Nonfiction Monday -- Working with the Common Core

The wonderful people over at I.N.K -- Interesting Nonfiction for Kids wrote a lot of helpful blog posts during October 2013 about the new Common Core Standards that have been adopted by many state educational systems.
And recently Melissa Stewart wrote a helpful blog post about how authors can connect to the Common Core Standards. She calls it the Common Core Care Package: 10 Ways Authors can help Educators.
Click on over and check these posts out.

I post these tidbits so that I can find them again.
 Feel free to let me know if you find them helpful to you as well.

Nonfiction Monday is HERE today

And we have a great collection of wonderful nonfiction books for children for you to enjoy.

But before we get to those book links, I want to point out that today marks the second anniversary of my retirement from over 40 years as a Children's Librarian at a major east coast library system.
Yes, my official retirement date was April Fool's day.
(and I kept telling my staff that this meant that it was just possible that I wouldn't retire after all -- that it was just an April Fools joke.)

Are there any April Fools Day books in today's list?  Let's see:

First up is Jeff Barger at NC Teacher Stuff.  He says that Tito Puente, Mambo King by Monica Brown, illustrated by Rafael Lopez is amazing!  Lopez's artwork in this picture book biography is so vibrant that it brings Puente's music alive visually.   Published by Rayo, a division of HarperCollins, 2013.

Ms. Yingling Reads has two pet care guides written by Ellen Miles.  One is The Puppy Place: Guide to Puppies. The second one is The Kitty Corner: Guide to Kittens. I can tell you that children (and parents) always want a helpful pet car guide like these the minute they bring home a new pet.  Available TODAY (April 1st) from Scholastic.

There's a great picture book biography over at Shelf--employed today: A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin written by Jen Bryant and illustrated by the award-winning Melissa Sweet.  New York: Knopf, 2013.  She says, "No April Fools Day jokes here -- just a great book to share."

ACK!  If you are afraid of snakes, don't pick up this book.  Nic Bishop's photographs are always soooo realistic. (Don't get me started about his book on spiders -- a book I couldn't even pick up, it was so realistic.)   Perogies & Gyoza reviews Nick Bishop Snakes today. New York: Scholastic, 2012.  This Canadian reviewer says that her son loved it because it was so graphic.

Books for Children of the World: The Story of Jella Lepman by Sydelle Pearl, illustrated by Danlyn Lantorno, Pelican Publishing, 2007, is definitely for those of you who are interested in history.  It's about a brave lady who helped kids get books in post-World War II Germany and is featured today on Alex's blog, The Children's War.

A new picture book biography by Don Brown is reviewed on Supratentorial -- Henry and the Cannons, an Extraordinary True Story of the American Revolution, published by Roaring Brook Press, 2013.

Myra Garces-Bacsal reviews several books on her blog, Gathering Books.
 The Django (not to be confused with the movie Django Unchained), by Levi Pinfold, published by Templar in 2010, is about the life of "The Django" -- Legendary musician Jean "Django" Reinhardt who was born to a French-speaking Romany/ gypsy mother.
Her other book review highlights A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams by Jen Bryant, illustrated by Melissa Sweet, published by Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2008.  Little known fact -- William Carlos Williams is a medical doctor who also happens to be a poet.

Jennifer at the Jean Little Library blog is featuring science today. She highlights a book from the FUNdamental Experiments series published by Bearport.  Which one?  Her pick is DIRT. A great, fun, and messy experiment book for younger readers.

Ah, here's another messy book.  Jeannie at True Tales & a Cherry on Top found a book where mud meets baseball!  Did you know that baseball players don't use fresh baseballs right out of the box?  No, baseballs have to be specially prepared before they can be used.  How?  The book, Miracle Mud, Lena Blackburne and the Secret Mud That Changed Baseball explains all. (written by David Kelly, illustrated by Oliver Dominguez, published by Millbrook Press, 2013)

Anastasia Suen is sharing Picture Yourself Writing Poetry: Using Photos to Inspire Writing by the award-winning Laura Purdie Salas, Capstone Press, 2012, over at her Booktalking blog.

Over at the Biblio-File blog is a lengthly review of Martin W. Sandler's The Impossible Rescue: The True Story of an Amazing Arctic Adventure.  Warning -- don't read this if you still have snow on the ground at your house -- wait until summertime when reading about freezing conditions will cool you off.  This chilly adventure for older readers was published by Candlewick in 2012.

Jane Yolen and her daughter Heidi E.Y. Stemple have put together a collection of biographies of notorious women in the book, Bad Girls: Sirens, Jezebels, Murderesses, Thieves, and other Female Villains, illustrated by Rebecca Guay and published by Charlesbridge, 2013. To see a review of this captivating book, click on over to Abby the Librarian.

Barbarians!  (now that's a title that fits perfectly on this list right after the above Bad Girls book) Were they bad boys, or what?  Steven Kroll explores their culture and religion and what makes them tick. Illustrated by Robert Byrd, published by Dutton, 2009. Reviewed on All About the Books with Janet Squires.

Tammy Flanders at Apples with Many Seeds explores how creative people think and work with the book by Shaun Tan, The Bird King; an Artist's Notebook.   Arthur A Levine Books, Scholastic, 2013.

Over at the InteractiveReader, Jackie Parker-Robinson has been weeding the 600s in the Teen section of her library and has created a list of missing books.  Her conclusion? It looks as if most of these are books her teens want to read, but don't want to be seen checking out of the library.  Hmmmm.

YEA!
Someone IS talking about April Fools Day books today.
Join Mary Ann Scheuer over at Great Kids Books where she is having an April Fools celebration with palindromes, riddles, and fun with letters (CDB) and numbers (Wumbers).

Books 4 Learning reviews Martin de Porres: The Rose in the Desert by Gary D. Schmidt, illustrated by the award-winning David Diaz, published by Clarion Books, 2012.  The reviewer especially loves the poetic language here.

Sondra Eklund has a review of a picture book biography for your dinosaur fans at her Sonder Books blog.  T-Rex!  Talk about something kids can't get enough books about. A good book for reader's advisory and special displays.
Barnum's Bones by Tracey Fern, illustrated by Boris Kulikov, published by Farrar Straus Giroux in  2012.

Thanks for visiting.  I hope you enjoy all the books listed here.
-wo

Nonfiction Monday Links

Busy, Busy this week. But still there are lots of Nonfiction blogs out there.
For my own Nonfiction enjoyment, I often visit Marc Aronson's blog Nonfiction Matters or the group blog, I.N.K.: Interesting Nonfiction for Kids.

Where's your favorite blog?

The Nonfiction Roundup for this Monday had been gathered at: Madigan Reads. Click on over and enjoy.
-wendieO

Nonfiction Monday

The best place to connect with a group of nonfiction writers is over at the I.N.K. blog -- (Interesting Nonfiction for Kids). During July they're posting the best of the best posts from the past year.

Also, check out all the great Nonfiction Monday book reviews over at Anastasia Suen's 5 Great Books blog.
Enjoy.

-wendieO

Nonfiction Monday -- Meet the Howlers!

Meet the Howlers! by April Pulley Sayre. Illustrated by Woody Miller. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge, 2010. Available now.

I have to say that every book by April Pulley Sayre is a delight and this is no exception.


Meet the howlers!
Living life on the go.
Meet the Howlers! who-hoo-hoo!
Ah-Uh-Oh!
(I probably would have put a couple of more exclamation marks after that last howl, just because I have heard Howler monkeys howl and the noise seems to echo everywhere.)

The double page spread continues, in smaller typeface, with facts about this howl -- only males can do it and they can be heard a mile away.

Each page uses this technique. Adults can simply read the rhythmic phrases to preschool children, treating this like a picture book story. Or adults and early readers can include the informational part before they turn the page. (Two types of books for the price of one.)

Because the monkeys spend most of their time in the treetop canopy, the illustrator has made the background for each illustration multi-shades of green, with an occasional glimpse of tree trunk or sky. Nicely done. It keeps your eyes focused on the Howler family's life.

The last pages have a map showing the monkey's range in Central America including parts of Mexico and Colombia and Ecuador. Another page has more nonfiction facts about howler monkeys.

This is what the publisher says about this book:
Meet the bad boys (and girls) of the primate world. Playful, poetic text and vibrant art introduce young readers to howler monkeys. Extra facts within the text give readers the low-down on these loud, sloppy, and rude rain forest dwellers.
This book is good for your brain because:
Habitats, Poetry, Emergent Reader, Life Science

And there you have it. Another fun presentation of animal life by the marvelous April Pulley Sayre.
You can read more about how this naturalist researches her books by reading the I.N.K (Interesting Nonfiction for Kids) blog. (click on the link) The blog is run by a group of nonfiction writers and April posts once a month.

More Nonfiction Monday can be found at the SimplyScience Blog.
Enjoy.
-wendieO

Nonfiction Monday

Oh -- It's nonfiction Monday again? How time flies when you are going out of your mind.

I don't have a new book ready to review

So I suggest you wander over to the I.N.K blog (Interesting Nonfiction for Kids) and see what that group of nonfiction writers is talking about today. Ah, Jennifer Armstrong is talking about nonfiction books that seem to be long lists of things -- like the Guinness Book of World Records. That's one of the most checked-out books in our library. She points out how lists of things are often the backbone of many nonfiction books. (just how many things do live under a rock or log?)

As for me, I'm busy packing for my trip to Vermont College tomorrow.
I'll try to post reports from there -- if I can find an internet connection and if I don't fall asleep too quickly after long days of classes and discussions. (I'm taking my bathing suit, but don't really expect to have time to use it.)
-wendieO

Interesting Nonfiction for Kids

Today I don't have time to review a book, so I direct your attention to the blog written by multiple nonfiction writers -- I.N.K (Interesting Nonfiction for Kids)
And you won't believe the shocking things Monday's blog discusses about presidential candidates.

-wendieO

Nonfiction Monday -- a wonderful BLOG

Today is Nonfiction Monday.
I had all these plans about grabbing some great nonfiction books from my library and talking about them -- only to remember that libraries are closed today. Soooo, I have lots of time to create a post and no books at home to talk about.

Therefore
I want to tell you about this wonderful nonfiction blog.
It's called I.N.K. which stands for Interesting Nonfiction for Kids.

I was amazed to learn that some of my favorite wonderful nonfiction writers are each posting messages here. Plus there are links to their websites where you can find more about them and their books. Wow -- to have all these people in one place. It's a feast!

Who are they?
* Don Brown
* Bob Raczka
* Jennifer Armstrong
* Kathleen Krull
* Padma Venkatraman
* Linda Salzman
* April Pulley Sayre
* Sue Macy
* Loreen Leedy
* Kelly Fineman
* Vicki Cobb
* Sneed B. Collard III
* Anna M. Lewis
* Steve Jenkins

They describe their blog this way:
"Here we will meet the writers whose words are presenting nonfiction in a whole new way. Discover books that show how nonfiction writers are some of the best storytellers around. Learn how these writers practice their craft: research techniques, fact gathering and detective work. Check out how they find unusual tidbits, make the facts interesting and write something kids will love to read. Explore how photos and illustrations are integrated with the text to explain an artists vision of the world. Consider what subjects are flooding the market and what still needs a voice. Rethink nonfiction for kids."

Go now
and enjoy what they have to say.

And then check out the other blogs who are featuring nonfiction on Mondays here. Scroll down to get the list, complete with links to connect you to these places.
-wendieO