Nonfiction Monday - Stripes of All Types

Darned if I know where the rest of the Nonfiction Monday's links are, but here's my Nonfiction Monday book:  Stripes of All Types, written and illustrated by Susan Stockdale (that's her in the picture), in English and Spanish. Peachtree Publishers, 2014. Available now.

Click here for a great article by her at the Peachtree Publisher's blog talking about how she got the idea to create this book.

And below you can see two illustrations from the book.
Look -- some jelly fish have stripes!  I already knew that garter snakes, sometimes called green grass snakes, have stripes because my brother collected them when we lived in northern Illinois.  (Mom made him stop collecting snakes when we moved to the Ohio Valley of West Virginia because some of the local snakes there were poisonous.)

Everyone knows that skunks and zebras and tigers have stripes. But this book includes lots of unexpected stripes in the animal world.

As you can see in the pictures, this is set up so that young readers can figure out the words, with a  phrase in both English and Spanish on each page. (hmm. this picture only shows the English) By the time they have read the whole sentence - on several pages - it becomes apparent that this is also a poetry book. (at least in English; not so sure about the Spanish part.)
There's a fun quiz to identify the animals near the end of the book. (answers upside down). And finally a section with paragraphs containing more information about each animal (again in English and Spanish).

This is a fun book for preschoolers and early readers. 

Nonfiction Monday -- About Penguins

Hmmmmm,
Nonfiction Monday came on a Tuesday, again. (Which is what happens when I have a program at the library on Mondays and come home too tired to type.)


About Penguins, a Guide for Children by Cathryn Sill. Illustrated by John Sill. Atlanta, GA: Peachtree, 2009. Available now.


I knew that Peachtree did luscious picture books, but I didn't know they also produced easy reading nonfiction with luscious illustrations like this one. Evidently part of a series. (The "About" series.) I'll have to keep my eye out for the rest of them. Evidently, John Sill is a prize-winning wildlife artist. It shows.

Double page spreads having the illustration on one side and the words on the other can often look very textbooky. (yes, Mr. spellcheck. I do know that's not a real word.) But the illustrations here are so photographic that the whole thing works. Not only that, but each illustration is labeled with "Plate #..." This refers to a section in the back of the book which gives more information about the penguins pictured there or what they are doing. Early readers will be satisfied with the simple sentence on the page. "Penguins are seabirds that cannot fly." Parents or advanced readers can learn more in the back section.

The product description on the Peachtree website says:
"Cathryn Sill uses simple, easy-to-understand language to teach children what penguins are, how they look, how they move, what they eat, and where they live. Illustrator John Sill introduces readers to a variety of penguins (17), from Adélie to the Rockhopper, to Emperor."

This week’s Nonfiction Monday Round-up is at Tales from the Rushmore Kid. Wow, she's created a whole new Nonfiction Monday symbol in my favorite color -- green.
-wendieO

Nonfiction Monday -- 14 Cows for America

(heavy sigh)
Nonfiction Monday came on a Tuesday again.
Not my fault. The library was closed yesterday because they finally installed all of our the RFID readers and self-checkouts. And we had to get trained. etc., etc., etc.

Anywho --
On our new book shelf today, I found 14 Cows for America written by Carmen Agra Deedy in collaboration with Wilson Kimeli Naiyomah, illustrated by Thomas Gonzalez. Atlanta, GA: Peachtree Publishers, 2009.

When I saw it, I imediately was reminded that my friend Mary Bowman-Kruhm is also writing a book about the Maasai, in collaboration with another Maasai named Jackson Minteeng Liaram. You can read more about that on her blog.

In 14 Cows for America, Kimeli, who has been in Medical School in New York City (USA), returns to his village in Kenya. That evening, his contribution to the storytelling was the tale of 9-11. He saw the smoke and the falling buildings.

Kimeli knows his people. "They are fierce when provoked, but easily moved to kindness when they hear of suffering or injustice." "To the Maasai, the cow is life."

A great ceremony is held where an American diplomat accepts 14 cows donated from this village to the American people. Beautiful double-page spreads show the dancing, the music, the celebration. Lyrical writing tells the story.

Even more interesting to adults is the endnote -- Where Wilson Kimeli Naiyomah explains the background behind this story.

And what happened to those special cows?
They are still in Kenya being cared for by Maasai.
A special flag, commemorating this gift of sacred cows, flies at the U.S. Embassy in Kenya and will be placed at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York City when it opens.

For more Nonfiction Monday posts, click here.
-wendieO