Nonfiction Monday -- Clouds

Yes, I did it again.
Nonfiction Monday is happening on Tuesday.
I've been so involved with the huge weeding project at my library (we're changing our checkout system to RFID and are under orders to trim our collection of books. Which will make it easier for us to tag all of our books with the RFID tag. But I digress.), that I forgot to grab a book to take home to review.
Anywho -- here's one I found today.

Clouds by Anne Rockwell, illustrated by Frane' Lessac. New York: Collins, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, 2008. (Hey, didn't I hear that Collins is no more and it's all folded into HarperCollins now?)

This is part of Harper's Let's-Read-And-Find-Out Science series. (Level 1) You may remember that for years and years (and even more years) that series consisted of books written by Dr. Franklyn M. Branley. It looks as if HarperCollins is now assigning a group of other writers to update the series.

You know how Amazon.com has this "Look Inside" where you can click and see 4 parts of any book? Well, if you go to the HarperCollins website here, you can read the whole book and see all the pictures. Just click on "Browse Inside."

In simple sentences, a few on a page, the writer takes you from fog on the ground to all the various clouds in the sky. I don't call this "easy reading" because how can cloud names like Cirrostratus and Cumulonimulus be easy to read? But students will be able to sound them out (with a little help from adults) and will enjoy knowing their true names -- just like they easily learn anything about dinosaurs, including those complicated names.

I especially like the illustration that shows ALL of the different types of clouds. And the fact that it repeats itself three times, as the words talk about the high, middle layer, and then the low hanging clouds. By the third time it appears, both child and adult readers begin to recognize each cloud type.

What if there were NO clouds? Now, there's a viewpoint I hadn't thought of. Rockwell does, though, and discusses the fact that life, as we know it, wouldn't exist on earth without clouds to bring shade and rain.

The rest of the Nonfiction Monday book reviews are located here.
-wendie Old

NF Monday -- Now and Ben

Okay. Okay. I AM aware that nofiction Monday came on a Tuesday this week. That will happen when Mondays are crazy, crazy. (Packet 5 was due and sent to Vermont College late Sunday and Monday was dedicated to planning the library's programs for March, April, and May. Let's not think about the Summer Reading Programming stuff due in several weeks.)
Anywho.

Now and Ben, the Modern Inventions of Benjamin Franklin by Gene Barretta. Henry Holt and Company, 2008. Available now.

What a neat picture book/ science book/ invention book/ etc. As you move through this book -- on your left is today. And items we use today. And over here on the right is Ben, using the invention that he created that is either still being used today, or else was the origin of something we use. A-Maz-Ing!

The author, Gene Barretta, is an illustrator who has worked many years in film and TV production. He lives near Philadelphia and even named his son, BEN !

More Nonfiction Monday posts can be found here.
-wendie old

MEERKATs --Nonfiction Monday, now on Tuesday

MEET THE MEERKAT, by Darrin Lunde, illustrated by Patricia J. Wynne, Charlesbridge, 2007, available now.

I had a Summer Reading Program assistant one year at my library who loved Meerkats. (Before I met her, I had no idea what a Meerkat was.) During that same summer my granddaughter and I attended a stage production of THE LION KING, which featured -- a cute, though large, meerkat. (Naturally, my summer thank-you gift to her was a stuffed meerkat from the show.)

If you were intrigued by Simba's friend, Timon the Meerkat, and you are a first or second grader, you will love finding out more about this African animal by reading this book.

For example, when asked by the narrator, "what do you look like?" the meerkat pictured says, "I am long and thin. I have a pointy face. I am the size of a squirrel." Who knew? The meerkat on stage with the Lion King cast is the size of a large boy or small man.

The text drew me in with this question and answer format -- telling me exactly what I wanted to know about this animal. The large pictures are inviting. The large typeface encourages young readers. And the information is just enough for a beginning reader's report on this animal.

The author's afterward is not aimed at adults. It is still aimed at the young reader, giving them a little bit more information.

Both the author and the illustrator, a husband and wife team, work for the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

For more Nonfiction Monday blog posts, click on the link in the previous message.
-wendieO