Hark! – Book Buying Season is Upon Us!

Well, it’s that time of the year when Paula and I are asked about gift books for the holiday season. This year we thought we’d  publish our recommendations a little earlier. Again, like the last two lists, they will be published over a few days – starting TOMORROW!! until Friday.

Here's the line-up:

Day 1. Picture Books

Day 2. Middle Grade Fiction   & including Graphic Novels

Day 3. High School Fiction     & Classic Parodies

Day 4. Non-fiction (all ages)

So, come back tomorrow (and the rest of the week) and check out --

Tammy and Paula’s Holly-Jolly, Tra-la-la, Rum-pum-pum,

 Five Golden Rings, Decked-out 

Holiday Book List

and jingle bell rock all the way through this holiday.

How we see the world

Today’s blog features three new books in the Doucette Library.

First up is This Beautiful Day by Richard Jackson. This story in rhyme clearly demonstrates who one’s mindset impacts how we react to external forces. In this case, it’s a very dark, gloomy, stormy day. This does not prevent a group of children from enjoying themselves bopping along to some tunes on the radio, having a grand time splashing through some rain puddles until the rain starts to abate. They join up with some friends and continue the fun as the sky continues to clear and the sun breaks through. The rhyme is toe-tapping and the illustrations (by Suzy Lee – I LOVE her work) conveys the free spiritedness of the kids as they have fun with zippy, drippy watercolour drawings. Great book for accentuating living in the moment and enjoying circumstances as they unfold.

Today I Feel…: an alphabet of feelings by Madalena Moniz continues with looking at an A to Z range of emotions experienced by children (and all ages really). Here are a few examples:

 A is for Adored is illustrated with a full wall of pictures of the same child at varying ages;C is for Curious is playfully conveyed with a child looking into a large, black hole, one of many on the page;I is for Invisible where the same child wears a sweater that matches and blends into the wallpaper on the wall behind him; and so on. 

It’s a quiet book that opens up reflective thinking about emotions. This could also be used for work about the alphabet and modeling this kind of thinking. Maybe ask the question: What other emotion might represent the letter A?

My last recommendation, Super Jumbo

by Fred Koehler, is a fun look at a child elephant who sees himself as a superhero protecting and aiding those in need. This, unfortunately, isn’t always helpful for those being ‘saved’. The illustrations are perfect for this story clearly conveying the intensity our superhero has for saving others as well as the consternation and frustration of the ‘victims’. His best good deed is helping a friend repair a broken wagon and continuing the day-saving adventures as a daring duo.

I’m recommending all these books for the primary grades. Enjoy!

Real-world designing and making for a good cause

Beauty and the Beak: How science, technology, and a 3D-printed beakrescued a bald eagle by Deborah Lee Rose and Jane Veltkamp is quite the title, isn’t it?

What a fascinating story to bring into the classroom to discuss the impact of STEM/STEAM (science, technology, Engendering, art and math) related issues.

This is the story of Beauty, a bald eagle who sustained a gunshot wound that destroyed the top part of her beak. On the verge of starvation, Beauty was rescued and taken to a wildlife center, her first stop in her rehabilitation. From there she was moved to a raptor center run by Jane Veltkamp, a raptor biologist who wanted to have a prosthetic beak made for Beauty. An engineer, Nate, took up the challenge to create a beak using a 3D printer. The process was very much a trial-and-error technique that required hundreds of hours to refine. A dentist was brought into help set the beak into place. The beak worked for a time until it was realized that her natural beak was growing back very slowly. She permanently lives at the center and is supporting scientific study about eagles.

The back section of the book, contains a substantial amount of information about where Beauty is now, her prosthetic beak, and general information about eagles. Everything from their importance to ecosystems and First Nations peoples, their physiology, and conservation efforts is here for research.

The reference section is of reputable websites from government and environmental sources. There is one from the Museum of Science in Boston that has information about making and testing models of Beauty’s beak. There is a rich resource from The Cornell Lab of Ornithology that will supplement general information about eagles. The raptor center that Jane Veltkamp founded is included as well and has a wealth of resources to support this book as a classroom resource.

I’m recommending this for grades 3 or 4 up to grade 8. It demonstrates innovative thinking and designing, problem solving, biology and wildlife conservation. It’s a perfect real-world example for interdisciplinary work about a very cool topic. 

A Handful of Favs

The semester is taking a turn as the second year students are heading out for practicum (teaching in the schools) and won’t be back until after Christmas. (Alright, they might be scheduled to come back once for a debriefing before Christmas.) This means, with only first year students here, the library is going to be pretty darn quiet. It’s not quite the ‘end-of-term’ feeling but its close.

It’s time to start getting caught up with reading.

Here are five fantastic picture books that coincidentally all touch on the same themes of fulfilling dreams or wishes, realizing potential, seeking knowledge, being curious and finding answers.

First up is The Antlered Ship by Dashka Slater. In a quest to find the answer to a slew of questions about how the world works, a red fox joins the motley crew of animals on a ship headed for an island with ”tall, sweet grass and short, sweet trees.” There are challenges and adventures along the way, testing the crew. But perseverance and friendship prevail, as well as the realization that there are always more questions to be pondered and seeking to understand the world is a never ending endeavor. This book is about friendship and that the journey is more important than the destination. Wonderful illustrations enhance this story. Recommended for grades 1-4.

The Book of Gold by Bob Staake is also about a lifetime quest for – you guessed it, The Book of Gold. A young boy finds everything boring and nothing interests him. Isaac’s parents do everything they can think of to show him the pleasures to be had in learning about the world around him. He’s just not into it, until he’s told the legend of “one very special book that’s just waiting to be discovered. It will look like any other book, but it holds all the answers to every question ever asked, and when it is opened, it turns to solid gold.”  The appeal of gold drives Isaac to open every book he comes across without much regard until one book catches his interest and a question pops into his head, “Why don’t the pyramids have windows?” Though his quest continues his entire life, he begins to discover the world first through books and then by traveling to faraway places. He never does find this elusive book but as an eighty year-old man, he’s able to intrigue another young boy with the promise of The Book of Gold. The illustrations are digitally rendered, highly stylized and distinctive for this author’s style. It’s a bit message-y for me but I think it would be a strong teaching book for grades 1-3.

The Almost Impossible Thing by Basak Agaoglu follows the evolution of a dream. It may start small but as an idea takes shape for a rabbit with high-flying aspirations, we get to see all the iterations of his/her attempts to become airborne. I see this one fitting into a design thinking or maker class that focuses on how an idea develops over time and the trial and errors that often go into getting an idea off the ground. The illustrations are light and airy with a minimalist feel.  I’m recommending this one for the younger primary grades.

My next recommendation is If You Hold a Seed by Elly MacKay because it can work both on a very real-world level as well as at the metaphorical level. Planting a seed (idea, hope, intention), nurturing it, waiting patiently for something to start to grow (develop, mature, swell) and then appreciating the tree (or whatever result you worked to achieve) that finally comes to be. The illustrations are soft and done with a warm palette which draws the reader in. I see this working well with grades kindergarten to grade 3 or perhaps higher if you’re teaching about metaphor.

The last recommendation is quite different from the first four in both subject matter and tone. A Different Pond by Bao Phi is a fictionalized, slice-of-life account of an immigrant family from Vietnam when a young boy accompanies his father on a fishing trip. This trip is done very early in the morning while it’s still dark out and between the father’s jobs. The fish they catch is critical for the family’s food supply. Both the author and illustrator have contributed notes that speak to their experiences as Vietnamese immigrants establishing themselves in a new country. Again, the strong illustration style contributes to the storytelling. Recommended for grades kindergarten to grade 3.

So, to all you second year students have a great practicum. Remember the Doucette Library is here to support your experience and if you need resources email us. Hope to hear from you soon.

Promoting critical thinking

How to Fake a Moon Landing: Exposing myths of science denial by Darryl Cunningham though published in 2013 is right on target in this day of ‘fake news’.

Looking at the science and controversies behind such topics as climate change, fracking, evolution, chiropractic and homeopathic care, vaccinations causing autism and the conspiracy story that astronauts did not land on the moon, Cunningham looks to give us some insight into the veracity of all claims.

Let’s take the chapter on climate change, a topic that is often explored in classrooms.  Presented are common arguments that the Earth’s climate is becoming warmer and as well as those that refute this claim.

Cunningham explains that to really understand climate change we need to see the big picture, we need to see what is happening on a global level, and not base our opinions on local events such as extremely hot summers or extremely cold winters.  In addition to looking at patterns on a global level we need to look at the Earth’s historical data, as well to see these patterns over very long periods of time.

Overall, there is an immense amount of data to breakdown and analyze but the science does back up the theory that the Earth’s climate is indeed changing. He presents the following facts:

*global sea levels have risen about 17 cm in the past century, a rate of increase that has doubled in the past decade.

*there has been a consistent global surface temperature rise since the 1880s and most of this warming has occurred since the 1970s with two of the warmest years happening in the past 12 years.

*all this has taken place even though the 2000s have experienced a solar output decline.

                                                                                                                         --from page 139

                                                                                                                                            

He presents additional information about shrinking ice sheets from highly credible sources with measurable points for comparison over time.  He explains how Earth’s atmosphere traps greenhouse gases and that there is a correlation between human activity since the industrial revolution and increases in global temperatures.

Next, he addresses the points of contention that arise in discussions about climate change like, “Isn’t it true that a growing number of eminent scientists now believe climate change to be wrong?” But statistical analysis of the opinions of climate experts showed that only 2.5 percent of the world’s top 200 climate scientists are skeptical of human-made climate change.

Cunningham explains that many of the conspiracy theories come from interest groups, such as the fossil fuel industry who have a vested interest in preserving the status quo.

Now all of this sounds like pretty heavy going, doesn’t it? But the book is done in fairly short chapters in graphic novel-style. The tone is conversational as our narrator is depicted in each section and leads us through the controversies and evidence. I think it’s taken me longer to write up the section above describing the chapter about climate change than it did for me to read about it.

This book will be a terrific addition to classrooms to promote discussions about climate change and any topic which might fall into either category of ‘news’ or ‘fake news’.  It will with encourage critical thinking for those at the secondary levels.  Each section is credited with the sources that the author consulted to write this book.

I recommend this for grades 9 or 10 and up for anyone interested in this timely topic.

Setting the tone: Mistakes = Possibilities

I think it’s really easy for people to get caught up chasing the right answer, achieving set goals, or sticking to a game plan. There’s the fear of being judged and found lacking in intelligence, ability or motivation. In other words, feeling stupid and frustrated sucks especially when you know you can do better.

But there’s a lot of potential for a mistake to result in something unexpected and good and possibly be even better than your initial attempt.

Take the artist in The Book of Mistakes by Corinna Luyken, for example.

She starts drawing the face of a girl but the second eye is a little too large so to fix that mistake she enlarges the first eye and now both eyes are slightly too big. The illustrated girl spookily looks like a character from Coraline . (Great book for Halloween. Just saying.) However, this is short lived as a pair of glasses sets the picture back on track.

But the mistakes keep on happening. A super long neck and one extra-extended arm gives the girl a freakish look.  But the creative illustrator uses these slip-ups as an opportunity for embellishing the clothes of her creation. A lacy collar perfectly accentuates the elongated neck and patches on the elbows reduces the distraction of too long arms

And so on.

Until…

The last few spreads of the book show us a fantastical scenario of the girl racing toward an amazing tree crawling with children who she will fit in with perfectly. Not a single mistake is apparent. Perfection!

This book has an encouraging message that all of us can embrace.

I would recommend this for elementary and middle school grades.

Also, check out Beautiful Oops! by Barney Saltzberg.