February 16, 2013

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Beyond Barron’s: The College Maze

By on October 1, 2012 Leave a Comment
college grad

SLJTeen’s sister newsletter, Curriculum Connections, recently ran a terrific article that’s perfect for high school seniors who are thinking about college—and for those of us who work with them. “The College Maze: From Application to Admission (And Beyond)” offers a comprehensive round-up of titles that college-bound students, as well as their parents, caregivers, and counselors, won’t want to miss.

The recommended list of books—which cover everything from choosing a major to guidance for students with disabilities—is bound to spark ideas for [...]

Filed Under: Nonfiction, Reference, Resources, Teens & YA Tagged With:

Consider the Source: Convergence

By on September 26, 2012 2 Comments
Replica of first transistor invented in Bell Labs in 1947.

Marc Aronson discusses a set of books that looks at the same moment in history from three different angles. Taken together, the three titles offer a more comprehensive picture of a time of invention and discovery than we’d typically get from an individual book: one title focuses on a remarkable genius; another on a breakthrough invention; and the third title, which explores a transforming theory, is really best seen as a moment in which circumstance, individuals, and technology converge to make change possible.

Filed Under: Common Core, Consider the Source, Curriculum Connections, Nonfiction Tagged With: , , ,

A Universe to Discover | From Galileo to Barnum Brown

By Kathy Piehl on September 25, 2012 1 Comment
Barnum's Bones

Biographies and introductions on scientists can introduce young readers and listeners to the excitement that inspires a lifetime of study. They can also encourage students to consider such pursuits themselves—now and in the future. From Galileo to Barnum Brown, the titles recommended here range from gorgeously illustrated picture books to exciting stories of phenomenal discoveries supported by clear color photos, generous lists of additional resources, detailed author notes, and website updates.

Filed Under: Books & Media, Collection Development, Curriculum Connections, Nonfiction Tagged With: , , , , ,

Pick of the Day: The Impossible Rescue: The True Story of an Amazing Arctic Adventure

By on September 12, 2012 Leave a Comment
Book cover: Whaleship in the arctic circle

SANDLER, Martin W. The Impossible Rescue: The True Story of an Amazing Arctic Adventure. 176p. bibliog. chron. index. maps. notes. photos. CIP. Candlewick. Sept. 2012. RTE $22.99. ISBN 978-0-7636-5080-3. LC 2011018618.
Gr 5 Up–Endurance. Fortitude. Bravery. Any of these words could easily describe the people involved in this amazing, but little-known rescue-adventure. The year was 1897 and whaling was big business in America. Whaleship captains hunting in the Arctic Circle, pushing for more whales and the profits they meant, ended up [...]

Filed Under: Featured, Grades 5 & Up, Nonfiction, Pick of the Day Tagged With: ,

A Lifetime of Study | On Site with Scientists

By Kathy Piehl on September 4, 2012 1 Comment
Life in the Ocean

What do scientists do in their laboratories and on their research expeditions? How do they become interested in the subjects they pursue? Biographies and introductions to professionals in the field can introduce young readers and listeners to the excitement that motivates a lifetime of study. They can also encourage students to consider such pursuits themselves—now and in the future.

Filed Under: Books & Media, Collection Development, Curriculum Connections, Nonfiction Tagged With: , ,

Mold Gardens and Messy Mixtures

By John Peters on August 31, 2012 1 Comment
Flying Machines

The plethora of projects and experiments suggested in this handful of recent books offer just such inspiration. Rather than simply providing one bare recipe after another, the collections below combine tested sets of ingredients and clearly described procedures with specific explanations of the physical or chemical principles , relevant historical background, probing questions about results, and tantalizing suggestions for further, more challenging experiments—an approach designed to give children both a stronger grasp on how the natural world works and a systematic method for reaching out to conduct enquiries of their own. More importantly, all convey an enthusiasm for science that requires no intervention from parents or educators to prove contagious.

Filed Under: Collection Development, Curriculum Connections, Nonfiction Tagged With: , ,

Consider the Source: The Problem with Common Core’s ‘Appendix B’

By on August 24, 2012 1 Comment
Letter B with kids

We always warn kids not to “pile on”—adding an extra shove when another kid is already down. But in this case, I have to add my voice to Melissa Jacobs-Israel’s. Melissa has expressed her frustration with the Common Core’s infamous Appendix B: Text Exemplars and Performance Tasks, and I couldn’t agree more.Sadly, Appendix B isn’t down.

Filed Under: Common Core, Consider the Source, Curriculum Connections, Nonfiction Tagged With: , ,

Pick of the Day: Worst of Friends: Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and the True Story of an American Feud (CD)

By on August 23, 2012 Leave a Comment
Book cover: Jefferson & Adams fighting

Worst of Friends: Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and the True Story of an American Feud. By Suzanne Jurmain. cassette or CD. 30 min. Recorded Books. 2012. cassette: ISBN 978-1-4640-4043-6, CD: ISBN 978-4640-4042-9.  $15.75.
Gr 2-4–Suzanne Tripp Jurmain makes early American history more accessible and our founding fathers more human for young students in her book (Dutton, 2011) about the friendship and feud between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. She profiles both the differences between these two men as well as the [...]

Filed Under: Audio Reviews, Nonfiction, Pick of the Day Tagged With: , ,

Pick of the Day: Island: A Story of the Galápagos

By on August 22, 2012 1 Comment
book Cover: Galapagos island

CHIN, Jason. Island: A Story of the Galápagos. illus. by author. 40p. diags. maps. Roaring Brook/Neal Porter. Sept. 2012. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-1-59643-716-6. LC 2011033797.
Gr 3-6–Chin combines a bit of storytelling, factual explanations, and large and small paintings to chronicle the “birth” and ongoing development of islands in this far-off ocean cluster. A focus on the evolutionary rise and fall of the islands and skillful arrangement of an especially large number of images distinguish his presentation from the many books [...]

Filed Under: Nonfiction, Pick of the Day, Preschool to Grade 4 Tagged With: , , ,

Pick of the Day: My Hands Sing the Blues: Romare Bearden’s Childhood Journey (CD)

By on August 21, 2012 Leave a Comment
Book cover: Romare Bearden painting

My Hands Sing the Blues: Romare Bearden’s Childhood Journey. By Jeanne Walker Harvey. cassette or CD. 15 min. Recorded Books. 2012. cassette: ISBN 978-1-4640-0209-0, CD: ISBN 978-1-4640-0206-9. $15.75; hardcover book, ISBN 978-0-7614-5810-4: $17.99.
K-Gr 3–In a first-person narrative that incorporates some of artist Romare Bearden’s phrases and ideas, and using his famous painting “Watching the Good Trains Go By” as her inspiration, Jeanne Walker Harvey gives voice to the history and experiences that inspired his famous collages. Born in North Carolina, [...]

Filed Under: Audio Reviews, Nonfiction, Pick of the Day Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Pick of the Day: Monsieur Marceau: Actor Without Words

By on August 13, 2012 Leave a Comment
Book cover: Monsieur Marceau

SCHUBERT, Leda. Monsieur Marceau: Actor Without Words. illus. by Gérard DuBois. 40p. further reading. notes. photos. CIP. Roaring Brook/Neal Porter. Sept. 2012. RTE $17.99. ISBN 978-1-59643-529-2. LC 2011033798.
Gr 1-3–It is fitting that this superb picture-book biography is short on words and long on visuals. The spare text marvelously captures the essence of the artist, depicting a man whose choice to be silent was born of an awareness of the damages of war. Born in 1923 to a musical family who [...]

Filed Under: Nonfiction, Pick of the Day, Preschool to Grade 4 Tagged With: , , ,

Pick of the Day: The Mighty Mars Rovers: The Incredible Adventures of Spirit and Opportunity

By on August 1, 2012 Leave a Comment
Book cover The Might Mars Rovers

RUSCH, Elizabeth. The Mighty Mars Rovers: The Incredible Adventures of Spirit and Opportunity. 80p. (Scientists in the Field Series). bibliog. further reading. glossary. index. photos. websites. CIP. Houghton Harcourt. 2012. RTE $18.99. ISBN 978-0-547-47881-4. LC 2011012159.
Gr 7-9–Rusch covers not only the scientific aspects of Mars exploration but also the personalities of the people who made it happen, and profiles the rovers themselves, Spirit and Opportunity. Her comprehensive research shines through in her detailed style as she zeroes in on the [...]

Filed Under: Nonfiction, Pick of the Day

My Sword & Shield: Why Social Studies Matters | Consider the Source

By on July 31, 2012 Leave a Comment
Photo by arbyreed

What binds us together as a nation? What do we hold in common? What are the invisible linkages of law, custom, trust—the “single garment of destiny,” as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., called it— which we weave with the intertwining threads of our lives?

Filed Under: Consider the Source, Nonfiction Tagged With:

Pick of the Day: Invincible Microbe: Tuberculosis and the Never-Ending Search for a Cure

By on July 30, 2012 Leave a Comment
invincible-microbe

MURPHY, Jim & Alison Blank. Invincible Microbe: Tuberculosis and the Never-Ending Search for a Cure. 144p. bibliog. index. maps. notes. photos. reprods. Clarion. July 2012. Tr $18.99. ISBN 978-0-618-53574-3; ebook $18.99. ISBN 978-0-547-82268-6.
Gr 5-9—Starting with the dramatic cover photo of a row of girls lying in their hospital beds, Murphy and Blank unwind the tangled history of tuberculosis, a disease that continues to kill millions every year. The writing is crisp and clinical. Readers will be surprised to learn that [...]

Filed Under: Nonfiction, Pick of the Day

The New Nonfiction—and Why It Matters | Consider the Source

By on July 24, 2012 Leave a Comment
Susan Campbell Bartoletti at ALA Annual 2012

One of the presentations that I had a chance to participate in at the American Library Association’s annual conference, in Anaheim, in June, featured some unexpected drama. On Sunday afternoon, Dr. Joe Sutcliff Sanders, Nina Lindsey, Jonathan Hunt, and authors Susan Campbell Bartoletti, Marina Budhos, and I were considering whether there’s a “new nonfiction,” if that even matters, and what kinds of nonfiction best serve today’s young readers.

Filed Under: Consider the Source, Nonfiction Tagged With: , , , , ,

America’s Changing Face | Consider the Source

By on July 3, 2012 Leave a Comment
immigration

In the late ’60s, Bob Dylan wrote a song called “I Pity the Poor Immigrant,” which channeled our nation’s dreams and images. And indeed, if you do some free associating with the word “immigrant,” you might conjure up some black-and-white images of “huddled masses” in steerage on the way to Ellis Island, or “coffin ships” creaking slowly across the Atlantic from famine-ravaged Ireland, or even African captives forced to endure the deadly Middle Passage. Or you might think of labor leader Cesar Chavez and the travails of migrant Mexicans workers in the late-20th century, or more recently, of the spate of laws and heated rhetoric that have been directed at undocumented Hispanic immigrants.

Filed Under: Consider the Source, Nonfiction Tagged With:

Consider the Source: Hello Again

By on June 26, 2012 Leave a Comment
marc-aronson

More than five years ago, I stopped writing my monthly SLJ column, “Consider the Source,” and began a blog, “Nonfiction Matters.” Since the end of May, I’ve put down my blogging gear and now I’m shifting back to my column. So, hello again to my old column readers and my recent blog readers—and welcome aboard to any new friends who’d like to join us.

Filed Under: Consider the Source, Nonfiction

On the Radar: Top Picks from the Editors at Junior Library Guild: Science for the Short Set – K-Gr 2

By on June 12, 2012 Leave a Comment
bugs

Bugs, water, rocks, and explosions—there’s something for everyone in this collection of science books! Get young ones interested in science by sliding these titles under their noses, and pairing each with a little field work. Hit the playground and search for beetles, or visit the local water plant. Or like Joe-Joe, blow something up! You know that they learn not only by reading, but also by doing.

Filed Under: Nonfiction Tagged With: ,

“Will Puberty Last My Whole Life?” | Questions Preteens Ask

By on June 5, 2012 Leave a Comment
will-puberty-last

For more than 20 years, Julie Metzger and Robert Lehman have been meeting with children, teens, and their parents. Their goal? “To promote positive communication about pubery, sexuality, in topics around adolescence and growing up.” In Will Puberty Last My Whole Life?(Sasquatch Books, 2012), they share some of the questions preteens have asked them on these topics and offer readers honest answers.

Filed Under: Curriculum Connections, Nonfiction, Students, Teens & YA Tagged With:

SLJ’s 2012 Day of Dialog: Dynamic Nonfiction for Kids and Teens

By on June 4, 2012 Leave a Comment

What’s the secret to creating riveting nonfiction for young readers? It begins with passion, says kids’ book author Candace Fleming, one of the participants in SLJ’s annual Day of Dialog, on June 4, at New York’s Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. “If I’m going to spend five years working on a book, it has to be something I’m interested in.”

Filed Under: BookExpo America, Common Core, Curriculum Connections, Nonfiction Tagged With:
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