for her work with chimpanzees in Tanzania.  The other book to be aware is a 2012 Caldecott Honor book,  Me…Jane by Patrick McDonnell.

#8. I Am Jazz by Jessica Herthel

Awareness of transgender issues have been prevalent recently and Jazz Jennings is certainly doing her bit to help people understand what this experience has been like for her and her family. This picture book is appropriate for younger children whereas Being Jazz : My Life (as a TransgenderTeen) by Jazz Jennings a much longer book is directed to students in grade 6 and up.

#9. Emmanuel's dream : the true story ofEmmanuel Ofosu Yeboah by Laurie Ann Thompson

Emmanuel was born in Ghana with a severely deformed leg. The biggest challenge for him to overcome was the prejudice he experienced from others.  With a great deal of grit, perseverance and encouragement from his mother he went to school, learned to play soccer and ride a bike. He undertook a 4000 km trip across Ghana on his bicycle to raise awareness and change attitudes in his county towards those with disabilities.

#10. Dreams of Freedom : In Words and Pictures by Amnesty International

This book is a collection of quotes from famous activists including Nelson Mandela, Malala Yousafzai, Anne Frank, and the Dalai Lama who have lived experiences with ‘dreams of freedom’. Besides the provocative, beautiful, and inspiring words are provocative, beautiful and inspiring illustrations done by a bevy of international illustrators such as Mordicai Gerstein, Chris Riddell, Sally Morgan, Oliver Jeffers and Roger Mello. Works well with social studies when the Rights of Child is being taught. Beautiful book.

 Again, I highly encourage you to visit the rest of the entries in today’s event by clicking on Picture Book 10 for 10 Community. You will come away with many irresistible recommendations.

Wrap up for Picture Books Top 10 on the 10th

Last week I took on the challenge of listing my top 10 picture books in the meme Picture Book Top 10 for 10th Event. I encourage you to pop by and browse through some of these lists. It's good fun to see what makes these lists and how creative educators are.

As always, I struggled to list only 10 and decided to focus on a theme versus just my favourites. The theme focused on some of my favourite Canadian authors and illustrators instead was sort of a compromise. Only 10 writers but I sometimes included more than one of their books. I guess that might be considered cheating rather than a compromise -- but really who's counting? 

But taking part in this meme is a really fantastic endeavor as I'm able to glean a number of titles of picture books that are favourites of other teachers and librarians. They are often generous enough to include bits of information about how they use these titles, too.

I wanted to wrap up this experience by listing a few of these new titles that I'm now eager to bring into the Doucette Library for the upcoming year.

Here are my top 10 choices: 

Ada Twist, Scientist by Andrea Beaty

They All Saw a Cat by Brendan Wenzel

The Whale by Vita Murrow

The Stick by Clay Rice

Octicorn by Kevin Diller












Explorers of the wild by Cale Atkinson

What to do with a box by Jane Yolen

There by Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick











Running the Road to ABC by Denize Lature













More-igami by Dori Kleber











Okay, one more to keep the cheating even:


Brief Thief by Michael Escoffier