DINOSAURS- Lila Prap

Dinosaurs have been done, and done, and done, but here's a new book you have to check out. DINOSAURS is narrated by a family of chickens. At the beginning of the book, Mama Hen finds a book behind the barn. The book claims that chickens, are descendants of dinosaurs. The chicken family sets out to find out whether or not this is actually true.

The format of this book is really clever. Each page, beginning with the title page, has a chick just coming out of the egg. The chick is asking a question, e.g. "What does the word DINOSAUR mean?" The next two-page spread answers that question. The answer is contained in the heading. Around the left hand side and bottom, the family of chickens continues to question and converse about the topic Mama her baby chicks ask lots of questions. Papa Rooster is blustery and unbelieving. The right hand border of each page gives more detailed information. There is a large dinosaur, done mostly in shades of brown, green, gold, and blue (with a little of what appears to be almost like splatter painting- really interesting art) in the middle of each spread. A paragraph on the bottom of the right hand page gives information about that dinosaur. And then there's that little chick coming out of the egg, asking the question that leads the reader onto the next page…The back endpages give an actual timeline of how chickens might have evolved from dinosaurs.

A really clever treatment of dinosaurs. Great for teaching kids about the question/answer process of research. Kids are going to love this one!

GOOD NIGHT LITTLE SEA OTTER- Janet Halfmann

OK, I am going to subject myself to humiliation one more time. I am the book auntie. You know, the person who always makes sure that every child (and usually every adult too) has a new book in their pile of Christmas gifts. Here is one that will be in my pile for the youngest members of our family this year.

GOOD NIGHT, LITTLE SEA OTTER is a sweet, sweet, sweet going to bed story. Listen to the first page:

"As the setting sun kissed the kelp forest, Little Sea Otter snuggled on Mama's chest. Mama fluffed his fur until he looked like a brown powder puff. Then it was bedtime, but Little Sea Otter wasn't ready to sleep. "I forgot to say good night to the harbor seals," he said.

After Little Sea Otter says good night to the harbor seals, he must say good night to the sea lions. Then a seagull. Then all of the orange and yellow and purple and striped and spotted fish. And all of the creatures living in the ocean below. And finally to the most important one of all- Mama Sea Otter.

The ocean content of this book will promote some really interesting discussions with your youngest reading friends. The illustrations, with Mama and Little Sea Otter floating in a wavy ocean that start out light blue and gets a little darker with every page, are detailed and interesting. And the mood of the book has that "GOOD NIGHT MOON, the whole world is going to sleep and I am going to sleep too" kind of enchantment that little guys always love.

A perfect Christmas present for your youngest friends. This book would also make a great baby gift!

REVIEW COPY PROVIDED BY PUBLISHER

TWO STORIES OF PERSEVERANCE

I've been struck, as I've read the CYBILS nonfiction nominees, by stories of perseverance. People's lives, for whatever reason, just aren't easy. It takes hard work. Not giving up. Trying again and again. Here are a couple of biographies that really illustrate that point.

ALL ABOARD: ELIJAH McCOY'S STEAM ENGINE
By Monica Kulling
Illustrated by Bill Slavin
REVIEW COPY PROVIDED BY PUBLISHER

Chances are, you've heard the expression "the real McCoy." But did you know that that expression came from a real person, an African American engineer that lived in the 1800's? Elijah McCoy was supposed to be a mechanical engineer. His parents, former slaves who had arrived in Canada, via the Underground Railroad, had saved every penny they could to send him to Scotland to complete his studies. But when he arrived back in Michigan, there was only one job available for a black man at the Michigan Central Railroad. Shoveling coal. McCoy needed work, so he took the job. But McCoy didn't let his circumstances define him.

Instead, McCoy invented. McCoy's job was to shovel coal as fast as he could. Another boy, called a grease monkey, crawled under the train and oiled the moving parts. The steam locomotive would work for about half an hour, then it would stop cold, until the grease monkey oiled the parts again. McCoy believed there had to be an easier and safer way to oil the engine, so over the course of several years, he invented a drip cup that oiled the engine while the train was running. And then went on to develop 57 more patents- more than any other black inventor. Put this book in a study of perseverance, or in your biography section, or in a study of inventors, or in an African American history unit.


DINOSAUR MOUNTAIN: DIGGING INTO THE JURASSIC AGE by Deborah Kogan Ray

REVIEW COPY FROM MY LOCAL LIBRARY

Earl Douglas was a geologist, botanist, and paleontologist working at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Philadelphia. Andrew Carnegie, caught up in the "Bone Wars" of that era, wanted "something big" for his museum. Several previous discoveries had been made in Colorado and Wyoming, but Douglas believed that areas in northeastern Utah held possibly the greatest potential.

Douglas' tale, however, is again not one of immediate success. In that first year, 1908, he found only a small collection of mammal and reptile bones, nothing big. Just before Douglas was set to break camp for the winter, his boss, William Holland, came for a visit. On a final fossil hunting expedition, they found a large diplodocus bone, in a gully with rock walls they identified as "Jurassic strata." The next spring, Douglas returned, but it took him until August to find his first large discovery- the tail bones of a seventy-foot Apatosaurus.

Douglas spent much of the rest of his life digging dinosaur skeletons in this area on the Colorado/Utah border, now known as Dinosaur National Monument, but the work was slow and hard. It took four years to dig out the apatosaurus. That first winter, he and his wife and one-year-old son lived in a canvas lean-to in temperatures as low as -40 degrees. Poachers tried to take some of the bones. Andrew Carnegie died in 1915 and there were no more funds for the excavation.

I loved this book. A perfect biography for a unit on perserverance, or dinosaur lovers, or Colorado kids who often visit Dinosaur National Monument. I also loved the book design. Deborah Kogan's large, water color illustrations are beautiful, but they are accompanied by diagrams and pencil sketches of other useful information, e.g. Jurassic Strata. Many pages also include a sidebar from Douglas' journal. Appendices include drawings and information about ten dinosaurs from the Jurassic Age, a map of the area, an author's note, information about Dinosaur National Monument, brief biographies of Earl Douglas and Andrew Carnegie, and a glossary.

For a really interesting interview with Deborah Kogan Ray, including preliminary sketches from this book, check out SEVEN IMPOSSIBLE THINGS.

A COUPLE OF DOGGY CYBILS NOMINEES

SERVICE DOG HEROES- Linda Bozzos
Enslow Publishers, 2010
Review copy provided by publisher

SERVICE DOG HEROES is one of six books in the AMAZING WORKING DOGS series by Enslow. The book begins by introducing us to Kazi, a service dog for Jacqueline, a woman whose "disabilities involve the muscles in her body and make it painful for her to move." The reader follows Kazi as she helps Jacqueline throughout her day- bringing her clothes, turning on lights, getting pans, opening cupboards, going to work, and playing at a dog park. Other chapters describe the history of service dogs, talk about different breeds' suitability for this work, explain how the dogs are trained (my favorite photo is a golden retriever puppy learning to open a cupboard!), and tell what they do when they are retired. End tools include a glossary, books and websites for learning more, and an index. This is a really utilitarian little book, but I think it's one kids are going to love. I suspect the series, which also includes FIRE DOG HEROES, POLICE DOG HEROES, SEARCH AND RESCUE DOG HEROES, GUIDE DOG HEROES AND THERAPY DOG HEROES, is one that you couldn't keep on the shelves in an elementary library.

NUBS: THE TRUE STORY OF A MUTT, A MARINE, AND A MIRACLE by Major Brian Dennis, Kirby Larson, and Mary Nethery, falls into the category of books that have been around for a little while (this one was published in November, 2009) that everyone else has read and reviewed, but I hadn't and I loved it, so I'm going to review it anyway. Nubs is a German Shepherd-ish looking mutt, the leader of a wild dog pack struggling to survive in the Iraqi desert. In October, 2007, Nubs runs into Major Brian Dennis, a member of the Border Transition Team. Dennis shares his dinner (spaghetti, red beans and rice, and strawberry pop tarts) and the two become friends. Each time Dennis' Humvee returns to the area, Nubs is there waiting for him.

When Dennis' troop is transferred, Nubs "treks mile after treacherous mile across the desert, shivering through frozen days and nights, with little to eat and even less to drink" to be with his special friend (ok, I gotta admit, this part made me tear up a little). "Two snowy days and seventy miles later," Nubs find his friend again. Unfortunately, soldiers in Iraq are not allowed to have pets, so Major Dennis and his company raise $2000 to send Nubs stateside. A great story, told in photos, text, and email remarks from Major Dennis!

BEN AND THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION

Benjamin C. Holmes is a slave, apprenticed to a tailor in Charleston, South Carolina, just before the Civil War. Ben, unlike most slaves, knows how to read. His father has taught him a few letters, and now he uses every chance he can to practice- he reads the street signs, he sounds out the words on wagons and stores, and he finds a newspaper in the street and folds it to make a hat, then takes it home to practice his reading. His mother, who he is allowed to see once a year, tells him she will give him a dollar if he can learn to write.

When the Civil War breaks out, Ben is sent to a slave prison. The prisoners pool their tobacco to bribe a guard and get a copy of the newspaper and young Ben reads the Emancipation Proclamation aloud to his fellow prisoners. Illustrations are by Floyd Cooper, another one of my favorites (he has over sixty books- two I love are BROWN HONEY AND BROOMWHEAT TEA and MIZ BERLIN WALKS). Pair this book with MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE or put it in your "Power of Literacy" or "Learning to Read" collection.

THE BEATITUDES: FROM SLAVERY TO CIVIL RIGHTS by Carole Boston Weatherford

I am a Christian. A Jesus-loving, Bible reading, hard-praying Christian. I don't talk about it a lot on my blog, well, because this blog is not about my Christianity, it's about books, mostly children's books. And I don't like children's books, in fact I intensely dislike children's books, that are preachy or sappy or moralistic or cutesy, which is how I would describe many Christian children's books. This morning, though, I read a book that I have to review, and that I want to give to all of my Christian friends, and my pastor. Because it's one that every Christian should read. But it's also a book I'd love to give to the fifth grade and sixth grade social studies teachers at my school. Or my high school son's African American literature or history teachers. Or actually just about anyone who loves books or American history or children or Jesus.

THE BEATITUDES: FROM SLAVERY TO CIVIL RIGHTS by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Tim Ladwig, follows the history of Blacks in America through some key events in American history: the Middle Passage of slaves from Africa, the founding of the Black A.M.E. churches, the US Colored Troops who fought to end slavery during the Civil War, the building of Negro Colleges, Marian Anderson on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial , Rosa Parks, Emmett Till, the Freedom Riders, Martin Luther King, Jr. Ruby Bridges, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Barack Obama. The story is narrated, however, by God. Listen to the first page:

"I am the Lord your God.
I was with the Africans who were torn
from the Motherland and cramped in holds of ships
on the Middle Passage from Africa to the Americas.
I heard them chant: Kum ba ya, kum ba ya."

Or the last page:

"I was with your ancestors and I will be with your offspring,
standing on the side of justice.
Even now, I am with the downtrodden
and with those who seek uplift.
I am holy water in the stream of humanity.
Drink, bathe, and be free."

The book begins with the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12), and then a one page explanation of the role of black religious organizations in the Civil Rights movement. Each two-page spread features a single person or event from the time line in glorious, glorious detailed water color illustrations (I can't even explain how illustrator Tim Ladwig uses light/dark and shadow but it's extraordinary-- he has jumped into my top five favorite illustrators with this book!). Marching across the bottom of each page, incorporated into the illustration, is a beatitude. End notes give a one paragraph biography of each person included in the book.

This is an EXTRAORDINARY book, definitely one that anyone who loves books or American history or children or Jesus will want to own.

KINGDOM: MICROMONSTERS- EXTREME ENCOUNTERS WITH INVISIBLE ARMIES

I teach in an urban setting. With kids who don't have a lot of access to books. And kids who don't see the adults around them reading. Kids who don't see much use for reading in their lives. I'm always on the lookout, then, for books that will grab kids' attention. Stop them in their tracks. Have them stopping by my office to ask if they can borrow "that book I showed them this morning."

This morning, I found a sure winner. If I could describe it in just a few words, they would be:

EEW! GROSS! DISGUSTING! NASTY!

YES!

KINGDOM: MICROMONSTERS is a book I know that even my most reluctant readers are absolutely, positively going to love. The book is divided into two sections: "Meet the Beasts" features some of the world's nastiest insects. Still grosser is "Life On You, " which highlights creatures like the human head louse, or tapeworm. Eew, eew, and eew!!!!!

Each two-page spread features a different adventure into grossness. There is a gigantic photo diagram of the creature, with special features highlighted. There is a simple line drawing, done on graph paper, with the creature's height and size. There's also a scale that rates the animal on intelligence, strength,speed, agility, endurance, and evasion. Tabs that seem almost like page on an internet site feature things like habitats, predators, prey, and up close photographs. Each spread includes a small text box that identifies superpowers, (e.g a giraffe necked weevil has a long neck and power crane), equipment (the human head louse has hooked feet, a blunt head, and grinding mouth parts), weaknesses (the dustmite requires at least 65% humidity), and a fact (the tapeworm can have up to 4,000 segments and each segment contains thousands of eggs!)

Watch out Elijah, Chris, Manny, Alberto, Manuel-- this one is going in my bag to take to school on Monday morning!

For a review of another book in this series: KINGDOM: SAVAGE SAFARI.

REVIEW COPY PROVIDED BY PUBLISHER