Do your students hunger to learn more about famous treasure hunters or can they not get enough books about high-tech gadgets or prehistoric life? Our reviewers have learned through requests in their libraries and classrooms just what kind of nonfiction patrons want-and they have a few suggestions for some series. Librarian Jennifer Prince would love to see a set all about fashion-covering history, famous designers, do-it-yourself projects, and accessories. At her library in North Carolina, books on making jewelry, reworking T-shirts, and knitting handbags and hats are popular checkouts. Our arts and crafts reviewer Paula Willey wants a cookbook set that highlights special diets. Her proposed series, "Everybody Eats!," would cover vegan, macrobiotic, and raw-food diets as well as cooking kosher and halal meals. Apparently, we just can't get enough biographies. Minnesota librarian Heather Acerro thinks there's a demand for even more extreme sports biographies, as "Some are out there, but there could never,
ever, be enough for young readers (especially about wrestlers)." Science and astronomy reviewer John Peters believes a series about MacArthur Fellowship, aka "Genius Award," winners could be inspirational. "It would be interesting to introduce young readers to a bunch of cutting-edge creative wizards who, in many cases, aren't all that much older and have exhibited brilliance in a wide variety of fields." Kari Allen, our language-arts reviewer, dreams of a biography series for younger elementary grades "on famous mathematicians, something that brought to life the people who created, discovered, and thought about the theories and equations we use everyday." Her suggested series title: "1 + 1 = Who?" Brooklyn, NY, librarian Ragan O'Malley would appreciate a set on the women of the Civil Rights Movement, while Henrietta Thornton-Verma, former editor of
Series Made Simple, remembers wishing when she worked in a library that there were more biographies covering lesser-known African Americans, especially during Black History Month when shelves were empty. Acerro thinks there's a need for more books about art, including a series of biographies about culturally diverse historical and contemporary artists and a set covering fine-art techniques. She also wants more art-appreciation titles out there. Our environment book reviewer June Shimonishi
writes, "My list is based on resources I wish I could find readily for those student reports." Experience has taught her that a world-history series covering the different aspects of war or the military-such as medicine, technology, and home-front activities-would come in handy. Shimonishi also craves a "Lifestyles Around the World" series that compares cultural practices in different countries. "Each book would focus on a country and address questions like what's school like? Do [students] work part-time jobs and go to school? Do they have after school activities? What kind of houses do they live in? Do they drive to school/stores?" And don't forget about the ever popular report topics: plants and animals. Portland, OR, librarian Jackie Partch wishes for a series covering plants and animals of specific regions of the U.S., adding that her library gets many requests for books about the flora and fauna of the Pacific Northwest and "I bet other parts of the country would like something similar, too." Who would guess there's a demand for cartography titles? Thornton-Verma learned from her daughter's kindergarten teacher that he had been trying without success to find books on maps and mapmaking for that age group. She'd love to be able to point him toward a set. As for the sciences, Mary Mueller, who writes about American history titles in this issue, would like to see some highly informative "well-written and interesting" titles about physics, chemistry, and engineering for middle-grade readers. Referring to STEM careers, she said, "As a society, we say we want to encourage kids to enter these fields, but we don't have a lot of books that help them understand the fields or even explain their importance." Meanwhile, would like to see series covering the "unanswered questions of science" (e.g., what is the nature of dark matter and why do humans like to kiss?), "scientific hoaxes and pseudoscience," and "the lighter side of science" (e.g., the winners of the annual Ig Nobel Prize).
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