In The Smartest Kids in the World: And How They Got that Way (S & S, 2013), Ripley reports on her year-long “field trip to the smart-kid countries” to see if she could account for the success of the high achievers. What made these kids smarter than their American peers? To offer an insider’s perspective, she recruited three teenagers participating in student exchange programs: Kim, a sophomore from a low-performing high school in small-town Sallisaw, OK, made her way to Finland after the hard work of raising $10,000; Eric, a recent graduate of a high-achieving, affluent Minnetonka, MN, high school, deferred college for a year to attend high school in Busan, South Korea; and Tom, a western literature enthusiast from Gettysburg, PA, opted to spend his senior year in Wroclaw, Poland.

So, what did Ripley’s investigation reveal? While many of the problems that plague schools, such as principal and teacher complaints, strong unions, political maneuvering, and test anxiety are universal, where children live often determines how seriously they take their role as students. In Finland, Korea, and Poland, the stakes are high; students’ college choices and future careers are determined by how well they do on their exams. Though also true to some extent in the United States, many American students appear fairly blasé about academic success. Interestingly, access to technology wasn’t a deciding factor in motivation or better learning. In fact, the three countries profiled had no digital whiteboards and few computers in the classroom. (They also didn’t have school sponsored sports teams.) What mattered most was rigor and equity, that all students were expected to perform to a certain level and held to the same standards, as were their teachers. In Finland, especially, Ripley describes how improving teacher-training programs by limiting admissions to highly qualified applicants, demanding subject area expertise, and extending the internship period, also improved the level of rigor in the classroom. And they did this while rather than after adopting stringent national standards.

It’s clear that no one country has the answer to America’s public (and sometimes private) school morass. Each has specific issues and problems; consider Korea’s late-night hagwons, private tutoring schools that reduce equity because they charge for access to the best teachers while wearing down students to the point of exhaustion. But what is clear is that in each of the three countries profiled, policy makers and educators and, more importantly, parents and students have decided that a good education matters and excuses for failure are unacceptable. Ripley’s reporting is top-notch, fluidly presented, and well-documented, and her coverage of the teenagers’ personal journeys and experiences, both social and academic, make this a must-read for anyone interested in getting American schools back on track.

Bascomb, Neal. The Nazi Hunters. (Scholastic; Gr 6-10).
Adolf Eichmann, the S.S. Commander in charge of the transport of millions of Europeans to concentration and labor camps during World War II, is the focus of this compelling and suspenseful title. Bascomb describes in detail the search for Eichmann across continents, the elaborate plans and courageous team assembled to kidnap him, the man’s capture in Argentina, and his trial in the newly formed state of Israel in 1961. In the end, Eichmann went quietly with his captors, and to the end insisted he was following orders. Average quality black-and-white photos, reproductions of documents, and maps illustrate the book.

Hanbury-Tenison, Robin and Robert Twigger. The Modern Explorers. (Thames & Hudson; Gr 9 Up).
Units of study on exploration begin in the early grades and often continue through high school. In years past the focus was on early ocean voyages and the individuals that led them, but since then many histories have expanded to include underwater and space travel. Asserting that “exploration is alive and well and never more popular than today,” the authors of this volume follow up with 39 accounts (including many first-hand) of travels to deserts, forests, mountain ranges, and the open sea with scientists, photojournalists, and adventurers. Numerous black-and-white archival photos and dramatic color images illustrate these remarkable contemporary journeys in search of river sources, remote populations, and an experience of a lifetime.

Hopkins, H. Joseph. The Tree Lady: The True Story of How One Tree-Loving Woman Changed a City Forever (Beach Lane Books; Gr 2-5). Illustrated by Jill McElmurry.
Growing up in Northern California in the 1860s, Kate Sessions felt “at home in the woods,” that “the trees were her friends.” Later, after graduating from the University of California with a degree in science (the first woman to do so), she took a teaching job in San Diego. In that city’s nearly treeless landscape, it wasn’t long before Sessions became a gardener, determined to find plants that could thrive in a dry, warm climate. Hopkins relates how the woman was soon planting trees “along streets, by schools, and in small parks and plazas all over town.” In preparation for the Panama-California Exposition of 1915, Sessions organized planting parties so that visitors could enjoy a shady City Park (now Balboa Park). Thanks to her love of nature and can-do spirit, San Diego today is a “lush leafy city.” McElmurry’s distinguished illustrations, imbued with a range of greens and earth tones, document the landscape’s transformation.

McClafferty. Carla Killough. Fourth Down and Inches: Concussions and Football’s Make-or-Break Moment. (Carolrhoda; Gr 7 Up).
Here’s a title that combines headline news, medical science, and sports. Stories of injuries sustained by both professional and young football players have been surfacing over the past few years, giving rise to concerns about the safety of the game. McClafferty begins with a history of  football, including the 1905 season that ended in 19 deaths and numerous critical injuries, and resulted in early changes to the rules of the sport. Combining personal stories, information on impacts sustained by athletes, the effects of concussions and brain injuries, and current research, the author brings readers up to date on the continuing efforts to make the sport safer. This attractively designed volume is supported by archival black-and-white and color photos, source notes, a bibliography, and a list of further reading. Consider pairing Fourth Down with Perri Klass and David Klass’s fiction title, Second Impact (FSG, 2013) for another look at the topic.

Rosenstock, Barb. Thomas Jefferson Builds a Library (Calkins Creek; Gr 2-5). Illustrated by John O’Brien.
Books were Jefferson’s “constant companions” and he read and purchased them with enthusiasm. His extensive personal library formed the foundation of the second Library of Congress collection after first was destroyed in 1814. Rosenstock tells the story of the man’s passion for collecting “histories and contracts” and tomes on “medicine, music, and math.” Throughout this thoroughly delightful story, the author weaves in information on Jefferson’s personal life and his role as a statesman. Side notes, some framed by an illustration of an open book, offer additional facts and quotes by the man (“All that is necessary for a student is access to a library.”) John O’Brien’s pen-and-ink and watercolor art is rich in detail and its humorous touches that mirror the spirited text.

Sample CCSS literacy strands follow each title discussed for lesson-plan possibilities.

Tony Preciado and Rhode Montijo clearly empathize with kids who would never pick up a grammar guide. Their Super Grammar (Scholastic, 2012; Gr. 2-8) delivers a group of dynamic comic-book heroes, asking readers to learn the character’s “names, powers, teams, and how they work together!” The book’s graphic-novel format employs bright primary colors for each section. The “Amazing Eight,” highlighted in red, teach the parts of speech. The green (and evil) “Sabotage Squad” trick writers into using sentence fragments, run-on sentences, and double negatives. In the later case, a boy and villain are depicted in a stand-off. “You’re not no superhero!” he declares, a comment corrected with new phrasing and an illustration that conveys the intended meaning. Notable for its broad appeal, this title allows young readers to create their own superhero worlds, and won’t turn off older students who benefit from visuals as they learn grammar concepts.

CCSS L.3.1 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking. 3.1a. Explain the function of nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs in general and their functions in particular sentences.

CCSS L.3.2 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing. 3.2c.Use commas and quotation marks in dialogue. 3.2d.Form and use possessives.

Employing the cartoon characters A. J., and Andrea from his “My Weird School” series, Dan Gutman offers humorous advice in his conversational My Weird Writing Tips (HarperCollins/Harper, 2013; Gr. 2-5). In crafting a story, the author recommends, “Start with a bang!” and create tension by having something bad happen to your main character. Gutman’s sample outlandish scenarios will amuse readers—and tempt them to take the bait. Once they have, Part 2 will help them finesse their narrative writing with information on the parts of speech, spelling and punctuation tips, and suggestions on how to communicate ideas and tell a good story.

“Cut! Cut! Cut!” suggests the author when revising, and reward yourself with an M&M candy each time you eliminate a word that doesn’t affect the meaning of your work. He cautions students not to “look like a dumbhead” by using texting language in school assignments. Students who aren’t receptive to more formal grammar instruction will find Weird a relatable guide that reinforces those easily forgotten, but important conventions.

CCSS W.3.3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.

CCSS L.5.2 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.

Tapping into the young writers’ senses, Karen Benke offers  relaxation exercises to open the mind, and writing prompts such as eavesdropping on a stranger’s conversation to capture how people do communicate, or don’t communicate. The author also invites doodling and pre-writing in blank spaces provided throughout the pages of Leap Write In! Adventures in Creative Writing to Stretch and Surprise Your One-of-a-Kind Mind (Roost, 2013; Gr. 5-8).

Teachers will want this title for the dozens of novel approaches it suggests to engage students. An idea to create a cento or patchwork of different lines from stories and poems, as they’re written, then change them up, is a fresh way to get budding writers to observe how meaning changes with word and phrase placement. Text models, quotes, and poems serve as inspiration, and when asked to describe how to make a mud pie—“What? You’ve never made a mud pie? Drop this book immediately and go find some dirt”—readers will happily comply with the command.

CCSS W.6.3.b Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, and description, to develop experiences, events, and/or characters.

Unsuspecting fiction readers will be surprised to find themselves in the author’s role in Pseudonymous Bosch’s Write This Book! A Do-It-Yourself Mystery (Little, Brown, 2013; Gr. 4-7). The story centers on a missing writer, who abandons a work in progress. It’s up to two siblings and readers to discover why, or as Bosch puts it, “Think of it this way: the book is a mystery novel—but this time the novel itself is the mystery…. Your job is to solve it.”

Bosch is a willing and enthusiastic guide, taking readers step-by-step through a novel’s structure, explaining the whys and hows from the foreword and preface to deciding on a setting and creating tension. Along the way they’ll learn about character and plot development, writing dialogue, literary terms, common writing pitfalls, and much, much more, all while determining the story’s direction. References to familiar books from E. B. White’s Charlotte’s Web to J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit drive home points, while the many mini-assignments and fill-in-the-blanks help the reader/writer bring the story to a satisfying conclusion. Serious injections of humor and illustration add to the fun.

CCSS ELA-Literacy. W.5.3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.

CCSS ELA-Literacy. W.5.3a Orient the reader by establishing  a situation and introducing a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy. W.5.3b Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, description, and pacing, to develop experiences and events or show the responses of characters to situations.

Three blind mice named Mary, Pee Wee, and Oscar help define nearly 100 literary elements, most unconventionally, in Catherine Lewis’s Thrice Told Tales: Three Mice Full of Writing Advice by (S & S/Atheneum, 2013; Gr. 7 Up). Depicted as cartoon critters wearing sunglasses, the trio is clever at finding ways to explain such terms as “red herring,” “immediacy,” “cliché,” “picaro,” and “interior monologue.”

The author’s tongue-in-cheek tone is evident in her definition of “Sentimentality,” illustrated by a spoof of a publisher’s rejection letter to Pee Wee for an overly emotional manuscript. The publisher suggests that he rewrite, incorporating more ambiguity, irony, and tension—and signs off as the “Big Cheese.” Despite the childlike drawings, this title will appeal to sophisticated writers (and readers) who see how the connecting thread of the simple classic story changes with each literary device. There are amusing nods to famous authors (“They were the best of mice, they were the worst of mice…”), but it’s the “Snip of the Tail” captions from the author that offer the most clarity to each term. Teachers may want to borrow the premise of a twisted tale, and turn a class loose to create their own literary term definitions.

CCSS RL 9-10. 5 Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure a text, order events within it (e.g., parallel plots), and manipulate time (e.g., pacing, flashbacks) create such effects as mystery, tension, or surprise.

CCSS W.8.3b Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure a text, order events   within it (e.g., parallel plots), and manipulate time (e.g., pacing, flashbacks) create such effects as  mystery, tension, or surprise.

In How to Read Literature Like a Professor (2003; Gr 9. Up). Thomas C. Foster guides high school students as they look for themes and patterns in classic texts. His How to Read Literature Like a Professor for Kids (2013, both HarperCollins; Gr. 3-7) demonstrates for middle school students how to do the same for both classic and modern children’s literature.

In a chapter titled, “Now Where Have I Seen Him Before?” the author compares Mowgli, the boy watched over by panthers in Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book (1893), to Bod from Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book (2008), a boy raised by ghosts—both children in need of a family. Students will learn to identify elements of a quest, supernatural characters who grow in strength by weakening others (the ghost in Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, Stephenie Meyer’s vampires in the “Twilight” series), and more. While many young readers may not have encountered Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea or Homer’s Odyssey yet, the book can serve as a teacher tool to introduce these classics. Most valuable is the refreshing attention to the craft and structure of texts that will move classroom discussion from plot rehash to a higher level of understanding.

CCSS RL 8.2 Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to the characters, setting, and plot; provide an objective summary of the text.

CCSS W.5.9 Compare and contrast two or more characters, settings, or events in a story or a drama, drawing on specific details in the text [e.g., how characters interact]”).

Stripes, Dots, and Swirls
From a Madagascan ring-tailed lemur, to a North American zebra swallowtail butterfly, to a sixline wrasse swimming through an Indo-Pacific Ocean coral reef, Susan Stockdale shows readers that animals with Stripes of All Types (Peachtree, 2013; PreS-Gr 2) populate the globe. Simple, lilting rhymes and enticing action verbs spotlight critters in their natural habitats: “Prowling the prairie,/perched on a peak./Crawling on cactus,/and camped by a creek” (handsome acrylic illustrations depict an American badger bounding through tall grass, a bongo profiled against a moonlit African sky, black-and-yellow cactus bees sipping nectar from a flower, and a Malayan tapir nestled by a stream). The final double-page image brings the action close to home as two children cuddle a pair of black-and-gray tabbies.

An afterword identifies each species and provides insight about the significance of its stripes, which are used for camouflage, communication, to warn off predators, or to attract mates. An interactive game challenges readers to match close-ups of the various patterns with their animal owners, encouraging kids to look more closely at the pictures, hunt back through the book to extract information, and make comparisons between these unique and striking designs.

Blending breezy rhymes with lovely collage artwork, Betsy Franco and Steve Jenkins’s Bees, Snails, & Peacock Tails (S & S, 2008; K-Gr 3) presents a sampling of the patterns and shapes found right before our eyes. For example, a beehive is constructed from tiny hexagon “fit side/by side/by side,” a sturdy and space-saving design; a moth’s wings are adorned with perfectly symmetrical “eyes” (thought to frighten away predators); migrating birds fly in a graceful V-shape (“By forming a wedge,/the swans and the geese/slice through the air/and travel in peace”); and when threatened, a puffer fish swells up to a larger-in-size—and harder-to-eat—sphere. Whether depicting the repeating pattern of footprints left behind by a scampering mouse or the straight-line scent trail followed by foraging ants, the textured illustrations make each concept crystal clear.

In Swirl by Swirl: Spirals in Nature (Houghton Mifflin, 2011; PreS-Gr 3) Joyce Sidman and Beth Krommes focus on a particular shape that occurs repeatedly, revealing itself in many different ways. Lyrical and concise, the narrative describes the broad characteristics of this versatile form, expanded upon in the spectacular scratchboard illustrations awhirl with specific plant and animal species and examples of natural phenomena.

A spiral can be “Coiled tight,/warm and safe,” like a woodchuck hibernating underground; start small and grow larger “swirl by swirl” like a nautilus; or unwrap itself, “one/soft/curl/at a time,” like a lady fern unfurling feathery fronds. A spiral is “strong,” like a rolled-up bristles-out hedgehog or the impact-absorbing horns of a merino sheep, and “and clings tight” like the curled trunk of an Asian elephant or a spider monkey’s tail. It is “bold” (the whorl of a wave before it hits shore), “beautiful” (the precisely arranged petals of a chrysanthemum), and awe-inspiring (a spiral-shaped galaxy “stretches starry arms/through space,/spinning and sparkling,/forever expanding…”).

A brief afterword provides a bit more info about the featured examples and a quick mention of the Fibonacci sequence. Elegant, captivating, and imagination-stirring, this amazing meld of poetry, science, and artistry will inspire discussion and enthusiasm for spiral-seeking expeditions.

Color, Color, Everywhere
Melissa Stewart’s A Rainbow of Animals (Enslow, 2010; K-Gr 3) takes it color by color to introduce a menagerie of mostly monochromatic creatures. From red to purple, each section spans the globe to present an assortment of species (range maps appear at the end of each chapter).Each critter is allotted its own spread, bordered by the appropriate hue, and vibrant close-up photos are paired with an accessible introduction to the animal and the role played by its color (protection from predators, to warn enemies away, attracting mates, etc.).

Particularly interesting examples include the mandrill, monkeys that use their bright red noses to locate one another in the dense forest; the brown-throated three-toed sloth, featured in the green section because of its algae covered fur, which provides camouflage in the forest; and the blue darner dragonfly, which adjusts its color to the temperature (dark blue for warmth on cool mornings, light blue to cool down on hot afternoons). The eye-catching format and mix of familiar and exotic animals make this book fun for browsing and whets appetites for further investigations.

Also arranged by shade, Steve Jenkins’s Living Color (Houghton Mifflin, 2007; K- Gr 5) introduces several species per spread. Set against neat white backdrops, the cut-paper collages are amazingly lifelike and gracefully dynamic. Each section begin with a statement (e.g., “Red says…”), and a lively caption playfully sums up the connotation of each animal’s color—“Step carefully” for the extremely poisonous stonefish (adorned with 13 venomous spines along its back and lethal if trod upon by a swimmer), or “I stink” for a shield bug (which releases a foul-smelling chemical when threatened). Well-written paragraphs percolating with fascinating facts fill in the details.

The book’s layout encourages readers to search out similarities and differences, discovering, for example, that the male blue bird of paradise uses his rich-hued plumage to attract a mate, the color of the cobalt blue tarantula allows it to better hide in the dusky shadows of the forest floor, and the mostly brown blue-tailed skink twitches its bright appendage to fake out predators (when grabbed, the tail breaks off, and the lizard can make its escape; it eventually grows a new tail). Back matter provides more information about animal color and its uses and the creatures featured in the book (size, habitat, diet, etc.).

Explore Your World
In Ashley Wolff’s endearing tale, Baby Bear Sees Blue (S & S/Beach Lane, 2012; PreS-Gr 2)—and a rainbow of other colors—after he awakens in his den and steps out with his mother to investigate his environment. The gentle question-and-answer narrative shimmers with concrete details, sensual imagery, and a buoyant mood of wonder: sniffing the meadow air, the cub asks, “What smells so good, Mama?” She replies, “Those are the strawberries”….and “Baby Bear sees red.” After a busy day, mother and child curl up together in their cave, and Baby Bear “closes his eyes and sees nothing but deep, soft black.”

Balancing realism with soft-edged sweetness, Wolff’s linoleum-print-and-watercolor illustrations are filled with dazzlimg shades and pleasing textures. Their large size and the text’s repetitive structure make this charmer a perfect choice for sharing aloud in a classroom.

Presented with a similar sense of invigorating discovery, these books remind students that a multitude of shapes, colors, and patterns can be found in their own day-to-day worlds. On an “Apple crisp October day,” a father and two children take a trip to a pumpkin farm to Pick a Circle, Gather Squares (Albert Whitman, 2013; PreS-Gr 2). Felicia Sanzari Chernesky’s rhyming text and Susan Swan’s harvest-hued collages depict a delightful excursion as the youngsters point out circles (“Here’s the sun./Apples, pumpkins—/such round fun!”), square-shaped bales of hay, ovals (squash, corn, and speckled eggs), hexagons (honeycombs and pen-protecting chicken wire), and more. Filled with splashes of bright color and appealing textures, the artwork depicts lively action, engaging details, and additional shapes to find.

Jane Brocket’s Ruby, Violet, Lime: Looking for Color (Millbrook, 2012; PreS-Gr 2) presents a gorgeous gallery of vibrantly hued photos of flowers, foods, clothing, buildings, and other commonplace objects. Spreads focused on a particular color are aglow with varying shades, and the accompanying text utilizes descriptive adjectives and sense-based imagery to add resonance and a touch of imagination: “Green is crisp and lively. Lime frosting, mint-green striped socks, emerald lettuces, and jade gardens are fresh and zingy.” A visual and verbal feast, this book encourages kids to take a closer look at their surroundings.

Get Creative
Emily Gravett expands upon basic concepts of color and shape—and the science of animal coloration—in a playful tale filled with surprises, humor, and a message about remaining true to one’s self. With head held in hands, body slumped, and eyes despondently downcast, Blue Chameleon (S & S, 2011; K-Gr 3) is looking…well, blue, a mood expressed in his scratchy azure and cobalt body shading.

In the spreads following, the lonely lizard searches for companionship, mimicking in both color and form each of the objects or animals he comes across—yellow and crescent shaped as he approaches a banana, swirly tailed with two toes extended over head like tentacles as he creeps up to a snail, round and purple-dotted as he rolls toward a beach ball. Alas, no one will respond, and he finally gives up, sitting still as stone on a “Gray rock.” A page turn reveals what seems like a plain white backdrop, but a closer look—or perhaps even touch—reveals the chameleon outlined in a glossy same-colored ink. Readers will also notice a foot, similarly camouflaged, and accompanied by a tentative, “Hello?”

At last, the protagonist has made a friend, and two “Colorful chameleons” cavort together on the final spread, brightly arrayed in a kaleidoscope of colors, shapes, and patterns. Filled with gentle humor, the spare text and outstanding artwork invite readers to make visual comparisons between objects, recognize instances of symmetry, recount and contemplate the book’s changing moods, and think anew about the wonders of colors and animals. Use this book to initiate color-related creative writing and art projects.

After sharing some of these titles, take students on a nature walk in a nearby park or a ramble through the neighborhood. Have them focus on looking for, pointing out, and identifying the colors, shapes, and patterns that they come across, whether natural or manmade. Encourage them to look closely at familiar sights and utilize their observation skills. Youngsters can record their findings by drawing or writing in a field journal.

Kids can also scour their classrooms to search out colors, shapes, and patterns. Have them browse through books, magazines, or other resources about wildlife and nature to identify interesting visual designs. Check out National Geographic’s website, which includes a “Patterns in Nature” photo gallery filled with spectacular images organized by topic (animals, butterflies, sea creatures, trees, rocks and lava, snow and ice, etc.). These crisp, beautifully composed photos show the astounding spectrum and variety of nature’s designs. Using their own artwork and/or photos, clip-art images, or photos clipped from magazines, students can create their own concept books and perhaps share them with younger children just learning color and shape basics.

The Common Core State Standards below are a sampling of those references in the above books and classroom activities:

RL. 1.1. Ask and answer questions about key details in a text.
RL. 1.4. Identify words or phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses.
RI. 1.1. Ask and answer questions about key details in a text.
W. 1.2. Write information/explanatory texts in which they name a topic, supply some facts about the topic, and prove some sense of closure.
W. 2.7. Participate in shared research and writing projects.
SL. 1.2. Ask and answer questions about key details in a text read aloud….
K.G. Identify and describe shapes.

With a rattle and a roll, award-winning author and artist Brian Floca takes readers on a ride across the country on the Transcontinental Railroad in his latest book, Locomotive (S&S, September, 2013). Floca’s lively text and detailed watercolor images paint a picture of these magnificent iron horses and the small towns and breathtaking landscapes they steamed through. Along the way, the author packs in information on how these machines operated, the people who worked and traveled on them, and how the Transcontinental Railroad changed America. Here the author discusses his longer-than-anticipated journey to Locomotive.

Tell us how Locomotive came to be.

A very early version of Locomotive was all about how the steam engine operates. I had little idea where [the book] was going or where it would be set. In asking those questions, I came to the Transcontinental Railroad, which totally upended the focus of the book.

You include a wealth of details in the book—sometimes you mention or draw a nugget only in passing. How did you decide what to include and what to leave out?

Momentum…I wanted to keep it in the narrative. An early scene about laying the rails was in and out of the book 10 times. The piece about the train’s construction feels so essential, yet it’s really its own story. Using it as the preamble for the trip felt right. If I had started with the idea of writing about the Transcontinental Railroad, I would have made a [very different] book.…In the end, I arrived at the trip in the way that a passenger would have experienced it. This book [is] about riding the train and what that felt like.

Were there any surprises in your research?

‘Locomotive’ ©Brian Floca

It was all surprise, which made it fantastic, and also difficult at times. Among the many things I enjoyed was [the language]—the phrase “double header” [is the term for two engines working together up a steep grade]. “Highball” is an old railroad signal to indicate that the way is clear; that’s where the drink comes from, though that didn’t make it into the book! Another surprise was how brightly painted, how beautiful the steam engines were. I expected them to be black, gray, and brown, but the companies were proud of them—they were the face of the company. These machines were the cutting-edge technology in their day and transforming the country. Someone commented that they were trying to “civilize” the technology, with Renaissance Revival details around the windows.

You traveled the path of the Transcontinental Railroad, and some of the photos you took attest to an unchanged landscape. Did those observations inform your work?

Absolutely. I had a very simple idea of what the landscape would be like before I took the trip—I was going to show the train approaching the Rockies, winding its way toward a wall of mountains. One of the things I learned making the drive was how ingeniously engineered the line was; you never have that moment when you’re on the Transcontinental Railroad route. [The tracks] wind their way in at the gentlest slope, near Cheyenne, WY. I would have [had that wrong] if I hadn’t made the trip. Almost everything that has to do with the landscape is indebted to that trip—even the endpaper elevation map.

‘Locomotive’ ©Brian Floca

In contrast to trips taken in your books Lightship (2007) and Moonshot (2009, both Atheneum), the path of the locomotive gave way to new cultures growing up around it and displaced others—the Chinese who came to work on the Central Pacific line and the Cheyenne, Pawnee, and Arapaho. And the African-American Pullman porters were an essential part of the rail system. The Transcontinental Railroad really changed America, in perhaps unanticipated ways, didn’t it?

Some of the most trying stretches in creating the book were spent thinking about how to address the more difficult issues that arrived with the train, especially with regard to Native Americans. The story of the porters is a fascinating story, one with difficult aspects, too, but with some positive aspects as well. The porters were men who might have been emancipated just five years earlier—and they’re not enjoying the journey the way a passenger might; they’re working, they’re enduring discrimination, but at the same time they’re crossing the country and their horizons are expanding. They are, it’s been argued, the beginning of the black middle class. There were so many ways in which the train transformed the country.

Brian Floca discusses his research for Locomotive and reads a scene from the book in this audio recording, courtesy of TeachingBooks.net.

‘Locomotive’ ©Brian Floca

It’s the beginning of the school year and you’re being pulled in a million different directions. Your days are full to the brim as you get to know new students and their families, plan curriculum with colleagues, and consider the most effective teaching strategies and cutting-edge resources.

This school year we will be shifting the focus of our column to strategies for integrating curriculum content, Common Core State Standards [CCSS], content standards, and literature. What role can inquiry play? How can we harness an inquiry-based approach to teaching and learning as a tool for integrating curriculum? And, what role does literature play in this curriculum?

We’ll be putting these various pieces together, a job that we believe is crucial, yet still largely incomplete. We’ll provide you with snapshots of what inquiry and integration look like when you and your students are studying topics in science, math, and social studies at the primary, intermediate, and high school levels—models and ideas that you can expand and adjust to make your own.

Moving towards inquiry and integration raises a number of questions for us. When we integrate reading, writing, listening, and speaking in meaningful ways, we are meeting many of the expectations of the Common Core standards. But what does using children’s and young adult literature across the curriculum require in an era of the CCSS? How do we teach for depth while also incorporating the standards? Standards are not synonymous with curriculum. Authentic learning can only take place in the context of rich curriculum; it’s about encountering big ideas, raising and answering questions, and making sense of evidence. This is not done in a vacuum, but in the context of the study of science, math, history, literature, and the world around us.

Small Steps, Large Possibilities

We can begin the integration process by taking small steps that have large possibilities for further development. Both of us have used small sets of related books many times over the course of our teaching careers. We’ve referred to them as powerful pairs, triplets, and quads and text sets. Others have labeled sets of related books as clusters. The name is not as important as the idea that even a small group of carefully chosen books can jump-start a meaningful investigation.

Here’s an example of what we mean. In our upcoming columns, you will see the following template. This will be a springboard for ways in which you can frame an integrated unit that utilizes reading, writing, listening, and speaking as a tool for accessing content, and employs quality children’s and young adult literature of all genres to frame inquiry within a disciplinary lens. One month we might consider a sample unit for primary-grade science, another month a unit for high school social studies.

We look forward to journeying with you through this school year, throughout the content areas and up and down the K-12 grade span. In the context of your busy teaching lives, we hope that these curriculum snapshots will help teachers and school librarians to work and plan together to immerse students in investigations that matter.

In Roomies (Little, Brown, Dec. 2013; Gr 8 Up), Sara Zarr and Tara Altebrando rely on alternating perspectives to great effect as they portray a budding friendship between two young women on opposites sides of the country. Self-assured, with a boyfriend and an array of friends, social butterfly Elizabeth (EB) has little in common with frazzled Lauren, who, between two part-time jobs and helping her parents care for her younger siblings, has little time for friends. But when EB learns that Lauren will be her roommate at Berkeley, she sends the girl an enthusiastic email, and, despite a shaky beginning, the two begin to forge a genuine connection.

Zarr and Altebrando are sensitive to the nuances of social interaction among adolescents, and their use of dual first-person narration illustrates how seemingly minor remarks can result in insecurity or hurt feelings; for example, EB casually asks whether Lauren can buy a microwave or a mini fridge for their room, unwittingly provoking anxiety in the less-privileged Lauren. Similarly, EB initially interprets Lauren’s sporadic replies as disinterest, when, in fact, Lauren’s limited spare time and computer access mean days go by before she can respond to EB’s emails.

For both EB and Lauren, this new friendship becomes an anchor in a time of instability: the teenagers clash with their family and friends and deal with romantic entanglements as they cope with the strain of leaving home for the first time to start an exhilarating—but potentially frightening—new chapter of their lives. From EB losing her standing in the social circle she once took for granted after a break-up to Lauren’s mixed feelings when her parents release her from her babysitting duties so that she can enjoy her summer, this book captures the experiences of teenagers on the verge of adulthood. Readers will find these well-developed and sympathetic characters relatable, and the depiction of encounters with unfamiliar people and new experiences will resonate with adolescents.

“The world was irretrievably broken, filled with refuse, from Garbage Country to the poisoned oceans, and the rest was an uninhabitable frozen nether land; what kind of place was this to grow up in? What kind of world had they been borne to?” Melissa de la Cruz and husband Michael Johnston have often informally worked together on her books; in their latest, Frozen (Putnam, Sept. 2013; Gr 7 Up), the two joined forces to write a dystopian novel about teenagers willing to risk their lives to escape their icy cold setting for the Blue, a peaceful and uncorrupted world—but one that may not actually even exist.

When Natasha Kestal has the chance to flee the city of “New Vegas,” she relies on mercenary Ryan “Wes” Wesson and his crew to seek out the Blue. Both teens are courageous and determined, even willing to manipulate each other: Nat has no reservations about using her looks to ensure that Wes won’t abandon her, and Wes flirts with Nat in the hopes of gaining information about the round blue stone the girl wears around her neck. However, the two begin to rely on and develop genuine feelings for each other as the danger mounts.

Readers will enjoy the budding romance between these strong-willed protagonists, but it’s the world-building where de la Cruz and Johnston excel. As a result of damage wrought to the environment, a glass of water is a luxury, and many are willing to steal to pay for a hit of oxygen; meanwhile, society has devolved to the point where the government permits humans to be bought and sold as slaves. The descriptions of “thrillers,” or desperate zombielike creatures living on the outskirts of the city, are particularly horrifying. This portrayal of a world corrupted both physically and morally will stay with readers, who will anxiously await volumes two and three in this planned trilogy.

A sense of isolation permeates David Levithan and Andrea Cremer’s Invisibility (Philomel, 2013; Gr 8 Up). Sixteen-year-old Stephen has been invisible since birth due to a curse placed upon him by his malevolent grandfather. His absent father provides him with money, and the youth lives comfortably, surviving on deliveries and spending his days walking the streets of New York City. However, it’s an ultimately empty existence: with his mother deceased and his father unwilling to be a part of his life, the boy’s interaction with the world is limited to reading books, watching DVDs, and observing the other residents of his apartment building—until he meets Elizabeth, the first person who can see him.

While Elizabeth’s life has been fairly conventional compared with Stephen’s, she, too, is well-acquainted with alienation: her brother, Laurie, was recently assaulted after coming out as gay, and soon after their father soon walked out on the family. The experience has left Elizabeth fragile and wary of others (“When I let fear get the best of me, I hate myself. I react like a dog who’s been beaten; anytime I see a broom, I flinch and snarl”), and she shuts out the world by immersing herself in her love of art and comic books. However, friendship—and love—blossoms between these two outsiders. They discover why Stephen was cursed, and soon the inevitable confrontation between the boy and his cruel and powerful grandfather takes place as this romance takes a dark turn.

Although paranormal elements are significant, the relationship between the protagonists is central to the novel. Through alternating first-person narratives, the authors convey the teenagers’ willingness to welcome new possibilities and down the walls they’ve constructed to protect themselves. For Stephen, something as simple as a conversation with another person is life-altering (“She has no idea what it’s like to be an outsider to the outside world…and then to suddenly be let inside”), while Elizabeth realizes that opening up to others can mean acceptance and even love. Though the novel ends on an unresolved note, both characters have begun to heal, emphasizing the power of their strong bond.

Through their use of alternating narrators, these books provide a rich sense of perspective. Adolescent readers will particularly appreciate how the authors depict different characters’ responses to similar situations, creating nuanced, multi-layered stories.

When readers of nonfiction see the names Sy Montgomery and Nic Bishop on the cover of a book, they know they’re in for an adventure. Together this author and photographer dream team has written about and photographed expeditions on the trail of snow leopards in Mongolia, tarantulas in French Guiana, and the kakapo in New Zealand. On a recent trip, the two traveled with Pati Medici to the Pantanal Wetlands in Brazil, described as “the Everglades on steroids,” and home to tick swarms, pumas, wild pigs, giant amadillos, and the elusive tapir.

Why are scientists interested in the tapir?
The tapir is South America’s largest land mammal, and it’s what’s known as a “keystone” species: an animal whose lifestyle profoundly affects the health of its ecosystem, which makes it important to all the other animals and plants who share its habitat. Tapirs love fruit and they transport the seeds in the fruits they’ve eaten far from the trees on which they grew. Pati calls the tapir “the gardener in the forest” because it “plants” (complete with fertilizer) the seeds that grow into trees upon whose fruit many other animals depend. So tapirs are integral to the rainforest ecosystem. Yet very little is known about them—including how best to protect them.

The tapir looks almost prehistoric. Tell us about them.
A tropical animal with a long, flexible snout (which it can use a snorkel when it swims) and a stout body, four hoofed toes on front feet and three on each in back, the tapir looks like a cross between a hippo, an elephant, and something prehistoric. But tapirs aren’t related to elephants and hippos. Because of their flexible snouts, some people think they’re anteaters, but they’re not; their closest relatives are rhinos and horses. But the tapir is prehistoric; it has remained unchanged since the Pliocene, more than four million years ago, when mastodons and giant ground sloths roamed North America, and the first humans had not yet evolved in Africa. Tapirs lived all over Europe, Asia, and the Americas then. Now they’re found only in South America and Southeast Asia.

Your trip brought you to the Pantanal wetlands in Brazil, a place that has been described as “South America’s Serengeti” and “the Everglades on steroids.” What challenges did that environment present?
One challenge was all that water. This is the world’s largest wetland, and so many areas are difficult to reach because in the wet season, they are flooded. It also presents a danger to a tapir if you dart one outside a trap. Tapirs often flee to water, and this can be very dangerous for the tapir if it rushes into water for safety and then collapses from the tranquilizer.  Another was the heat—especially when we had a tapir in a trap. Normally they would be in the shade of the forest or the cool of the water by mid-day; we were eager to get them out of the traps as soon as possible anyway, but after early morning, we were especially worried that hot temperatures would add to the stress. And for us, the ticks were a nuisance—they were thick as flocking on our pants, and their bites were itchy!

What sort of team must be assembled for this sort of mission?
Our team was headed by Brazilian scientist Patricia Medici and included her Brazilian field assistant, a Brazilian-American darting specialist, a French zoo veterinarian, a Brazilian specialist in animal diseases and parasites—plus photographer Nic Bishop from New Zealand and me from New Hampshire in the States.

What modern technology did the team use to track the animals?
We followed the tapirs with radio telemetry and tracked them with collars transmitting GPS information to orbiting satellites. We searched on foot, by car, and with motion-sensing remote cameras. And we (and off site, some of Pati’s other colleagues) used microscopes, PCR, powerful computers and other lab equipment to look at their blood, classify their ticks, and analyze their genetics.

Once a tapir is captured, what happens next?
We would dart the animal to tranquilize it, so it wouldn’t be frightened while we examined it and affixed a radio collar to its neck. It was thrilling to be so close to a tapir, we could touch it. But we had to work fast. You don’t want to use too much tranquilizing drug—but you don’t want your 400-pound tapir to wake up in the middle of an exam, either!

You noted in the book that one of the scientists’ goals was to find out how much roaming space tapirs need to survive. What did they discover? What other information do they hope to learn as they continue to study these animals?
Pati hasn’t crunched her data yet, as she is hoping to get more tapirs and more years of information before she analyzes it all for a large sample size. But it’s known that often animals of the same species have different space requirements in different habitats. Tigers, for instance, in the cold Russian far east may need 10 times the space that tigers in the tropics might use. As Pati points out, tapirs live in lots of very different kinds of places—from high mountains to the Amazon. Tapirs live in five different types of habitat just in Brazil alone. So it’s necessary to study them in each of these habitats to see what their needs are.

Was this a successful trip?
Pati said she thought this was the most successful of her research expeditions yet! Before Pati and her team left the field, they had captured and collared three new tapirs and microchipped another; recaptured three old friends; collected tapir poop, skin, hair, and blood; and located other tapirs with sightings, camera traps, and telemetry. It was just fantastic to be part of it!

How did it compare to some of your other trips to learn about animals: snow leopards in Mongolia, the tree kangaroo in New Guinea, the kakapo in New Zealand?
Each trip has different challenges and delights. The snow leopard work in the Altai Mountains of the Gobi demanded hours of difficult, high-altitude hiking on rocky scree—and as result we got incredible views of this stark and gorgeous landscape. To even get to the area where we’d look for tree kangaroos in the cloud forest of Papua New Guinea, we had to hike to 10,000 feet on slippery mud for three days, bringing with us everything we’d need, including tents and scientific equipment, for two weeks. We didn’t camp in Brazil for the tapir book—we stayed in a comfortable fazenda on a cattle ranch, with beds and showers. But it was a very dramatic book. At first it seemed our dart guns and anesthetic wouldn’t work. We were capturing tapirs but couldn’t collar them. What was going wrong? That was part of the scientific challenge of field work, and figuring out the problems was something Pati’s team did beautifully.

Sy Montgomery, the tapir. From ‘The Tapir Scientist’ (Montgomery) Houghton Mifflin.

Any comment about the two recently named tapirs traipsing about the Pantanel: Nic Bishop and Sy Montgomery?
Both tapirs have been spotted repeatedly since they were collared, and Sy Montgomery has been seen with her new baby.

I understand you just returned from scuba diving in the Pacific with octopuses. Is another book in the works?
Indeed! The next book to appear will be Chasing Cheetahs, which Nic and I researched in Namibia together last summer at the Cheetah Conservation Fund’s African headquarters. In the South Pacific I was researching a book on octopus, working with underwater photographer Keith Ellenbogen to record how a team of researchers from Canada, Alaska, and Brazil are figuring out how octopuses’ personalities affect their food choices. No kidding—one of the things the team did was give each octopus we found a personality test!

I learned to scuba dive for that book, even though we ended up finding most of our octopuses in very shallow water in which we could snorkel—but I plan to use my scuba skills to work with Keith on a book on great white sharks after that.

The Tapir Scientist by Sy Montgomery, Illustrated by Nic Bishop (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013; Gr 4-8.)

Sy Montgomery reveals her passion for animals in this mini-documentary, courtesy of TeachingBooks.net

Ada, Alma Flor and F. Isabel Campoy. Yes! We Are Latinos! (Charlesbridge; Gr 4-8). illus. by David Diaz.
Twelve narrative poems tell the stories of children and teens living in the United States. The first-person entries all begin in the same way with the narrator’s name, country or culture, current home, followed by “I am Latino/a.” The characters hail from a variety of nations (Puerto Rico, Peru, etc.) and identify with diverse cultures (Zapotec, Sephardic). Several children claim mixed ancestry, such as Lili who is Chinese and Guatemalan. The poems bear witness to lives uprooted, families separated, pride in culture, and friends reunited in a new land. Each poem is followed by a nonfiction entry. For example, Mónica from El Salvador tells the story of a father who “went North” and how the family, which now resides in Houston, TX, was reunited. This poem is followed by a brief history of “Latino Immigration to the United States.” Through Mónica’s story, and her father’s reaction to the word “illegal,” readers will also learn that “undocumented” is the preferred term when referring to someone who does not have U. S. citizenship or the documentation to live in the country. A well-researched, poignant volume. The woodcut illustrations by David Diaz are superb.

The Animal Book: A Visual Encyclopedia of Life on Earth.(Smithsonian/DK; Gr 3-7).
Don’t let the title mislead you—this striking compendium covers microscopic, plant, and animal life. Interspersed among spreads detailing in text and images the varieties of bacteria, crustaceans, ferns, and turtles, are stunning double-page close-ups of fungi, the Venus Flytrap, a Barred Owl, African Elephants, and other forms of life. Captions and notes highlight features and the more than 1,500 specimens and species in the book. Next time your students need visual guides to conifers, sponges, or whales, send them to The Animal Book.

Lewis, John and Andrew Aydin. March. Book One. (Top Shelf Productions; Gr 9 Up). illus. by Nate Powell.
Congressman John Lewis was only 23 years old in 1963 when he addressed the crowd assembled at the National Mall in Washington, DC, during the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. In this volume in graphic format, Lewis recounts his early years, his education, and his involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. Lewis participated in non-violent anti-segregation protests from a young age and played a key role in played in lunch-counter sit-ins, bus boycotts, Freedom Rides, and other pivotal actions of the movement. This is a powerful story, told by one of America’s most distinguished activists. Two more volumes are planned. A guide for teachers is available online.

Pinkney, Andrea Davis. Martin & Mahalia: His Words, Her Song. (Little, Brown, Gr 2-6). illus. by Brian Pinkney.
There are a number of books written about the historic 1963 March on Washington, many offering a unique perspective on the event. In their latest collaboration this celebrated author and illustrator team tells the story of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s and Mahalia Jackson’s participation in the March, along the way touching on their childhoods, their dreams, and their friendship. End notes by the author and a time line add details and place the March in the context of the Civil Rights Movement, while the illustrator’s notes describe the traditions he drew on and his artistic influences—social realists painters Ben Shahn and Charles Wilbert White—broadening the use of this tribute.

Rusch, Elizabeth. Volcano Rising. (Charlesbridge, Gr 2-5). illus. by Susan Swan.
Most often what we hear of and read about are the destructive forces of volcanoes—huge explosions spewing smoke and rivers of lava destroying everything in their paths. Here Rusch focuses on the lesser-known creative aspects of volcanoes: they form mountains and islands, and fertilize and repair scarred lands. Each spread in the book offers two texts: a few large-print sentences with general information for young readers, and a smaller print, longer paragraph adding pertinent facts. The author relates the amazing story of the 1943 eruption of a volcano in  Paricutin, Mexico, which began as an ash-exploding fissure in a cornfield, giving rise to a 500-foot high cone within a week. One year later it was 1,000 feet in height, offering scientists one more “laboratory” in which to study these natural forces. Swan’s dramatic scenes of fiery eruptions above ground in oranges and reds, submarine volcanoes bathed in blues, and serene mountain landscapes and islands rising from the middle of the ocean, will have children poring over these pages. Rusch is also the author of Eruption! for older readers, featured in last month’s “Nonfiction Notes.”

Sayre, April Pulley. Let’s Go Nuts!: Seeds We Eat. (S & S/Beach Lane; K- Gr 3).
Though a minimal text and full-page color images, the author of Rah, Rah, Radishes! (2011) and Go, Go, Grapes! (2012, both S & S) explores the world of edible seeds. Each page in the book features two lines of rhyming text (“Peanut, pine nut./Go, nuts, go!”) accompanied by a close-up photo of an array of seeds. Along with familiar foods are others children may not be familiar with such as quinoa and carob. End notes explain why seeds are “such good foods,” discuss nut allergies, and answer questions (“Why don’t seeds we eat grow inside our stomachs?”). From units on farmer’s markets to cultures, this book has multiple curriculum applications. It’s also a great read-aloud choice.

Schwartz, David M. Rotten Pumpkin: A Rotten Tale in 15 Voices.  Creston Books; Gr 1-4).
Just in time for the fall harvest season, Schwartz, the author of a number of books on math topics [How Much Is a Million? (HarperCollins,1985) and G Is for Googol (Tricycle, 1998)] examines the life cycle of a pumpkin from seed to jack-o’-lantern to decaying squash–and its eventual rebirth as the seeds that remain begin to sprout. Schwartz adopts a first-person voice for his pumpkin and the critters and organisms that visit it. As School Library Journal’s reviewer noted, “The gross-out factor is high, as each of the rodents, insects, molds, fungi, etc., do their respective jobs.” Suggestions for classroom investigations are included. Consider pairing with Wendy Pfeffer’s A Log’s Life (S & S, 1997), a “gentler” look at decomposition.

Sandler, Martin W. Imprisoned: The Betrayal of Japanese Americans During World War II. (Walker; Gr 7 Up).
Combining a lucid text; poignant black-and-white archival photos; reproductions of artwork, sketches, and documents; and charts, Sandler offers an in-depth, sensitive look at the internment of Japanese-Americans in the United States during the Second World War. He begins his narrative with information on the movement of more than 250,000 Japanese citizens to the United States at the turn of the 20th-century and ends with chapters devoted to redress and the Civil Liberties Act of 1988. In between, the author covers Anti-American sentiment toward the Japanese before and after the attack on Pearl Harbor, life in the relocation centers, and the Japanese-Americans who served in our military.

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Caldecott Medal, the prestigious award bestowed annually by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), to the “artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children.” First presented in 1938, the medal is named in honor of the 19th-century English illustrator Randolph J. Caldecott and features a scene that encapsulates the humor, vitality, and charm of his ground-breaking artwork (based on 1878’s The Diverting History of John Gilpin, the image shows the title character clinging to a runaway horse as flapping geese, yapping dogs, and gaping bystanders look on).

Encompassing an eye-tempting array of artistic styles and beautifully wrought images, the books adorned with the familiar gold Caldecott seal (or silver for honor books) present a treasure trove of tales ready to be discovered and enjoyed by enthusiastic young readers. For older students, the decades-spanning assemblage offers a rich opportunity for examination and discussion, providing a glimpse at the evolution of the picture book and children’s literature in the United States, an avenue for exploring the influence of historical events and cultural trends on bookmaking, and means for tracing changes and innovations in illustrative techniques and tools.

The award’s diamond anniversary is also the perfect occasion for launching a mock Caldecott election in the classroom, an endeavor that will engage youngsters in a wide range of grade levels. In addition to providing the impetus for lively debate, such a project can improve listening skills, help students to develop the vocabulary and thought processes needed to evaluate and discuss literature and art, encourage active participation, and engender a of love of reading. Visit the ALA website for a list of medal winners and honor books. A dedicated 75th Anniversary page includes a free-to-download bookmark featuring a special commerative logo created by 2008 Caldecott medalist Brian Selznick starring characters from past winners along with clues to their identities.

Why Should Kids Have All the Fun?

Indulge your own love of picture books by perusing some lovely coffee-table compendiums that treat renowned illustrators and their work. In addition to being a pleasure to read and browse, these books can inform classroom author and literature studies and provide insight into the amazing process of creating art.

Meet the Founding Father

In Randolph Caldecott: The Man Who Could Not Stop Drawing (FSG, 2013), Leonard S. Marcus provides a vividly written portrait of the father of the modern picture book. Born in Chester, England, in 1846, the “tall, lanky, and good-looking” young man with “light brown hair that occasionally stood on end” left behind a boyhood spent sketching and wandering the countryside for a position as a bank clerk, eventually striking out for Manchester to take a similar post as “quill-driver” while testing the waters of a possible career in art.

Identifying mentors while always honing his craft, Caldecott sold numerous drawings to newspapers and magazines—now a burgeoning nationwide industry due to the invention of steam-engine-powered presses—before settling in London and making a name for himself as a book illustrator (critical acclaim and fame came with his work in 1875 on Washington Irving’s Old Christmas). When he finally turned his drawing pen to making books for children, his vivacious filled-with-motion style, irrepressible sense of humor, and innovative ideas about layout and design would forever change the genre.

Marcus’s articulate narrative incorporates keystone details and events to evoke the backdrop of Caldecott’s life—cherished pastimes, his penchant for poking fun at himself, and the invigorating spirit of change ignited by the Industrial Revolution—while pinpointing the enduring essence of his artwork. Handsome reproductions of Caldecott’s illustrations, unpublished drawings from his sketchbooks, and other works appear throughout, along with other 19th-century images that set time and place and make for easy comparison.

A Sendak Gallery

Elegant, oversized, and packed to the brim with gorgeous images, Maurice Sendak: A Celebration of the Artist and His Work (Abrams, 2013) is a delight to both browse and delve into.  Published in conjunction with an exhibition at the Society of Illustrators in New York City, the book coincides with the 50th anniversary of Sendak’s game-changing Caldecott-winner, Where the Wild Things Are (Harper, 1963), as well as what would have been his 85th birthday (Sendak passed away in May of 2012). More than 200 reproductions are presented, many from private collections and never before published, representing the amazing scope and breathtaking spectrum of Sendak’s career.

In addition to studies, preliminary sketches, and variant illustrations made for well-known picture books, the volume also includes his advertising and commercial art (e.g., Bell Atlantic’s 1997 “Wild Things Are Happening” campaign), posters, storyboards for animation sequences, designs for stage productions (of his own work as well as operas and ballets), illustrations for magazines (a 1976 Rolling Stone cover showing the “Moishe” Wild Thing decked out as a Christmas tree), and more, each given context with thoughtfully written captions. Twelve essays penned by individuals with whom Sendak’s life intersected range from Leonard Marcus’s piece on Sendak’s seminal picture book trilogy to author/illustrator Paul O. Zelinsky’s reminiscence of taking Sendak’s picture book course at Yale. This stunning visual compendium is part critical exploration, part personal remembrance, and all-out tribute to a remarkable artist and his outstanding body of work.

The Power of the Doodle

Young fans of Knuffle Bunny, that beloved and beleaguered pigeon, and the “Elephant and Piggie” series (all Hyperion) know that Mo Willems is a funny guy, and in Don’t Pigeonhole Me!  (Disney, 2013), he proves that he can illicit just as many laughs from adults. For 20 years, this three-time Caldecott Honor recipient has been compiling an annual sketchbook intended to be distributed as “a calling card for clients and/or holiday card for friends.” Though the format has evolved since the stapled-together mini zine of his “starving artist” days, these booklets still serve as a “continuing experiment,” a place where Willems holds complete creative carte blanche and freedom “from any restrictions.” This cartooning crock pot has helped him cook up ideas for at least three of his picture books, including Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus (2003).

‘Don’t Pigeonhole Me! ‘(Disney)  © Mo Willems

Twenty sketchbooks are reproduced, each set in the context of Willems’s career and life with a funny introduction. Earlier editions showcase adult-pitched New Yorker-style vignettes and sequences that treat relationship woes, offer wry glimpses of city life, and present droll perceptions of art and artists. Later volumes reveal Willems’s experimentation with a longer narrative form, design elements, and storytelling rhythms, including a tale about an “unaccomplished baddie” wolf would later inspire 2005’s Leonardo, the Terrible Monster; an early—and definitely not-for-kids—version of 2012’s Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs; and a “hard reader” starring an inebriated bunny who spouts a “drunken diatribe of words that merely sound like what they mean.”The final installment collects together doodles originally drawn on the butcher block paper that adorns the Willems family dinner table (characters that may, or may not, someday appear in a picture book). Great fun to browse and unabashedly hilarious, this book also reminds readers of the importance of experimentation and taking chances, of allowing one’s self the space to daydream, and of the awesome power of the doodle.

Why Picture Books?

Compiled and edited by Marcus, Show Me a Story!: Why Picture Books Matter (Candlewick, 2012) presents conversations with 21 renowned illustrators. Whether interviewing longtime picture book mavens such as Robert McCloskey, Eric Carle, Maurice Sendak, Ashley Bryan, and Tana Hoban, or relative newcomers including Yumi Heo and Chris Raschka, philosophical thinkers like Mitsumasa Anno or humorous tale-tellers like James Marshall, Marcus focuses on teasing out the “vital thread that links an artist’s life story to the stories and images for which he or she is known.”

Why does a child grow up to become an artist? Who encouraged or mentored these individuals? What experiences inspired them? Why did they choose to make picture books? The lively interviews, each introduced with an insightful recounting of the artist’s career and important innovations, convey much about each individual’s personality as well as revealing truths about the creative process and the role picture books play in the lives of children.

The illustrators reflect on wide-ranging themes, touching upon the impact of historical and political events on one’s life, the realities of racial discrimination, milestones such as becoming a parent, the origins of their beloved characters, or the evolution of the art form. An inset of full-color reproductions showcases a selection of sketches, studies, dummies, and other pre-production work that sheds light on each artist’s illustrative process. An interesting read for anyone who loves picture books, this volume can be used to expand author studies and is s gem worth sharing with older students considering a career in the arts.

Andrews, Beth L. Hands-On Engineering: Real-World Projects for the Classroom. (Prufrock, 2012).
Designed for use in grades 4-7 and aligned with “various standards for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM),” this compendium offers 26 kid-friendly lessons that teach science concepts through student- designed and tested objects. The book begins with an overview of design and engineering and the lessons that follow list the skills taught and materials needed. Vocabulary, an outline of purpose and objectives, online resources for building students’ knowledge of the topic, and step-by-step directions for preparing and implementing activities are also included. Reproducible worksheets are provided along with additional project suggestions that incorporate writing and research activities to extend the learning. From designing a transportable bridge to creating a catapult that hurls pennies to making an egg-cooking solar oven, kids are bound to learn important concepts as they build.

Edson, Marcia Talhelm. Starting with Science: Strategies for Introducing Young Children to Inquiry. (Stenhouse, 2013).
Edson, a clinical assistant professor at Boston University’s School of Education, effectively argues that inquiry-based science “should be at the center of every early childhood classroom.” More an expert in literacy than science, the author shares some best practices she discovered when challenged to design “a more robust science methods course” for early childhood majors.

The result is a well-organized, readable, and comprehensive overview on how to implement inquiry with the youngest students. Edson defines inquiry-based science; reviews teaching strategies; establishes the connections with reading, writing, and speaking; describes child-centered assessment; and discusses how to design an inquiry unit. Throughout, samples of student work and accounts from real-life classrooms and children provide clarity. Finally, early childhood teachers who have embarked upon the hard work of inquiry discuss how to succeed despite common impediments, while an appendix includes a pet study to get the ball rolling.

Fries-Gaither, Jessica & Terry Shiverdecker. Inquiring Scientists, Inquiring Readers: Using Nonfiction to Promote Science Literacy, Grades 3-5. (NSTA, 2013).
Divided into two parts, this interdisciplinary guide begins by examining the research, noting a steady decline in the time spent on science in elementary classrooms (in part due to large blocks being devoted to ELA and math instruction). The authors remind teachers that “simply reading about science” cannot replace “the actual doing of science.” The learning cycle model for science instruction—engage, explore, explain, expand, assess—is reviewed, and opportunities for authentic literacy experiences within science inquiry are considered. Part II provides 11 complete inquiry units, primarily teacher-directed, a choice made by the authors in order “to support teachers new to inquiry.” Using multigenre nonfiction text sets as an anchor, each unit (the water cycle, fossils, the Moon, etc.) includes an overview, objectives, standards alignment, time frame, a list of texts, reproducibles, and a step-by-step description of how to guide students through each phase of the learning cycle.

Froschauer, Linda & Mary L. Bigelow. Rise and Shine: A Practical Guide for the Beginning Science Teacher. (NSTA, 2012).
Written specifically for the new teacher, this compilation of enthusiastically offered advice introduces five fictional teachers of varying backgrounds—Alberto, a former high school biology teacher now assigned middle school environmental science; Heather, an elementary substitute teacher just hired as a science specialist; Jason, a recent graduate teaching middle grades and high school; Sherrie, an industrial chemist switching careers; and Tanya, another recent graduate taking on high school Earth science. The 13 clearly written chapters are full of counsel supplemented by checklists and insightful comments from actual educators. Questions posed by the novice teachers are answered by Ms. Mentor (see the NSTA blog for more by Ms. Mentor), covering everything-a-new-teacher-needs-to-know from navigating the school environment and managing the first week of school to creating a learning environment and teaching strategies. Online resources for each chapter are available.

Hanuscin, Deborah & Meredith Park Rogers, eds. Perspectives: Research & Tips to Support Science Education, K-6. (NSTA, 2013).
In this compilation of past “Perspectives” columns from NSTA’s Science & Children journal, readers will find 27 articles grouped under six topics: “General Teaching Goals,” “Strategies to Facilitate Learning in Science,” “Teaching Science and Other Disciplines Together,” “Student Thinking and Misconceptions,” “Society and Science Learning,” and “Developing as a Teacher.” Each article-length chapter presents a teacher-posed question about an aspect of science instruction that’s answered by experienced educators with an eye to current research and suggestions for practical application in the classroom. There’s a lot of advice packed into this slim volume regarding important teaching issues, such as the effective use of children’s literature, understanding the learning cycle, the use of inquiry, how to support English Language Learners, the value of project-based learning, and the art of asking questions. In addition, the editors offer a few suggestions for using the articles in professional development workshops.

Martinez, Sylvia Libow & Gary Stager. Invent to Learn: Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom. (Constructing Modern Knowledge Press, 2013).
For anyone interested in learning more about the maker movement in education, this is an excellent starting point. Innovative educators, Stager, Executive Director of The Constructivist Consortium, and Martinez, President of Generation YES, urge teachers to look far beyond test prep and getting the answer right to offer students project-based learning that turns classrooms into settings where teachers talk less and children do more, makerspaces that value “making, tinkering, collaborative learning, and invention.” They start with a brief history of the maker movement, highlighting the work of Seymour Papert, a very early proponent of creative computer use by children, and continue with an in-depth look at how to get started. Ideas range from the “constructionism” learning theory to designing a good project to new fabrication tools (3D printers, Raspberry Pi, Arduino, Makey Makey, etc.) to creating the learning environment and advocating for makerspaces in schools. A companion website provides links to the resources listed in the book—professional development, tutorials, project ideas, books, videos, creative materials, and much more.

Cummins, Julie. Flying Solo: How Ruth Elder Soared into America’s Heart. (Roaring Brook/Macmillan; Gr 2-4).
In 1927, the news media was abuzz with Charles Lindbergh’s historic flight across the Atlantic Ocean. People around the world followed the story with fascination and more than a few were inspired to take to the sky. Hearing about Lindbergh, the glamorous and plucky aviatrix Ruth Elder decided to become the first woman to transverse the Atlantic in a plane. Cummins follows the woman’s unsuccessful attempt that ended in a dramatic rescue 36 hours into the flight, and her later career that propelled her both into the sky and the limelight. Dramatic pastel spreads echo the life and charm of this flamboyant woman, endowed with “grit and gumption.” Consider introducing this book in conjunction with some of the other, numerous picture biographies on pilots−men and women−and during Women’s History Month in March.

Goldstone, Bruce. That’s a Possibility! A Book About What Might Happen. (Holt; Gr 3-6).
If you’re reading these words, it’s probable that you work with children and/or purchase books for them. Lucky for you, here’s a new title that clearly defines and carefully explains the difference between “possible,” “probable,” “likely,” “certain” (and their antonyms), and discusses those terms in relation to the word “odds.” With numerous illustrated examples incorporating colorful photos and diagrams, this kid-friendly introduction to probability from the author of Great Estimations (2006) and Greater Estimations (2008, both Holt), will find a home in both literacy and math classrooms.

Krull, Kathleen. Lives of the Scientists: Experiments, Explosions (and What the Neighbors Thought). (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Gr 4-7). Illus. by Kathryn Hewitt.
In her characteristic lively prose, the author offers profiles of 20 scientists (including two teams), from Chinese astronomer Zhang Heng (born 78 AD) to English ethnologist Jane Goodall (born 1934). The entries are filled with anecdotes about the subject’s personal lives, personalities, interests, and quirks (more than a few of the scientists were accomplished painters, a couple were loners, and readers will find a confirmed grouch or two in the bunch), as well as the passions that lead to their significant, sometimes world-changing observations, discoveries, and theories. Spot art and full-page oil portraits of the individuals, each carrying tools of their trade, accompany the profiles. Scientists is the latest entry in Krull’s well-regarded “Lives of” series that includes volumes on artists, presidents, musicians, and others. A great read-aloud choice, that is sure to send readers to the biography shelves.

Rusch, Elizabeth. Eruption! Volcanoes and the Science of Saving Lives. (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Gr 5-10). Photos by Tom Uhlman.
In 1985, the Columbian volcano Nevado del Ruiz erupted, killing more than 23,000 people in the nearby town of Amero. The book follows scientists working with the U.S. Geological Survey’s Volcano Disaster Assistance Program (VDAP), in particular their efforts to monitor the impending eruptions of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines (1991) and Mount Merapi in Indonesia (2010). As one of the scientists noted, “Volcanoes don’t necessarily move from deep sleep to violent eruption in a straight orderly progression, they ramp up and drop down, ramp up and drop down,” making the tracking of these events difficult, dangerous, and often, dramatic. The book discusses what scientists must consider when determining whether a volcano is ready to erupt, when to evacuate populations, and the array of hazards produced—from lava bombs and landslides to toxic gases and acid rain. Maps and color photos offer before-and-after images of landscapes and towns that have experienced the destruction wrought by these powerful forces. Who knew the United States has 160 volcanoes?

Taking place only a couple of months after India’s Declaration of Independence, Gandhi’s historic 24-day Salt March that began on March 12, 1930, is considered by many to be the turning point of his  nonviolence campaign. Forbidden by law to gather salt from the sea, the Indian people were at the subject to the British taxes on this resource that Gandhi noted was, “Next to air and water,…perhaps the greatest necessity of life.” The same high taxes made cloth unaffordable to the impoverished people. And so, Gandhi inspired them to spin their own fabric, and to walk to the beach to gather their own salt, “step by step to freedom.” In the lyrical Gandhi: A March to the Sea McGinty recounts the momentous trek, (which the leader began with only 70 companions), from his ashram community near Ahmedabad to the coast by the village of Dandi. A perfect tie-in to curriculum on the American colonies’ Boston Tea Party, Gandhi’s fist full of salt was a powerful, nonviolent call to action for India, and to the world that finally took notice of the plight of that nation’s population.

Incorporating quotations from the iconic figure’s speeches, McGinty’s poetic prose weaves historical fact into a stirring account of a divided people coming together behind a charismatic leader to take the first steps toward establishing self-rule. Highlighting Gandhi’s belief in a united country, without regard to religion or caste, the book’s text is matched in beauty by Thomas Gonzalez’s sweeping landscapes and mixed-media depictions of the thousands of people who eventually joined the march. Alternating between emotion-filled close-ups and bird’s-eye views of the man and the epic event, the stunning illustrations will draw in students from the elementary through middle school grades, as they offer a look at another country’s cry for freedom.

While Gandhi takes place at the height of man’s career and popularity, the events in Bradbury’s fictional A Moment Comes occur just months before his assassination. The title is inspired by “Tryst with Destiny,” a speech given by Gandhi successor and protégé Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minster of India, on the eve of India’s official independence and partition, August 14, 1947: “A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new; when an age ends; and when the soul of a nation long suppressed finds utterance.” The three main characters in the young adult novel struggle with obtaining their own kind of independence, even as each passing day hearkens the dawn of a newly-partitioned India and Pakistan.

Though the story has brushes of the love triangle trope often found in young adult novels, the plot’s true stars are the perspectives offered by the three very different narrators and the roles they play against the backdrop of this tumultuous period. Each struggles with the trappings of their station: a Muslim clerk to a British official, surrounded by Sikh servants who despise him; a rebellious young white woman who wishes she could love whomever she wants; and a quiet Sikh servant girl, who must provide for her impoverished family, while every day fearing assault. Readers will sympathize with Tariq, the Muslim teen who will do whatever it takes to study at the university level in England, emulating the heroes of Indian independence, Gandhi, Nehru, and Muslim leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah. The aspiring scholar’s dream is endangered when a childhood friend manipulates him into involvement with a group that is terrorizing the retreating colonizers and the Sikh majority. At the same time, Tariq’s family begins to make arrangements for moving to the area that in two months’ time will appear on maps as Pakistan.

The young people’s worlds collide when Tariq finds a potential sponsor and benefactor in Mr. Darnsley, one of the British cartographers carving up India into the two religious states. The boy uses his charm and good looks to win the Oxford man’s flirtatious daughter Margaret to his side, hoping that she will put in a good word and help him realize his dream of an advanced degree. The beautiful Anupreet looks on, still coping with a near rape, and worrying about her family’s safety. The novel’s dramatic climax unites these teens, despite their differences, and the story ends on a tenuous but hopeful note on August 15, the official establishment of the two separate countries.

Whether focusing on Gandhi’s belief that Hindus and Muslims must work together to create a united India, comparing India’s fight for independence to the American colonies’ battle, or recognizing Gandhi’s nonviolence principles in Dr. King’s civil disobedience movement, Gandhi and A Moment Comes offer springboards for discussion on prejudice, imperialism, independence, and freedom.

Journey Far
In A Long Way Away (Little, Brown, 2013; PreS-Gr 4), Frank Viva brilliantly utilizes book design to delineate a dazzling there-and-back-again adventure and express the wonder intrinsic to a journey of discovery. Held sideways, the story unfolds from top to bottom as a young octopus-like alien bids farewell to loved ones and gently descends through space along a winding yellow pathway, gliding past snoozing planets and other whimsical objects, entering Earth’s atmosphere, sinking through ocean depths, and nestling on an underwater cliff to fall “Deep/Asleep.” Read in reverse, this two-way tale depicts the return trip, as the voyager awakens and soars upward through sea and space and into his family’s welcoming arms (“A Happy Place/A Happy Face/A Hug/A Home”).

Large yellow arrows on front and back endpapers point out the appropriate direction, and the fun-to-finger-trace yellow line keeps readers on the narrative pathway and in the action. The terse poetic text works remarkably well in either direction, and the graphic-style artwork makes striking use of stylized outline images and a restrained color palette. Like the intrepid protagonist, readers will delight in exploring the universe of possibilities presented here.

Germano Zullo and Albertine’s Line 135 (Chronicle, 2013; K-Gr 4) describes a youngster’s train trip from her city home to her grandmother’s house in the country, and the book’s long, narrow trim size is perfectly suited to convey both the physical logistics and fanciful facets of her excursion. As the lime-green train glides along the tracks, the girl muses about journey-taking in a broader sense, expressing her determination to one day venture everywhere and “know the entire world”—despite adults telling her that it’s impossible. Meanwhile, the finely detailed black-line drawings show the train passing through realistic city and country backdrops that give way to vistas of fantastical beasts and dwellings, before returning to the mundane at trip’s end.

Both the day-to-day and imaginary are rendered in the same artistic style, lending equal weight to both realms. The interplay between text and illustrations communicates the narrator’s determination to chart her own future and compellingly conveys a child’s boundless ability to dream big. Invite your students to write about and illustrate their own journeys, whether real or imagined.

In the aptly titled Flight 1-2-3 (Chronicle, 2013; K-Gr 2), Maria van Lieshout introduces the iconic airport signage used around the world. As a family arrives at the airport (“1 Airport”) and embarks on their trip, readers identify the symbols for and count “2 Luggage carts,” “3 Check-in desks,” etc., all the way to “10 Gates” (presented as a schematic diagram map) and beyond.

The book is deftly illustrated in the same graphic style as the well-known symbols, so the dynamic spreads are peopled by outline figures (some sport colorful clothing, but only the featured family members have pin-point eyes) and contain simple, easy-to-identify shapes. In addition to flexing counting and symbol-deciphering skills, this book can be used to launch discussion of universal signs and how they are used to wordlessly convey information.

Play with Words and Images
Treading lightheartedly into the realm of proper punctuation usage, Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld tell the tale of an Exclamation Mark (Scholastic, 2013; Gr 1-5) who feels like a misfit until he finally discovers his true purpose. The simple, tongue-in-cheek text and thick black-line images are neatly arrayed across backdrops of wide-ruled paper. Portrayed in a parade of periods—each depicted as a circle drawn with mouth and eyes—the protagonist’s long stem clearly makes him different, despite his efforts to conform. When he meets a question mark who peppers him with endless queries, he finally explodes with a loud “STOP!” that reveals his ability to put the POW into declarative sentences. Gradually gaining confidence, he shows off his skill to his appreciative fellows and then sets off “…to make his mark.”

A pun-filled narrative, just-right book design, and buoyantly expressive artwork tell a tale so charmingly clever that it’s impossible for readers not to smile. Art and functionality combine in a story that entertains while imparting a painless grammatical lesson and underscoring the importance of allowing one’s own essence to shine.

Rosenthal provides more witty wordplay in I Scream, Ice Cream! (Chronicle, 2013; K-Gr 5), a book of phrases that sound exactly the same but have different meanings. Serge Bloch’s zestful illustrations—a combination of comical cartoon characters, block printed images, and collage—drolly depict each scenario, and the layout allows readers a shot at guessing the second sentence before a page turn reveals the answer. “I see!” is accompanied by a full-page picture of a man balancing tippy-toed on a stool and peering into an antique telescope. The next spread shows a pirate ship sailing across an ice-floe-laden ocean; one buccaneer declares, “Icy!,” while a second agrees, “Aye, sea!”

The pairings range from straightforward to more complex, with some taking on a narrative context (and providing possible story starters for creative writing). Inventive and silly, this book of humorous homophones hones listening skills, illustrates how artwork expands a text, and provides a fresh approach to thinking about language and its usage.

Jesse Klausmeier and Suzy Lee invite readers to Open This Little Book (Chronicle, 2013; K-Gr 4) and dive into an enchanting celebration of reading. Inside, a series of die-cut pages reveal story beginning after story beginning (“Open this…Little Red Book/and read about Ladybug, who opens a…Little Green Book/and reads about Frog, who opens a …Little Orange Book,” etc.), the trim size growing ever smaller with each new start. When it’s Giant’s turn, she is unable to open her tiny tome because her hands are too large (as evidenced by a blue thumbnail engulfing the entire cover), but the other characters enthusiastically come to her aid. Afterward, each individual book is closed in succession, with its featured animal waving farewell. They are all reunited on the final page to read another tale.

The volume’s design is striking, as is the use of color and varied artistic styles (while the individual book covers have an old-fashioned look, with faded washes and crisp lines, the overall effect is bold-colored and contemporary). Children will enjoy manipulating and exploring the pages, and thinking about the idea of a story within a story. The offering’s delightfully delivered message about the wonders found in books and the joys of sharing them with friends can also spark discussion—and sharing—of students’ most-beloved tales.

Characterized by an explosion of color and creativity, Hervé Tullet’s I Am Blop! (Phaidon, 2013; Gr 1-5) introduces a marvelously versatile shape—its outline similar to a four-leaf clover—and spins off a whirlwind of variations, possibilities, and interpretations. At first, images are paired with simple statements to show Blops of various sizes and colors, but the presentation soon bounds beyond the realm of basic concepts.

There is a “Blop Family,” Blops organized in classroom rows, museum-inspired Blops, Blop animals (with tiger stripes or painted to look like butterflies), and much, much more. Several multi-page sequences relate tales of different-colored Blops (e.g., yellow and blue) merging together to create a new Blop hue (green). Some examples broach more thoughtful territory, such as when “Blop Discovers” (the text is printed backwards on the recto page and read with the help of a reflective surface on the verso) or “Blop Has a Secret” (delicate dashes transform a sherbet-pink Blop into two joined hearts, one upside-up and one upside-down).

The book ends with questions (“What do Blops eat?” “Can a Blop get into mischief?” “Can Blops fly?”) that will ignite readers’ curiosity and inspire creative writing and illustration. Easy to cut out, draw, paint, decorate, and adapt, Blops are ready and waiting to go as far as a child’s imagination can take them.

Introduce Graphic Design Basics
Just what is it that makes these titles so incredibly eye-grabbing? In A Book about Design: Complicated Doesn’t Make It Good (2005; Gr 1-5), itself an eye-grabber, Mark Gonyea provides an accessible look at the principles of design. Chatty, humor-warmed text and clear graphic shapes presented on clean white backdrops illustrate how changes in size, shape, and color alter and manipulate the viewer’s perceptions. Ten brief chapters touch briefly upon topics such as the visual impact of straight vs. diagonal lines (one indicates “strength and structure,” while the conveys “speed and movement”), use of a 1:3:9 design ratio, the crash-bang affect of contrast, and the different impressions made by warm and cool colors. A smiley face that starts out minimalistic and ends up garishly over-adorned underscores the elegance of simplicity. The bold-colored artwork makes each concept crystal clear. The discussion continues in the author’s Another Book about Design (2007) and A Book about Color (2010, all Holt).

Utilizing a similarly playful tone and elucidating visual examples, Chip Kidd’s forthcoming Go: A Kidd’s Guide to Graphic Design (Workman, Oct. 2013; Gr 4 Up) delves a bit more deeply into the subject matter. An introduction defines the term, points out why it’s important to know about graphic design (individuals are constantly exposed to and affected by images), and provides a history of iconic images. Next, well-organized chapters discuss various components: form (the elements that delineate what an image looks like—scale, image quality, symmetry/asymmetry, color, positive space/negative space, etc.), typography, content (matching form to function), and different methods for conveying concepts. A final chapter presents 10 design projects for kids. Addressing readers directly, the writing is clear and lively, and Kidd, a book designer, frequently and effectively uses covers that he and other professionals have created as examples for his points, along with an array of striking graphic images. Beginning with this book’s cover (the word “GO” emblazoned on a stop sign backdrop, a juxtaposition intended to grab viewers’ attention and encourage them to explore further), Kidd will have kids thinking about the images that surround them and the responses they inspire. Fun for readers, this offering will also be helpful for educators exploring these concepts in the classroom.

Have students compile a list of basic design precepts from these resources and see how they are utilized in the picture books mentioned above. Encourage youngsters to think about how visual elements affect the perception of subject matter. Expand the discussion by examining some of the images that are pervasive in our culture: What makes a road signs easy to understand? How do advertisements use color or contrast capture the viewer’s eye? Does a product’s packaging—color, design, style of typeface—affect consumers? The possibilities are endless.

The Common Core State Standards below are a sampling of those references in the above books and classroom activities:

RL. 2.7. Use information gained from the illustrations and words in a print…text to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot.
RL 5.7. Analyze how visual…elements contribute to the meaning, tone, or beauty of a text.
SL. 1.2. Ask and answer questions about key details in a text read aloud….
SL. 3.4. Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant descriptive details….
RI. 1.7. Use the illustrations and details in a text to describe its key ideas.
RI. 3.7. Use information gained from illustrations…and the words in a text to demonstrate understanding of the text.
W. K.3. Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to narrate a single event or several loosely linked events, tell about the events in the order in which they occurred, and provide a reaction to what happened.
W. 3.3. Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events…

First off, the authors clarify what they mean by a “multimodal, multigenre text set.” Simply put, it’s a group of resources—print, audio, and visual—on a particular topic or theme presented in a variety of genres. Here genre is defined as “a form of writing that serves a socially recognizable purpose”—a designation that includes everything from tweets to recipes to articles to books.

Text sets support the goals of a unit of study, can be used in elementary through high school, and are compiled, ideally, by a team of teachers and a librarian. Librarians familiar with pathfinders might recognize a connection here, but there’s an important difference. As Mary Cappiello explains, “a text set is a classroom tool for a teacher to use strategically…it is not everything but the kitchen sink (though in the gathering and sifting phases it is) but rather an expert culling to structure a specific learning experience.” Students use the skills and strategies being taught to delve into content across the curriculum that grabs their attention (and meets state and local standards), honing their proficiency and knowledge along the way. The authors know this is demanding time-consuming work, but their enthusiasm is infectious, and they lighten the load by supplying detailed how-to’s and models.

In Part II, “Text Sets in Action,” the authors demonstrate the process of putting text sets to work by sharing the collaborative efforts of teachers in two different schools. In one, they detail the enhancement of an already successful but slightly outdated social studies unit on immigration, and the second takes readers through the design of a new unit on the solar system. Each example documents the tasks of collecting resource materials, organizing the texts for instruction, and using the texts with students in classroom instruction that supports inquiry and critical thinking. Sample planning charts, graphic organizers and worksheets, activities for students, and examples of student work are all available to use as a model or jumping off point. (A Digital Resource CD with printable files is included.) Four chapters offer additional resources with sample units on the Great Depression, immigration, space, and honeybees, while a text set for a unit on trees is included in an appendix. Tree units specific to Massachusetts and New York City are also available online.

From Graeme Base, author of THE LEGEND OF THE GOLDEN SNAIL (Abrams, 2010):

Summer Reading List? Here in the Land Downunder we’re putting on woolly sweaters and looking at our Winter Reading Lists! On top of mine is, I confess, a disheartening backlog of New Scientist magazines. I subscribe to this generalist weekly about astrophysics and the like in a vain attempt to keep up with my older brother who actually understands all this stuff. The reason I need to get through the backlog is twofold: firstly, I’ve paid for the subscription and the Scottish side of me demands I get my money’s worth. The second (better) reason is that I have three books on the bedside table that are waiting to be opened.

First among them is Anna Funder’s All That I Am. It comes highly recommended by my wife (which is about as high as it gets) which is why it is on the top. She put it there. Second is Almost French by Sarah Turnbull. I know nothing at all about this novel but it was given to me as a present, so we shall see what unfolds. And finally, as always, there is James Joyce’s impenetrable tome Ulysses. I have tried to read this monster no less than three times over the years and failed, though each time making my way a little further through the dense prose and alarming lack of punctuation. Let’s see what this winter holds. (Oh, and good luck with summer up there.)

From Kevin Henkes, author of the forthcoming THE YEAR OF BILLY MILLER (Greenwillow Books, September, 2013):

About four years ago I read nearly everything by Willa Cather for the first time. I found her books beautifully crafted, deeply felt, and painfully human. A selection of her letters has just been published by Knopf. I look forward to reading it this summer.

From Candace Fleming, author of PAPA’S MECHANICAL FISH (FSG, 2013):

Before being asked to reveal my summer reading list, it looked like this: Buffalo Bill’s Life Story: An Autobiography by William F. Cody; Buffalo Bill’s America by Louis S. Warren; Anecdotes of “Buffalo Bill” That Have Never Appeared In Print by Dan Winget, and Last of The Great Scouts (Buffalo Bill) by Helen Cody Wetmore and Zane Grey.  (Can you guess whom my next biography is about?)  Once I knew my list was going public, however, I fretted.  Sure, I think these titles are sizzlers.  But I suspect many of you wouldn’t.  And since I don’t want to leave the impression that I’m a complete history nerd, I shuffled a couple titles around.  Topping my list now is And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie (I’ve re-read Christie every summer since middle school), followed by Holly Black’s Doll Bones (love that cover), and The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer (love that author).  I head to my beach house in two weeks.  You know what?  I’m leaving Bill behind.

From Matt Phelan, author of the forthcoming BLUFFTON: MY SUMMER WITH BUSTER KEATON  (Candlewick, July, 2013):

The current line-up includes The Center of Everything by Linda Urban because she is smart and funny and writes smart and funny books. My non-fiction slot is filled by Between Man and Beast: An Unlikely Explorer, the Evolution Debates, and the African Adventure That Took the Victorian World by Storm. If that last title isn’t enticing enough, the “African Adventure” concerns the capture of the first gorilla the West had ever seen. Also, the author’s name is Monte Reel which is a name that fits this book perfectly and would make a great false identity if it didn’t already belong to a real person. (I may still use it.)

I’m also eager to get my hands on a copy of Kate DiCamillo’s Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures because, if you haven’t heard, it features a super-powered squirrel. Enough said. I’m sure I’ll read at least three P.G. Wodehouse books this summer. Wodehouse is the funniest writer ever and my literary comfort food. He wrote approximately 7,492 books so I’m set for this and many summers to come.

From Meg Medina, author of YAQUI DELGADO WANTS TO KICK YOUR ASS (Candlewick, 2013) and co-conspirator on Girls of Summer, a curated reading list of summer reads for strong girls:

Nothing says summer to me like reading for hours in the middle of the day with no apologies necessary.

Here’s what’s in my bag:
Last Night I Sang to the Monster by Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell, Life: An Exploded Diagram by Mal Peet, and Operation Oleander by Valerie O. Patterson (all young adult titles).

I write across age groups, so for the days when I’m channeling a younger voice: Gigi Amateau offers up the second in her “Horses of the Maury River” series, so I’ll be eager to read Macadoo of the Maury River, and playing with the new app that she’s designed for the series. I’ll also pick up David Almond’s  Mouse Bird Snake Wolf because, frankly, I live in awe of his work.

Finally for those days when all I want is color, poetry, and music, it will be a picture book called Tito Puente: Mambo King/Rey del Mambo by Monica Brown and illustrated by Rafael López.

From Deborah Hopkinson, author of the forthcoming THE GREAT TROUBLE, A MYSTERY OF LONDON, THE BLUE DEATH, AND A BOY CALLED EEL (Knopf, October, 2013):

Summer is what made me a reader—and reading made me a writer. Summer in childhood meant reading fiction until dawn.

I still read novels in great gulps like this. There are few greater pleasures.

But as I look at my bay windowsill, which serves as my “future idea bookshelf,” there’s nary a novel in sight. (I’m not counting my six other bookshelves, or the three bins of research books.)

Piled on the windowsill are books on the Tower of London, turtles, World War II, the cartography of cholera, Beatrix Potter, and biographies of scientists, artists, and a 19th-century pickpocket. Tucked in one corner is a work on Oscar Wilde, bought in a moment when I wondered: Are we ready yet for a picture book on Wilde?

The truth is, though, that while I will undoubtedly read most of these this summer, my true summer reading is contained on a small black listening device.  Here I will return to the joy I remember from those summer nights: escape into another world.

Yes, I admit it. I’m hooked on George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” series. I’m listening to book three now. At about 33 hours each, I should have enough Seven Kingdoms intrigue to get me to Labor Day. If not, well, I might just start back at the beginning.

From Aaron Hartzler, author of RAPTURE PRACTICE (Little, Brown, 2013) 

All of my books are arranged on white shelves by color. I lay them sideways in left-justified stacks that are, I admit it, a little OCD: spines out, largest on bottom to smallest on top. This idea was stolen without apology directly from a page in Dwell magazine in 2009, and while impressive to look at, there are times when I think my books are really more an art installation than functional objects.

Truth be told, the piles of books I’m currently reading, (and yes, there are always quite a number going at once) are strewn atop my desk, stacked next to the plaid reading chair in my office, and spilling off my bedside table. The act of reading, it seems, requires me to be a bit more freewheeling than my color-coding allows. The art of finishing a book, however, takes focus, and the following titles will have mine in the coming summer months:

Arcadia by Lauren Groff
If It’s Not One Thing, It’s Your Mother by Julia Sweeney
Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris
The Lucy Variations by Sara Zarr
Openly Straight by Bill Konigsberg
Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick
Gorgeous by Paul Rudnick
Some Hope by Edward St. Aubyn
Far Far Away by Tom McNeal

From A. G. Howard, author of SPLINTERED (Abrams, 2013).

This summer I’m going to be doing a lot of world-building as I write my newest book, and one of my favorite things about world-building is crafting creatures, whether they’re horrifying or endearing. So to that end, for inspiration, I’m going to be reading two particular books.

First is the The Resurrectionist: The Lost Work of Dr. Spencer Black by E.B. Hudspeth. This book has an intriguing premise (the MC hypothesizes that the world’s most celebrated mythological beasts were evolutionary ancestors of humankind) along with detailed drawings and sketches of the creatures within.

The second book is Unnatural Creatures collected and edited by Neil Gaiman. Not only were these 16 short stories about fantastical creatures chosen by one of my favorite authors, but sales of this book benefit a nonprofit organization that supports students in writing. So it’s win-win. I get inspired, and the kids I write my books for get the support they need to one day be writers and inspire others themselves.

From Tom Angleberger, author of the “ORIGAMI YODA” books (Abrams):

I do love reading on the porch on a beautiful day! I was out there yesterday with Linda Urban’s The Center of Everything.  Hopefully, I’ll be out there a lot this summer with Vader’s Little Princess by Jeffrey Brown, Cardboard by Doug TenNapel and this new book, William Shakespeare’s Star Wars. (Yes, that’s really happening! Though an Ian Doescher claims authorship.)

From Megan Whalen Turner, who is working on her next book in her “QUEEN’S THIEF” series (HarperCollins) :

I love reading, really, I do, but starting a new book often feels like diving into a swimming pool on a hot day.  I know I am going to be fine once I am in the water, but I still spend too much time dithering by the side of the pool. As much as I love reading, it’s hard to start new books, find new authors, and try new things. Clearly I am still the same person who read nothing but Walter Farley books for the entirety of fifth grade. Plus ça change and all that. Anyway, I gravitate toward books by authors I know and trust. I re-read books I like.  And sometimes I pick out new things and sternly tell myself to jump in. This summer I have some of all three planned.

I was given Iain M. Banks’s Consider Phlebas for Christmas and I’ve been waiting for a quiet stretch of days to enjoy it properly. I am looking forward to Holly Black’s Black Heart. I’ll be reading Reflections, a collection of Diana Wynne Jones’s nonfiction writing. I am re-reading The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt right now, and it is even better the second time through. In the interests of trying something new, I want to read My Name Is Red by Orhan Pamuk and London Falling by Paul Cornell, as well as The Boneshaker by Kate Milford, which has been on my to-be-read list for a long time.

From Rae Carson, whose THE BITTER KINGDOM (Greenwillow, 2013) will be published in September.

This summer, I’ll be finishing the first book of my next series, which means I’m unlikely to read any fiction. (I’m also unlikely to do laundry, wash dishes, or bathe regularly.) However, I have the best job ever, because writing this book demands that I dive into some riveting research reads including The Age of Gold by H.W. Brands, The Poker Bride by Christopher Corbett, and Women’s Diaries of the Westward Journey collected by Lillian Schlissel. I’ll return to fiction as my reward for finishing. First up will be George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” saga, starting with a re-read of the amazing A Game of Thrones.

From Suzanne Selfors, author of SMELLS LIKES PIRATES (Little, Brown, 2012):

Reading? What’s that? Seriously, I’m supposed to write AND read? Is that why there’s a huge stack of books next to my bed? Hmmm, let’s see what’s on the top of the stack. It’s a book my teen daughter says I must read–Forgotten, by Cat Patrick. She said it’s a great mystery that kept her guessing the whole time. Next on the stack is a new middle-grade title by local author Kevin Emerson called The Fellowship for Alien Detection. I’ve met him. He’s in a rock band. I’d like to be in a rock band. And if there’s anything new by Wendy Mass, I will be reading it. She’s one of my faves.

But you know, what I’m really keen on reading this summer are some good cookbooks. I want to figure out what to do with chicken breasts besides dump cream-of-mushroom soup on them.

From Stefan Bachmann, author of THE PECULIAR (HarperCollins, 2012):

This summer I’m DETERMINED to read at least the first of  J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” books. I still haven’t done this, and I’m sure you’ll agree that’s a terrible thing. After Harry Potter, I’m planning to read some action-y young adult books. The ones I’m most looking forward to are:

1. Divergent by Veronica Roth
2. The Diviners by Libba Bray  (I actually don’t know how action-y this is, but it’s 1920′s + creepiness, so I’m excited.)
3. Reboot by Amy Tintera
4. Prodigy by Marie Lu (the sequel to Legend)
In the middle-grade range, I can’t wait for The Year of Shadows by Claire LeGrand, because everything Claire writes is fantastic. I also have The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald waiting for me, then Life After Life by Kate Atkinson, and The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.

And now that I see all these handily listed, that’s a lot of books… I hope I have many train and plane rides this summer.

From Steve Sheinkin, author of BOMB; THE RACE TO BUILD—AND STEAL—THE WORLD’S MOST DANGEROUS WEAPON (Roaring Brook, 2012):

In addition to the usual stack of research-related books, I’m looking forward to reading a couple of Patricia Highsmith’s fantastically creepy “Tom Ripley” novels, and the recent novel The Art Forger, by B.A. Shapiro. I love anything to do with art forgery. If I had the talent, I think I’d like to be an art forger. After that, who knows? I don’t like to plan to far in advance…

Tom McNeal always wondered if he could handle “the complications of a ghost story.” At the same time, he was also intrigued by the idea of using a fairy-tale structure. In his latest novel, Far Far Away (Random, June, 2013; Gr 6 Up) the author smoothly melds the two to create a suspenseful, haunting tale. At its center is the folklorist Jacob Grimm, stuck as a ghost. He’s dead, but unable to reunite with his brother Wilhelm, who predeceased him. Jacob believes if he can help save the young Jeremy Johnson Johnson he may be able to move on. Here McNeal discusses his beguiling, macabre work.

What appealed to you about the fairy tale set-up?
In fairy tales, the situation changes but the characters don’t. They tend to be stereotypes: the simple but kind youngest son, the girl whose true character isn’t seen. What you basically have are flat characters that couldn’t sustain a longer [story]. In thinking about them and reading about the Grimm brothers, the idea popped into my head: What if Jacob, the elder Grimm, became a ghost? That idea evolved…[until] the ghost story and the fairy tale collided and merged.

The idea of a benevolent ghost is an interesting one, too. Jacob is almost a fairy godfather figure to Jeremy.
I loved writing in the voice of Jacob. I’ve never written a novel in first person. Normally you have the constraints of a narrow point of view, but a ghost can observe lots of things. I found that really freeing. The story started with the characters—Jeremy and [his classmate] Ginger—and with the understanding that the ghost would intercede or try to protect them. I knew they were going to wind up in a basement, and I knew it would end happily—in accordance with the form—but I wasn’t sure how.

You easily navigate the inner workings of a contemporary town, with phones and televisions, while still honoring the childhood experiences of exploring and pulling pranks in what feels like a safe place—until the children’s disappearances. How did you strike that balance?
As carefully as I could. I didn’t want cell phones. I worried about any kind of modern technology, because I didn’t want to spend a lot of the book explaining how Jacob perceives these devices. In an earlier version, there was quite a bit of that, and it was distracting. It’s a fairly contemporary setting, but there are no benchmarks of time.

Were you always a fan of the Brothers Grimm? You know so much about them, especially the little-known facts that come to light in the Uncommon Knowledge game featured in the book.
No! I read fairy tales like everyone read fairy tales. I loved the idea of peering into your fondest hopes. You go out and do something good or generous and you win the king’s daughter and live in a castle. Or  looking into into your worst fears—being abandoned in the woods. Or being cut up and put in a stew by your stepmother—really, really, dark, ghoulish things—but then everything is reconstituted and made whole, and you can go about your day. The business of fairy tales is fascinating. Our attraction to them is universal.

I knew very little about the Grimm brothers until I started researching them. I thought they’d written the fairy tales. I know a lot more about them now. The lifelong affinity of one brother to the other was really what was interesting to me.

Most, if not all, of the Brothers Grimm tales involve someone confronting evil full on and moving through his or her fear. Was that something you wanted to work with from the beginning?
Yes. I wanted Jeremy and Ginger to be tested in a severe way and to respond to the situation as their characters would, within their belief systems—that their reliance on their personal strengths would allow them to persevere, and, in the end, prevail. In an early version Jacob was the one who almost single-handedly saved them. I changed that later on—I wanted Jeremy and Ginger to participate to a greater extent in overcoming what is described in the book as evil.

And through their ordeal, it’s the stories Jeremy tells that sustain them.
Yes. That was all new in the last version. You would have thought that would be there from day one.

There’s a wonderful observation that Jacob makes, “Every day, a child steps away from the parent by the littlest distance, perhaps just the width of a mouse whisker….”
Yes, it’s a very subtle, slow thing that happens. [As a parent,] you don’t want to admit to that. You want to believe that your children need you as much as you need them. That was one of the things that was really fun about inhabiting this first-person ghost—it gave me a way to put down on paper the things I observe and think about.

From TeachingBooks.net, listen to Tom McNeal introduce and read from Far Far Away

Geography: A Visual Encyclopedia (DK/Smithsonian Institution; Gr 5-8). Combining photographs, artist’s renderings, diagrams, and maps, and paragraph-length introductions and captions across topical spreads, this attractive survey covers subjects from “Planet Earth” to “Mapping the World.” While subtopics are not dealt with in great depth, the book will delight the curious and offer a sampling of subjects to investigate. From the nearly surreal spectacle of the Northern Lights to a desert in bloom, readers will witness some wondrous sites.

Kespert, Deborah. Explore! The Most Dangerous Journeys of All Time (Thames & Hudson, Gr 4-7).
In all, 20 climbs, voyages, treks, and missions by individuals or teams are recorded in this plush-with-illustrations survey. Four pages are devoted to each journey, which note the challenges and dangers and provide background information on the person(s) making the trip (women are well represented), and often, a full-page portrait or photo of the adventurer. Loads of other captioned images are also included: archival photos, diagrams, maps, and drawings, among others. A few sidebars of related information or facts about others who completed or attempted similar journeys are also related. This book is bound to send readers on a trip to the biography section looking for longer works on these intrepid travelers. It’s also a great introduction to nonfiction for children who like adventure stories.

McLellan, Todd. Things Come Apart (Thames & Hudson; Gr 9 Up).
Here’s a book for every teen (and adult) who can’t resist an opportunity to take things apart. While exposing the “teardown” of objects, the text, written by conservators, engineers, and tinkerers, will have readers thinking about design (past and present), and the people around the world who people who have created, assembled, and repaired these objects from an upright piano to an iPad 2, all photographed in glorious detail and full color.

Mulder, Michelle. Pedal It! How Bicycles Are Changing the World.
Tate, Nikki. Down to Earth: How Kids Help Feed the World. (Both Orca; Gr 3-7).
There are many revolutions occuring around the world, and these titles in the “Orca Footprint” series are covering those of the quiet sort. Each book provides a little history on its topic, then jumps into an engaging text filled with personal notes in fact boxes and sidebars (Mulder’s “On My Route” and Tate’s “On Dark Creek Farm”). The abundant color photos will have kids poring over scenes of  bicyclists pedaling their businesses about towns and villages and a Maasai child milking a goat. These informative books will encourage readers to think  about how people around the world live, feed themselves, and get around. Consider them for science and social studies classrooms. They’ll also be enjoyed by any child looking for a good book to read. Engaging and eye opening.

Stern, Rebecca and Brad Wolfe, eds. Breakfast on Mars (Roaring Brook, Gr 6-9).
Have you ever tried to find essays for middle school students to serve as mentor texts? Not so easy. The 37 selections here include the typically assigned essays from persuasive to the “how-to.” Featuring selections by Rita Williams-Garcia, Elizabeth Winthrop, Scott Westerfeld, and Kristen Miller, among others, they range from the poignant (Alane Ferguson on the death of a friend), to the informative (Michael Hearst on “The Incredibly Amazing Humpback Anglerfish”), to the humorous (Ned Vizzini on “Why We Need Tails”). Kids will find more than a few entries to suit their tastes, by authors that Margaret Cho comments, “believe that boundaries can be crossed and lines erased, and that sometimes the weirdest ideas are the best ones.”

Games Galore
It’s impossible for kids to get bored when J.J. Ferrer’s The Art of Stone Skipping and Other Fun Old-Time Games (Imagine/Charlesbridge, 2013; Gr 3-6) is on hand. This treasure trove of things to do is jam-packed with everything from Sock Ball to Simon Says, Jump Rope to Jacks, Giant Steps to Ghost in the Graveyard. Children will also find basic intros to card games, yo-yo tricks, string games, juggling, and more. Encompassing endeavors appropriate for partner pairs or large groups, solitary amusements and simple crafts, indoor and outdoor pastimes, brain challengers and road-trip while-awayers, the activities are presented with easy-to-follow instructions, helpful tips, and try-‘em-out variations. Lively sketches, fun facts, and historical tidbits are scattered throughout, and the inviting layout will keep kids turning pages to seek out more ideas.

Nature’s Wonderments
As Fiona Danks and Jo Schofield point out in The Stick Book (Frances Lincoln, 2012; Gr 2-6), these time-proven playthings can be almost anything—“…a sword with which to fight off fierce dragons in the forest, a tracking stick to help you creep after secretive creatures, a wand to cast magic spells or a broomstick to transport you to other worlds.” Simple descriptions introduce stick-based activities, games, and crafts, all enchantingly illustrated with vibrant full-color photos of kids outdoors and in action. Coded for level of difficulty, the projects range from the very simple (make stick characters out of clay and found objects) to the more challenging (build a mini raft), and several activities are tailor-made for tickling imaginations (make a story-telling stick, or assemble a storyboard collage to represent a favorite book). Used as a starting point, these creative ideas can be adapted to suit various environments, from classroom to schoolyard to park.

Puppet Palooza
Always enjoyable to make, puppets have the added benefit of encouraging imagination, creativity, and self-expression through performance and dramatic play. In 10-Minute Puppets (Workman, 2010; Gr 2-5), professional puppeteer Noel MacNeal combines crystal-clear directions with an anyone-can-do-it approach to introduce 30 projects. Featured here are simple finger puppets, critters concocted out of socks and gloves, cutouts manipulated by sticks, shadow puppets, quick paper puppets, and a variety of easy-to-make theaters.

Full-color photos of kids and their creations are sprinkled throughout, the instructions include helpful drawings, and the book ends with suggestions for putting together and performing shows. With projects appropriate for preschool through elementary-age students, as well as suggestions for more elaborate detailing, this book can be used to accommodate a broad range of ages and abilities.

More experienced crafters will be enchanted by Diana Schoenbrun’s Puppet Play (Andrews McMeel, 2011; Gr 3-7), which presents 20 adorable characters made with recycled and reused mittens, towels, socks, and other items. Spanning from a superhero monkey to a wacky wizard, each project includes a difficulty rating, crisp full-color photos, and thorough step-by-step directions.

Scintillating Science
Helaine Becker’s Magic Up Your Sleeve (Maple Tree, 2010; Gr 3-6) blends directions for audience-wowing magic tricks with brief explanations of the scientific facts behind each and every show-stopping ta-da. Utilizing common household items, the offerings include cognitive and optical illusions, examples of math “magic,” and wonders based on physics and chemistry concepts. Other spreads focus on the history of magic, famous practitioners, and tips for putting on the perfect performance.

The breezy narrative tone and colorful digital cartoons keep the content light and the science easy to swallow. Invite students to polish up their magic wands, boggle their friends’ minds with their presentations, and use online and print resources to further investigate what makes seemingly impossible feats possible.

Mark Latno’s The Paper Boomerang Book (Chicago Review, 2010; Gr 5 Up) highlights devices that are “…a cinch to make, graceful in flight, and fun to fly.” A brief history is followed by clear step-by-step directions for making a “trainer” boomerang, instructions for holding and throwing it correctly, and tips for fine-tuning and troubleshooting (one model can be used indoors). Once the nuts and bolts are mastered, kids can test the effectiveness of various design tweaks and materials to perfect their boomerang’s aeronautics, and hone their skills with tricks and fancy throws. The text includes helpful photos and diagrams.

Educators and their students can delve into the chapter on boomerang theory and the physics of flight, follow up the author’s suggestions for experimentation (“Throw, Observe, Modify”), or further explore the history of these ancient tools and/or their current-day use in sports competitions (start with the United States Boomerang Association).

Sewing, Sticking, and Scrapbooking
In Sewing School (Storey, 2010; Gr 2-8), Amie Petronis Plumley and Andria Lisle place the emphasis on establishing skills, building confidence, and inspiring creativity rather than on achieving perfection. After covering the basics (threading a needle, simple stitches, etc.), the authors present an array of sewing projects, including perfect-for-cuddling pillows and animal “Stuffies,” tote bags and wallets, and personality-expressing wearable items. Each step is accompanied by a clear photo. Snapshots of charmingly less-than-perfect child-created projects are sprinkled throughout along with tips to help youngsters make each item their own. An introduction written for adults offers up helpful ideas for sewing with a group, and the required pattern pieces can be stored in a sturdy envelope provided at book’s end.

Featuring a stylish hot-pink handbag, cute-as-can-be piggy bank, ready-to-personalize smart phone holder, and more, Jolie Dobson’s The Duct Tape Book (Firefly, 2012; Gr 5 Up) presents 25 projects made from this versatile adhesive, which is available in a rainbow of colors and attractive patterns. Throughout, detailed instructions are supported with diagrams that help clarify each procedure. Full-color photos of finished products make these cleverly envisioned items all the more appealing, and kids will be able to apply the duct-tape-manipulating basics they learn to their own designs. Have youngsters search the internet for duct tape art and fashion sites to further investigate this fresh and fun form of self-expression.

Candice F. Ransom’s Scrapbooking Just for You! (Sterling, 2010; Gr 4 Up) introduces the fundamentals of this popular pastime, highlighting various techniques, providing useful layout tips, and discussing important design elements. The author’s tone is cheerful, as she encourages kids to personalize and add meaning to their creations with journaling, play with colors and textures, and just enjoy being creative. Attractively illustrated with sample scrapbook pages, the book invites browsing and will get kids itching to make their own works of art, and a section of projects including picture frames, mini albums, and more, will get them started.

Paper Pursuits: Make It or Fold It
Perfect for teens, Arnold E. Grummer’s Trash-to-Treasure Papermaking (Storey, 2011; Gr 6 Up) opens with a section about papermaking history, processes, and tools and then launches into the step-by-step process for transforming newspaper, wrappers, sales circulars, magazines, envelopes and other scraps into beautiful and unique finished products. Once they understand the essentials, kids can experiment with other techniques including pulp layering and painting, texturing, paper casting into shapes, and much more. A section of gift- (or craft-fair) worthy projects includes cards, mobiles, spinwheels, notebooks, ornaments, and other handsome objects, all presented with easy-to-follow directions and photos. Suggestions for variations appear throughout, encouraging crafters to be creative and adventurous.

Beginning with clear explanations of common techniques, Paul Jackson and Miri Golan’s Origami Zoo (2011; Gr 1-6) presents 25 fun-to-fold creations. The projects are organized from the “very simple” (a beginner-appropriate mouse, penguin, and more) to an “advanced” 43-step dinosaur that will challenge even experienced origami aficionados. Full-color photos introduce each elegant critter, and the lucid directions and large-size diagrams are accessibly laid out on clean white backgrounds, making each fold easy to comprehend and replicate. A packet of 60 sheets of origami paper in deep jewel tones is included to help group leaders get started.

Taking a similar approach, Jackson’s Origami Toys: That Tumble, Fly, and Spin (2010, both Gibbs Smith) provides instructions for creating interactive toys including a barking dog, wing-flapping bird, catapult, and glider. Consider making a connection between art and literature by sharing Tom Angleberger’s entertaining The Strange Case of Origami Yoda (Amulet, 2010), Nathaniel Lachenmeyer’s thoughtful The Origami Master (Albert Whitman, 2008), Kristine O’Connell George’s charming Fold Me a Poem (Harcourt, 2005), or Molly Bang’s magical The Paper Crane (Greenwillow, 1985).

It’s no secret that kids often don’t keep up their reading skills over the summer. Can you comment on the extent of that loss and why it’s especially damaging for kids in low-income neighborhoods and schools?
What we know is that any child who fails to read during the summer break will lose some reading proficiency. We also know that children from low-income families routinely lose two to three months of reading proficiency every summer while middle-class children gain about a month. This creates a three to four month gap every summer. From grade one to nine children from low-income families lose two or more years of reading proficiency, during the summers when school is not in session. According to Alexander and Entwisle this means that more than 80 percent of the rich/poor reading gap accumulates during the summers. They also note that children from low-income families gain as much reading growth during the school year, when schools are open, as middle-class children.

What particular obstacles do low-income students encounter more often?
The basic problem seems to be…access to books. Children from low-income families own fewer books than middle-class children and, according to Neuman and Celano’s research, middle-class kids have 10 places to buy books in neighborhoods for every one place located in a low-income neighborhood. Our work has shown that school libraries differ, classroom libraries differ, and book-lending policies differ in schools attended by low- and middle-income children. In every case, it’s schools attended by low-income children that come up short in terms of creating easy access to books for children.

We completed a longitudinal study of the effects of providing children from low-income families with 12 to 15 self-selected books every summer. The children attended 17 different schools, all schools where at least 85 percent of the students were eligible for free lunches. The children were in grades one and two when we began the study and three years later we compared the reading achievement of children who were randomly selected to receive summer books with those children randomly selected to serve as the control group, and received no books for summer reading.

What we found was that providing self-selected books for summer reading produced as much or more reading growth as attending summer school! For the poorest children the effect of our summer book distribution was twice as large as attending summer school. The Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy has rated our study as reliable and powerful.

We now have the evidence that improving access to books for children from low-income families can have a positive and powerful impact on their reading development. Our evidence suggests that policy makers might reconsider summer school policies, especially for low-income children. Instead of spending a thousand dollars per student to support a summer school program, perhaps support the expenditure of $100 per student to provide kids with books they can and want to read.

Why aren’t current efforts to close the reading achievement gap working?
Current efforts to close the rich/poor reading achievement gap are not working because in most schools that focus is on the wrong target. It now seems true that how much students learn during the school year is not related to which schools they attend. However, schools that enroll many children from low-income families report lower achievement every year when compared to schools enrolling few poor children. But as Alexander and Entwisle pointed out, that lower achievement was already present when the children began school. Children from low-income families start kindergarten about six months behind middle-class students.

Then every year the poor children lose three months reading proficiency during the summer vacation period, basically because they don’t read during the summer. Middle-class children gain a month every summer because they do read during that time. Thus, by third grade, children from low-income families are a full year behind middle-class children; by sixth grade they are two years behind, by ninth grade they are three years behind, and by twelfth grade, children from low-income families are four years behind their middle-class classmates (see NAEP data). All this happens even though poor children gain as much during the school year as middle-class children!

Until schools (and state and federal policy makers) understand that the problem is not located with the school, or the teachers, or the lessons that poor children receive, I doubt we will make much progress in closing the rich/poor reading achievement gap. It seems clear that we could narrow this gap but there appears that little attention ts being paid to the only effective strategy currently available—improving the access children from low-income families have to books they can and want to read.

Can you talk about the importance of text complexity in building reading skills?
As far as “text complexity” is concerned, be cautious. We have a century’s worth of research indicating that if you want to lower reading achievement and reading motivation then you should give students books that are difficult for them to read. I am unsure why text complexity was seen as a solution to the problem of too few students developing reading proficiencies necessary for college success. I am even less sure why most of the improvement called for in the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) asks K-4 teachers, as Hiebert has noted, to produce 80 percent of the improvement. Our fourth graders have improved their reading proficiency over the past two decades while our twelfth graders’ scores have declined. If the CCSS aimed primarily at secondary teachers and targeted the quality of their lessons and the complexity of the texts they use, then I could better understand what the CCSS is supposed to do.

Nothing good will come from making third grade texts even harder than they currently are. Nothing good will come from evaluating text complexity using Lexiles. Nothing good will come from the new computerized testing schemes, except that some vendors will be making a lot more money from their educational products.

Given the importance of making sure that kids continue to read over the summer months, how can schools with restricted budgets implement summer reading programs? Can you describe a program that’s both effective and affordable?
My first question when I am asked about addressing the summer reading problem is this: Does your school ensure that every child has taken at least 10 books out from the school library on the final day of school? There is nothing more problematic, for me, than kids with no books to read and schools with libraries filled with books that no one will read over the summer. So my advice always begins with “Empty out your school library before the final day of school.”

Folks often object, especially school librarians. “We will lose too many books if we allow them to take our books home for the summer.” My response, generally, is “Balderdash!” Schools must stop worrying more about protecting their books from children than worrying about children having such limited access to books. Yes, cleaning out the library will result in some books not being returned. But our experience suggests this is typically less than 10 percent of the books loaned. In my mind that is a small price to pay for the improved reading achievement that is observed when poor kids have books to read over the summer.

School and public librarians are in the business of connecting kids with books. In fact, we tend to be pretty passionate about it. What role do you see us playing in eliminating reading achievement disparity?
My first piece of advice would be to get over the issues of checking books in and out of the library. Get over past due fines for books not returned on your schedule. Get over serving as the protector of the books. Get involved in putting as many of your books in kids hands as possible.

I meet librarians who I love because they feel it is their calling to put books in kids’ hands. To provide books for children’s bedroom libraries. Librarians who rarely check out books but, instead, distribute the books they have to anyone willing to take one. These librarians are my favorite folks.

You’re absolutely right–too many books sit unused over the summer months for all the wrong reasons. But lots of librarians don’t give a hoot about the occasional lost book and jump for joy when a child reads for pleasure. Beyond putting books into kids’ hands, how do we become true collaborators in this important work?
I’m not sure there is any single way to become “true collaborators” in the mission to put books into the hands of children from low-income families. I’ve observed public libraries where there are all kinds of outreach and support for low-income families occurring. But I’ve also observed public libraries where nothing of the sort was happening or even on the agenda. The same is true with school libraries and school librarians.

What I think might be helpful is for every library to identify how books are being loaned to children from low-income families….Not always, not every library but, in general, [I observe that] poor folks don’t use libraries as much as middle-class folks. I’m not sure why.

Maybe ALA needs a special interest group for librarians “who don’t give a hoot about lost books.” Maybe creating such a group could transform libraries into settings where more poor folks would feel comfortable and welcome.

If you could improve how schools and libraries approach summer reading, what would you consider the most important steps to take?
I would say that we must help librarians understand that kids are more important than books. I am sorry if that offends some readers. Sorry, but not asking for forgiveness, because I see tons of books in school and public libraries at the same time that I see hundreds of thousands of children from low-income families with nothing to read.

We can complain that parents of low-income children do not bring their children to the library. Complain that these parents do not take advantage of the many programs the library provides. And so on. Or we can admit that most of our libraries are designed to serve middle-class parents and that is a primary reason that middle-class communities are far more likely to have public libraries than low-income communities, have more children’s books than libraries in low-income neighborhoods, and more likely to be open later and more hours every day.

We can complain, or we can change our approach and work to ensure that we spend most of our time, energy, and money on placing books in the hands of children [that need them]. We know from the work of Melosh that locating and stocking a bookmobile and then visiting low-income communities (in this case trailer parks in rural areas) is a way to distribute books to kids who would likely never get one and at the same time improves their reading achievement.

Librarians should box up many of the books stored in their libraries and take those boxes of books out into the community. Take the books out to give them away and tell folks who take them that you hope they will return them after they have read them. Make it easy for children from low-income communities to put their hands on books they want to read, make it easy to take such a book home.

References:

Alexander, K. L., Entwisle, D. R., & Olson, L. S. (2007). Lasting consequences of the summer learning gap. American Sociological Review, 72(2), 167-180.

Allington, R. L., & McGill-Franzen, A. (2013). Summer reading: Closing the rich/poor reading achievement gap. New York: Teachers College Press.

Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy (2011). Evidence summary for annual book fairs in high-poverty elementary schools. . Washington, DC: Author.

Hiebert, E. H., & Mesmer, H. A. E. (2013). Upping the ante of text complexity in the Common Core State Standards: Examining its potential impact on young readers. Educational Researcher, 42(1), 44-51.

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