Tag: NatGeo Kids

Posted in Middle Grade, Non-Fiction, Non-fiction, Tween Reads

Holiday Goodies: Gift book shopping guide!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday break! If you celebrate Thanksgiving, I hope you had a wonderful and safe holiday. And now, the shopping season heats up, so let’s get another gift guide together. This one is all about the gift books, and remember: today is Small Business Saturday, so if you’re able to, please support a local business!

 

Anatomicum (Welcome to the Museum), by Jennifer Z. Paxton/Illustrated by Katy Wiedemann, (Sept. 2020, Big Picture Press), $35, ISBN: 9781536215069

Ages 8-13

The Welcome to the Museum series is a great nonfiction series that lets readers recreate a museum in their own homes. Every museum wing you can imagine has a book: Dinosaurs, Animals, History, and so many more; many of the books have companion workbooks. The latest book, Anatomicum, dives  into the inner workings of the human body: how our cardiovascular systems and respiratory systems work, how facial muscles contribute to facial expressions, the development of a baby in the reproductive system, and how our immune and lymphatic systems help fight disease are just a few areas readers will explore. Katy Wiedemann’s scientific drawings in 2-color sepia-tones are detailed and Jennifer Z. Paxton’s accompanying text provides factual explanations and overviews on each area. Think of this as a Grey’s Anatomy for younger readers; artists and budding biologists and medical professionals alike will love this.

 

One of a Kind: A Story About Sorting and Counting, by Neil Packer, (Oct. 2020, Candlewick Studio), $22.99, ISBN: 9781536211214

Ages 7-10

A story wrapped within a book on classification, this is an excellent introduction to scientific classification and organization for kids. Readers meet a boy named Arvo, and get a look at his family tree. They meet his cat, Malcolm, and see his family tree, too. As Arvo moves through his day, readers discover how many ways there are to classify and organize information: as he learns to play the violin, we see where it fits into a grouping of musical instruments; when he needs to fix his bicycle’s tire, we get a look at different types of tools. Arvo visits the library, where the books are laid out by subject: can I get a print of this for my library? Back matter describes the classifications discussed throughout the story, and the mixed media art is interesting; each piece looks like a museum piece. What a great next step for sorting and classifying for kids!

The Language of the Universe, by Colin Stuart/Illustrated by Ximo Abadía, (Oct. 2020, Big Picture Press), $24.99, ISBN: 9781536215052

Ages 8-12

A visually stunning of the intersection of math and science, The Language of the Universe examines the history and application of math in the natural world. Discover the Fibonacci sequence in a sunflower and investigate the atom patterns in the periodic table; lift with levers and use math to encrypt messages. The text is easy to understand and lends itself to fun new projects for readers to think up. The art is colorful and there’s always something exciting to look at. Another great addition to shelves for young scientists and artists everywhere.

 

 

Space Encyclopedia: A Tour of Our Solar System and Beyond, by David A. Aguilar, (Nov. 2020, National Geographic), $24.99, ISBN: 978-1426338564

Ages 8-12

The latest update of NatGeo Kid’s Space Encyclopedia is out just in time for the holidays! The latest updates on our universe, all accompanied by breathtaking, full-color photographs, wait for readers in these pages. Sections on the stars, a tour of the solar system, life on other planets, and our future inclue Amazing Space! Milestone timelines, fun facts, and easy-to-read quick data bursts throughout. Spotlights on key figures in space exploration include Galileo Galilei, Albert Einstein, and Copernicus. The book is indexed and includes resources for additional reading and websites. A great gift idea for your budding astronomers and astrophycisists.

Posted in Intermediate, Middle Grade, Non-fiction, Non-Fiction

Creepy, Kooky, Oogie: Weird But True Halloween!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Weird But True! Halloween: 300 Facts to Scare You Silly, by Julie Beer & Michelle Harris, (Sept. 2020, NatGeo Kids), $8.99, ISBN: 978-1426338281

Ages 7-12

These books are the backbone of my nonfiction section. These little Weird But True! books MOVE; kids love the wild facts that NatGeo writers keep unearthing, and the incredible photos throughout are creepy, freaky, and downright cute. What facts await us in this volume? There are some good ones: a theme park in St. Louis, Missouri, held a “Coffin Challenge” where contestants lay in a coffin for 30 hours to win a prize; there are gummy tarantulas the size of a kid’s hand; there are more Halloween emojis than there are U.S. states. There’s a Halloween theme running through, with Halloween-themed facts, eerie facts, and overall Fall facts. These don’t even require a handselling in my library – I just put it on the shelf and watch the kids surge. The NatGeo Kids digests are essential for pleasurable, nonfiction, reading.

 

Posted in Middle Grade, Non-Fiction, Non-fiction, Teen, Tween Reads

#HomesCool: Career Day, Playing with Words, Women’s History, and ICK!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

More #HomesCool fun as I catch up on my Summer Reading TBR! Here’s what’s good this week:

Incredible Jobs You’ve (Probably) Never Heard Of, by Natalie Labarre, (Apr. 2020, Nosy Crow), $19.99, ISBN: 9781536212198

Ages 9-12

Welcome to Career Day! What do you want to be when you grow up: a librarian? Teacher or doctor? How about… a Train Pusher, or a Pet Preservationist? If the usual Career Day job list is leaving you with a case of the blahs, Incredible Jobs You’ve (Probably) Never Heard Of is the book for you and your kiddos. Oversized and illustrated in full color, this book spotlights jobs that are off the beaten path: sure, kids may have heard of an Egyptologist, but do they know that a Body Farmer uses the bodies of folks who’ve donated their bodies to science to recreate crime scenes or do scientific research? Or that a Chief Sniffer smell-checks anything going on a spacecraft launch? How about creating works of art from cheese, like a Cheese Sculptor? There are so many great jobs in here, kids will never look at Career Day the same way again. Illustrated with upbeat, fun artwork, and bright blue endpapers that give nods to all sorts of careers waiting inside, this is way too much fun, and a brand new take on the question, “So… what do you want to be when you grow up?”.

 

Alphamaniacs: Builders of the 26 Wonders of the Word, by Paul Fleischman/Illustrated by Melissa Sweet, (Apr. 2020, Candlewick Studio), $19.99, ISBN: 9780763690663

Ages 12+

Looking like an artist’s journal, filled with colorful, mixed media illustrations in bold, wild colors, Alphamaniacs is a book for those of us who love words and language. Twenty-six profiles fill this book, but they’re not the kind of wordsmiths you may think of: Simon Vostre, the 15-century publisher of religious books who wrote book curses to protect his works from careless readers and handlers: “Whoever steals this Book of Prayer / May he be ripped apart by swine, / His heart be splintered, this I swear, / And his body dragged along the Rhine”; Corín Tellado, the prolific author whose writing career left us with over 4,000 novels; and Daniel Nussbaum, the creator of “PL8SPK” – vanity license plates that retell the classics – are all here, as are other word artists and lovers. The book is perfect for tweens and teens who love a good word-related joke, and can be used in ELA classes to show how much fun it is to play with language. Any language!

Alphamaniacs has starred reviews from Kirkus and the Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books.

 

Noise Makers: 25 Women Who Raised Their Voices & Changed the World, by Kazoo Magazine, Edited by Erin Bried, (Jan. 2020, Alfred A. Knopf), $25.99, ISBN: 9780525580171

Ages 9-14

This book is AMAZING. It’s a graphic novel look at 25 women who made history, written and drawn by some of the most outstanding names in comics and graphic novels today, including Lucy Knisley, Maris Wicks, and Kat Leyh. Collected by the editors at Kazoo Magazine, every woman profiled here gets star treatment: a biographical spread with a picture, summary paragraph, and bullets points, inviting readers to see what they have in common with these women (talk about inspiring!), and a short graphic novel story from the woman’s life. Eugenie Clark, the “Shark Whisperer” (and Shark Lady, according to Jess Keating), is here; Wangari Maathai, who planted trees in Kenya, is here, too. Junko Tabei, the first woman to reach the peak of Mount Everest; artist Frida Kahlo, and musician and spy Josephine Baker are all here, too. Their stories are beautifully told and in a way that links reader, writer, and subject. Noise Makers organizes profiles under six areas: Grow (women who worked with nature); Tinker (entrepreneurs and inventors); Play (those with more physical accomplishments); Create (artists and creators); Rally (advocates and activists); and Explore (pioneers and explorers). This is essential, joyful, reading. Each contributing artist has a profile in the back matter. Put a copy on your Biography shelves and a copy on your Graphic Novels shelves.

 

 

Ick! Delightfully Disgusting Animal Dinners, Dwellings, and Defenses, by Melissa Stewart, (June 2020, National Geographic Kids), $14.99, ISBN: 9781426337468

Ages 7-13

You have got to love NatGeo Kids for having their finger on the pulse of what kids like. Ick! celebrates the grossest stuff in the animal world: caterpillars that camouflage themselves to look like dung, birds who build their nests with spit, a wasp who builds her nest inside her prey; it’s all here, with full-color photos that will make readers squeal with macabre delight. Organized into sections on Disgusting Dinners, Disgusting Dwellings, and Disgusting Defenses, readers learn all about the ways animals live, eat, and protect themselves. Callout facts and stats feature throughout the book, as do “Extra Ick!” sections with even grosser facts! Birds, bugs, mammals, fish, lizards, every type of animal can be found here: 45 of them, to be precise. A glossary, selected sources, and index round out the back matter.

Pair this with NatGeo Kids’ and Anna Claybourne’s Don’t Read This Book Before Dinner for an all-out squeal fest. And check out the Ick! section of author Melissa Stewart’s webpage, which includes a great interactive teaching presentation!

 

Posted in Uncategorized

Books for Babies!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

How’s everyone doing? We all good? Healthy? Safe? I hope so. I’m back with another roundup of books you can read to your babies! Keep them entertained with board books and picture books like these adorable stories. Just ORDER them, or see if your local library has the ebook version. PLEASE. And support indie bookstores that are working hard to keep their employees paid and with benefits!

Alphaprints: Puppy Love, by Priddy Books, (Dec. 2019, Priddy Books), $7.99, ISBN: 9780312529383

Ages 0-3

How cute is this book? Embossed fingerprint animal faces with photo-textured bodies, tabbed pages that stand up to tiny, exploring hands, and five huggable rhymes about being snuggly and huggly! Adorable animal characters are bright, and rhymes teach littlest readers about bear hugs, love birds, purrfect pals, puppy love and bouncing bunnies. Kids will love the embossed fingerprint faces that provide interesting new texture. Use the photos that create each character’s body to talk about other textures: have fruit around the house? Let the little ones rub the apple, or banana, and tell them about “smooth” textures. Show them a pom pom, and tell them that is “fuzzy”. Point out colors, shapes, and animal sounds. There’s so much to be done using this little book!

 

 

Baby Shark (Based on the World’s Catchiest Song), Illustrated by Stevie Lewis, (Jan. 2020, Henry Holt), $8.99, ISBN: 9781250263186

Ages 0-3

You know the song. It’s burned into your memory banks like Gangnam Style, don’t fib. This adorable board book will be a beloved companion to the  music video you have eternally queued up on YouTube. A little girl and her mom walk into an aquarium, where the girl is excited to see a shark: a baby shark, really. (Cue beginning music) Sure enough, a baby shark swims by, and the words to the song run through the book for a fun version of the sing-a-long, with a twist! Kids visiting the aquarium all join the little girl, each joining in on a new phrase (“Mama Shark, Daddy Shark, the whole family is here”), and the sharks gather to greet the kids. The digital artwork gives us an adorable group of sharks and multicultural families having a fun day at the aquarium together, and you’ll be singing this song for a looooong time to come.

Need Baby Shark coloring sheets? Of course you do. SuperSimple, the home of Baby Shark and countless other music videos that make my storytimes so much fun, have your back with a six-page set. They also offer a Baby Shark printable play set – get those craft sticks out!

 

We Love Babies!, by Jill Esbaum, (Dec. 2019, National Geographic Kids), $17.99, ISBN: 9781426337482

Ages 0-5

Who does animal babies better than NatGeo Kids? This rhyming ode to babies of all shapes and sizes in the animal world is just too cute. Snouts, and bills, beaks and cheeks, the cutest baby animals get their moment to shine against brightly colored and patterned backgrounds. The photos are breathtaking, and the digital artwork of fluttering butterflies and baby animal cheerleaders ups the cute ante. Read this and talk up how adorable our own kiddos’ ears, noses, toeses, and belly buttons are. Give all the snuggles and kisses, because we all need more of that now. I’ll be reading this at an upcoming virtual storytime, because it just makes me happy.

Posted in Early Reader, Intermediate, Non-Fiction, Non-Fiction

NatGeo Readers shine a spotlight on Women’s History

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

March is Women’s History Month – do you have your displays up? I feel like I’m a hundred years behind, but thankfully, my saving grace is that I merchandise as I go, so I’ll pull a few books out as I wander my room, make sure they’re face-out, and pique the kids’ interest as they wander the stacks. Teachers Pay Teachers has me covered again, thank goodness, as does Education.com. I’ve got printables galore thanks to these two sites; everything from trading cards to coloring sheets, for which I’m hugely grateful.

Biographies are always good to have on hand, especially when those research projects come up. NatGeo Kids’s leveled Easy Reader series is a big help for collections geared toward younger readers.

Susan B. Anthony, by Kitson Jazynka, (Dec. 2019, National Geographic Kids), $4.99, ISBN: 9781426335082

Ages 5-7

The Level 1 Co-Readers also provide a nice bonding opportunity, with a “You Read/I Read” format that lets a grownup read a page with denser text, but with fact boxes and color photos and illustrations that allow for discussion. The “I Read” page has bigger, bolder text, simpler vocabulary, and repeated new vocabulary words that let a new reader try out words they’ve just read with their grownup.

Susan B. Anthony’s biography introduces readers to the feminist pioneer, with information about her upbringing, her background as a teacher, her friendships with Frederick Douglass and work with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, with whom she traveled, speaking about women’s suffrage. Five “Your Turn!” sections present discussion questions and invite readers to come up with their own viewpoints on causes they believe in, differences between school in Susan B. Anthony’s time versus the present, and how to hold an election (voting on artwork, they start the kids off gently!). Loaded with photos from primary sources and helpful, quick call-out fact boxes, this is a nice introduction to women’s history for readers becoming more comfortable with informative text. There’s a Susan B. Anthony coloring page available for free on Education.com, which will make a nice addition to a reading.

 

Harriet Tubman, by Barbara Kramer, (Dec. 2019, National Geographic Kids), $4.99, ISBN: 9781426337215

Ages 6-8

Level 2 readers are the next Easy Reader step, good for kids ready to work on greater informational text, with more vocabulary. There are fact boxes, “Words to Know” boxes that define new vocabulary words, and a timeline of the subject’s life; in this case, abolitionist, spy, and activist Harriet Tubman.

Harriet Tubman’s biography begins with her childhood as a slave named Araminta; her escape via the Underground Railroad and continued work in leading slaves to freedom along the Railroad, her work as a Northern spy during the Civil War, and her postwar life and work with the African American elderly. Spaced between the denser text about Harriet Tubman’s life are spreads with chunked facts like, “In Her Time”, where readers can learn facts about life as a slave in 1820s America, “6 Cool Facts About Harriet Tubman”, and a quiz. Readers can discover Ms. Tubman’s own words with “In Her Own Words” quote boxes throughout the text. There are incredible photos of Harriet Tubman and primary sources (newspapers, Tubman’s hymnal), maps, and artwork.

Great for newly confident independent readers, perfect for a circle time or history readaloud, this Harriet Tubman biography is a brilliant, compact introduction for readers to an iconic figure in history. Education.com has a free, downloadable Harriet Tubman coloring sheet to have handy, too.

 

Breaking Through: How Female Athletes Shattered Stereotypes in the Roaring Twenties, by Sue Macy, (Feb. 2020, National Geographic Kids), $18.99, ISBN: 9781426336768

Ages 8-12

Welcome to the Roaring Twenties! A hundred years ago, things were very, very different: we didn’t have Title IX protecting girls’ and women’s rights to compete in school sports, for starters, but women found ways to get it done. Breaking Through travels through the original Roaring Twenties, a decade where women, having just secured the right to vote, are ready to take on more. But women in athletics? Perish the thought! Each chapter takes on a different year in the 1920s and profiles the women who fought their way into the athletic arena and the critics who opposed them. There are reprints from news stories, black and white photos and full-color artwork, and historical events that place readers fully in the context of each year. While Bessie Coleman, the first African-American woman to earn a pilot’s license, was making headlines in 1922, for instance, the National Women’s Party began their campaign for an Equal Rights Amendment (and we’re still waiting, folks); archaeologist Howard Carter discovered King Tutankhamun’s tomb, and the Charleston was the dance rage. Each year profiles a Trailblazer whose dedication to the sport opened the door for generations to come. An epilogue looks at where women in sports are now, from Wilma Rudolph to Billie Jean King to Megan Rapinoe. A timeline, Defining Moments in Women’s Sports, looks at 15 major highs and lows of women’s athletics. Resources are available for further research. Breaking Through is a needed history of women’s athletics, perfect for middle graders.

Posted in Middle Grade, Non-fiction, Tween Reads

Read-down 2019: The NonFiction

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

So I was just looking at my TBR (to be reviewed) pile and said, “WOW. I can’t go into the New Year like this.” So on these last two days of 2019, my friends, I give you some quick-picks to take us out of this year and into the next. Let’s start with Nonfiction, courtesy of National Geographic.

Nerd A to Z, by TJ Resler, (Aug. 2019, NatGeo Kids), $14.99, ISBN: 978-1-4263-3474-0

Ages 8-12

We did it! The nerds have inherited the earth. It’s cool to be one of us now, and NatGeo Kids’s Nerd A-Z is a desktop reference to the nerdier side of life. Organized alphabetically, information is highlighted with icons, letting readers know about the nerdiest, coolest bits of science, culture, history, technology, geography, and design/engineering. Flow charts help readers figure out what kind of Nerd, Science Scholar, History Hero, Geography Genius, Tech Titan, Design Devote, or Culture Connoisseur they are. It’s all in good fun, loaded with facts and full-color pictures. Want to know where the shipwreck capital of the world is? (Psst… it’s Greece’s Fourni archipelago)? How about finding out about 26 huge map mistakes (like the mythical mountains of Kong, Africa), or the origins of the Jedi? Are Zombies more your thing? There’s a whole spread about them in here, including an FAQ on why vegetarian zombies would eat your brains just as quickly as you could say, “Graiiiiiiins”. There’s a fantastic section with further resources and bibliography. Nerd out with all this info at your fingertips.

 

The Book of Queens, by Stephanie Warren Drimmer, (Nov. 2019, NatGeo Kids), $14.99, ISBN: 978-1-4263-3535-8

Ages 8-12

All hail the Queens! From the opening page featuring Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, get ready to enter a world where girls rule – and have, since the beginning. Organized into eight chapters loaded with profiles of women throughout history, culture, science, politics, and entertainment, The Book of Queens profiles over 100 outstanding women, including architect and designer Maya Lin; Empress Cixi, who led China into a period of modernization; media queen Oprah Winfrey; suffragette Jeanette Rankin, and Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. There are gorgeous color photos, tons of facts and a diverse, richly multicultural group of women (with little fact boxes on impressive men, to share the space). The book challenges readers to think about wearing their own crowns down the line: “Modern-day queens found their own companies, invent new technologies, and take charge of changes they want to see become reality. Nowadays, you don’t have to have royal blood – or wait around for a handsome prince – to rule.”

 

The Book of Kings, by Caleb Magyar and Stephanie Warren Drimmer, (Nov. 2019, NatGeo Kids), $14.99, ISBN: 978-1426335334

Ages 8-12

The boys get their day in this reference of kings, kicking off with a full-page picture of Henry VIII, no turkey leg in sight. Meet kings from history; revolutionary leaders and legendary heroes; stars of the silver screen and stage; science, media, and industry. You’ll see Lin-Manuel Miranda, who made Alexander Hamilton the most popular Founding Father; Kwame Alexander, and Langston Hughes, kings of the written word; and Babe Ruth, the “Sultan of Swat”. There’s some equal respect paid to the ladies, with “Commanding Queens” callout boxes. Learn about famous crowns and swords, discover different types of armor through the centuries, and read about how two kids from Cleveland created one of the greatest superheroes of all time: Superman. Fictional kings, like Aragorn (Lord of the Rings) and T’Challa (Black Panther) have their moment here, as do giants of science, like Isaac Newton and Carl Sagan. A final word to boys challenges them to think about wearing their own crowns: “Today, there are many different kinds of kings: kings who develop lifesaving technology, kings who write plays that make us laugh and cry, kings who find something they don’t like about the world and do everything they can to change it for the better.”

Both The Book of Kings and The Book of Queens are great desktop references for you to have handy, and just fun reading for kids.

 

Don’t Read This Book Before Dinner, by Anna Claybourne, (July 2019, NatGeo Kids), $14.99, ISBN: 978-1-4263-3451-1

Ages 8-12

Ah, the gross-out factor. The kids at my library (and my home) love the grossest humor, shrieking with delight and horror at facts and picture of boogers, poop, bugs, you name it. NatGeo, with their fingers on the pulse of all things kid, has answered the call with Don’t Read This Book Before Dinner: Revoltingly True Tales of Foul Food, Icky Animals, Horrible History, and More, a tome loaded with the grossest stories, quizzes, photos, and facts that you’ll ever want to know about. A “Yuck-o-Meter” lets readers know exactly how gross the territory is: Eww, Gross, Nasty, or Disgusting, and a content warning gives the heads-up to readers with gentler sensibilities and stomachs can make the choice on whether or not to continue. There are stories about the grossest toilets in history; facts about spit; a section dedicated to cockroaches that I just skipped right the heck by; a section on weasel butts, and a spotlight on a Taiwanese toilet cafe that serves poop-shaped ice cream. Good lord.

Need I say it? Kids love it.

Posted in Fiction, geek culture, Guide, Middle Grade, Non-Fiction, Non-fiction, Tween Reads

Cyber Monday Gift Guide

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Okay, get ready for the latest MomReadIt gift guide – if you can find great deals on Cyber Monday, go for it; if you prefer your local indie bookstore, have at it! Here are some books that the kiddos you know will be thrilled to receive, whether it’s for holiday or any day.

Paper World: Planet Earth, by Bomboland, (Sept. 2019, Big Picture Press),
$24.99, ISBN: 9781536208542
Ages 7-12

An awesome lift-the-flap book for bigger kids, Paper World: Planet Earth is a die-cut, lift-the-flap trip in and around our big blue planet. Readers explore and learn about earth’s tectonic plates; volcanoes, mountains, and glaciers; weather and storms, and more. Sturdy pages and flaps reveal facts, and die cut features add incredible texture. Hands-on science starts here! Back matter includes a glossary.

Code This Game!, by Meg Ray/Illustrated by Keith Zoo, (Aug. 2019, Odd Dot Books),
$24.99, ISBN: 978-1-250-30669-2
Ages 8-13

I’ve been working on coding with the Girls Who Code club at my library, and with my kiddo at home. We’ve been doing a lot of Scratch programming, but we want our kids to be multilingual in all areas – and that includes programming! Code This Game teaches kids how to use the Python programming language, and guides them, step-by-step, through how to make their very own computer game: Attack of the Vampire Pizzas! Brightly illustrated, with chunks of easy-to-read, easy to digest information, this is a fantastic book to get kids up and running with Python. The book is spiral bound and opens into an easel stand, so you can have the book open and standing up, making it that much easier to read while you work.

 

Code This! Puzzles, Games, Challenges, and Computer Coding Concepts
for the Problem-Solver in You!, by Jennifer Szymanski,
(Aug. 2019, National Geographic Kids), $16.99, ISBN: 978-1-4263-3443-6
Ages 8-12

More coding fun! A robot named Cody is packed with gadgets, and needs Explorers (that’s us readers) to program him. Together, readers and Cody learn different coding concepts and solve complete missions. Have a burgeoning coder? This is the book for them. They’ll learn how to apply offline concepts to online programming, using ciphers, mazes, secret codes, and good old-fashioned logic. Solutions are there when you get stuck, and quick takes on HTML/Javascript and Python help with quick reference, along with a glossary and index.

 

The Big Book of Bling, by Rose Davidson, (Sept. 2019, National Geographic Kids),
$19.99, ISBN: 978-1-4263-3531-0
Ages 8-12

What would the holidays be without a little bling? NatGeo Kids packs a bunch of bling into one volume, with incredible photos and facts about all things shiny. There are rocks and gems both dazzling and dangerous (stay away from that Hope Diamond), and some of nature’s most extra creations, like the Indian Peacock and the Jewel Caterpillar. Want to meet the richest pets in the world? They’re in here. Ever wonder what sushi wrapped in 24K gold looks like? You’ll find out, in here. Loaded with facts and stunning photos, this will definitely add some zing to the holiday gift-giving.

 

Black Beauty, by Anna Sewell/Illustrated by Christian Birmingham
(Oct. 2019, Candlewick Press), $24.99, ISBN: 9781536211245
Ages 8-12

I can’t believe Black Beauty was published over 140 years ago. It was a mainstay of my childhood library, and I still hand it to kids in my library today. This Anna Sewell classic features more than 50 new illustrations by artist Christian Birmingham, and is a gorgeous gift to anyone who grew up loving this story – or a horse-loving reader who hasn’t yet met the beautiful horse in this Victorian novel. Pair with Into the Jungle: Stories for Mowgli for a reader who loves an eternal story.

 

Treasury of Bible Stories, by Donna Jo Napoli/Illustrated by Christina Balit,
(Oct. 2019, National Geographic Kids), $24.99, ISBN: 978-1-4263-3538-9
Ages 4-12

This stunning compendium of Bible stories are taken from the Hebrew Bible, also known as the Christian Old Testament. There are 28 stories in all, beginning with Creation and going through to the story of Daniel in the Lion’s Den, all gorgeously illustrated in full color. The author’s note talks about the writing process, under the guidance of Rabbi Helen Plotkin, over the course of a year and how the book presents a “human history from Creation to the building of the second temple in Jerusalem”. A note on the illustrations points out that the stunning artwork is informed by archaeology and biogenetics: in other words, the humans are depicted with different skin tones, facial characteristics and hair texture. Callouts and fact boxes throughout the stories provide nonfiction content such as the domestication of animals, beginning and diversification of human language, and one of my favorites, “Sanctioned Recklessness”, which talks about the spring festivals of Purim and Carnival. There are maps for Lands of the Bible, a timeline of early civilizations, and a section spotlighting major figures in the Bible. Includes a bibliography and index.

Posted in Fiction, Middle Grade, picture books, Preschool Reads, Realistic Fiction, Teen, Tween Reads

National Native American Heritage Month

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

November is National Native American Heritage Month. I am eternally grateful to people like Dr. Debbie Reese, whose blog, American Indians in Children’s Literature, has reviews and writing on Native writing, problematic phrases and stereotypes, and advocacy and activism. I am grateful for authors like Nancy Bo Flood, Joseph Bruchac, and Cynthia Leitich Smith, whose work has introduced me to the realities and beauty of Native culture. I commit to expanding my reading horizons, and the horizons of the kids in my life, by promoting Native literature at every opportunity.

The Horn Book has a list of comprehensive links dedicated to Native American Heritage Month, as does Lee and Low’s blog. Teen Vogue has an article on avoiding offensive stereotypes and being a better ally to indigenous people. The National Native American Heritage Month website has a wealth of information, including a calendar of events; links to exhibits and collections including the Smithsonian, the Library of Congress, and the National Archives. The First Nations Development Institute has comprehensive resources, including printables, largely produced by and for Native people. The American Indian Library Association (AILA) is an affiliate of our national organization, the American Library Organization, and advocates for the information- and library-related needs of Natives. The AILA distributes information about Native culture to the library community, and works to develop programs that will improve Native library, cultural, and information services in school, public, and research libraries on reservations (from the AILA website).

Some books to read and add to your collections follow.

Encyclopedia of American Indian History & Culture: Stories, Time Lines, Maps, and More, by Cynthia O’Brien,
(Oct. 2019, National Geographic Kids), $24.99, ISBN: 9781426334535
Ages 8-12

This encyclopedia features over 160 Native American tribes, organized by location: Arctic and Subarctic; Northeast; Southeast; Plains; Southwest; Great Basin and Plateau; Northwest Coast, and California. Each section includes maps, timelines, and a traditional story from the region’s people, along with profiles of each tribe and biographies on key Native Americans in history. The photos are gorgeous, and the information is comprehensive. There’s a glossary, index, list of federally recognized tribes, and list of consultants who contributed to the book.

There’s no reason not to have this available to your library kids. I have a collection of books by tribe, by nation, that’s helpful for my younger kids, but this is an invaluable resources for my middle graders and middle schoolers. I hope NatGeo expands on this and works on other indigenous peoples, including Central and South American peoples.

The Encyclopedia of American Indian History & Culture has a starred review from Booklist.

 

Hearts Unbroken, by Cynthia Leitich Smith,
(Oct. 2018, Candlewick), $17.99, ISBN: 9780763681142
Ages 13+

After breaking up with her insensitive boyfriend, a Native high school senior focuses on her school year and advocating for her younger brother, who lands a key part in the school production of The Wizard of Oz, when a group of parents react to the play’s diverse casting by promoting hate speech and putting pressure on local businesses that support the play. A strong #ownvoices story with an outstanding heroine, Hearts Unbroken is unputdownable reading. Read my full review here.

 

First Laugh Welcome, Baby!, by Rose Ann Tahe and Nancy Bo Flood/Illustrated by Jonathan Nelson,
(Aug. 2018, Charlesbridge), $16.99, ISBN: 9781580897945
Ages 5-8

I adore this celebration of life and family. The First Laugh Celebration is a Navajo tradition where a child’s first laugh marks their entry into the physical world from the spiritual one. First Laugh Welcome Baby is a lyrical story about a family’s wait for that first joyful laugh and the celebration that follows. Navajo words and images fill the pages and invite us readers to spend time with a family as they welcome their new baby into their lives. When I read this at storytime, parents are delighted by such a wonderful way to rejoice. Read my full review here.

 

We Sang You Home, by Richard Van Camp/Illustrated by Julie Flett,
(Oct. 2016, Orca), $9.95, ISBN: 978-1-4598-1178-2
Ages 0-3

This board book, by Canadian First Nations author and illustrator Richard Van Camp and Julie Flett, is a poem to a child from loving parents who use a song to tell their child how much they are loved. The story is a beautiful illustration of what we, as parents and caregivers, give our children, and what we receive from them: “We sang you home and you sang back… As we give you roots you give us wings / And through you we are born again”. It’s such a simple, powerful book, with gouache paintings and digital college illustrations that put every feelings about loving a child into words. We Sang You Home is in my regular storytime rotation, and always receives a great reception.

 

Soldier Sister, Fly Home, by Nancy Bo Flood/Illustrated by Shonto Begay,
(Aug. 2016, Charlesbridge), $16.95, ISBN: 9781580897020
Recommended for ages 10+

A 13-year-old girl struggles with her part white, part Navajo identity while coping with her sister’s deployment shortly after attending a memorial service for a Native member of her community. By caring for her sister’s semi-wild horse, she discovers a well of inner strength and learns about herself. A novel of family, identity, and loss, Soldier Sister Fly Home is an incredible book. Read my original review here.

 

 

Posted in Uncategorized

The latest Explorer Academy installment, and a code-breaking adventure!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

One of my absolute favorite middle grade series to emerge in the last couple of years has been, without a doubt, the Explorer Academy series from NatGeo Kids by Trudi Trueit. I’ve been waiting on every book in the series with the same anticipation, excitement, and – when the book is done – pins and needles feeling, knowing I have to wait for another book in the series. I’ve gotten my nephew hooked on the series, too: when I get my hello hug from him, he’ll say, “Did you get the next Explorer Academy book yet?” I’ve just ordered the first three books for my library, too, so I’m going to start booktalking this to my I Survived readers… which is to say, all my readers. So let’s talk about that third book, shall we?

Explorer Academy: The Double Helix, by Trudi Trueit, (Sept. 2019, National Geographic Kids), $16.99, ISBN: 9781426334580

Ages 8-13

Things are heating up with the third book in the Explorer Academy series! In the last book, The Falcon’s Feather, Cruz Coronado and his friends narrowly escaped a scary situation, only to discover that Cruz’s dad has disappeared. The shadowy Nebula group is getting braver in their pursuit of Cruz and the pieces of his mother’s ciphers. Cruz needs to stay one step ahead of them while trying to track down his father, and find the next cipher. The closer Cruz gets to his 13th birthday, the higher the stakes. What happens when Cruz turns 13? WE NEED TO KNOW!

While the main plot continues to be Cruz vs. the Nebula group, we get some great subplots, including a look at space archaeology, where scientists use satellites to look for signs of looting at ancient burial sites. There’s great technology, too: this time around, the kids get to work with a PANDA: a Portable Artifact and Data Analyzer, that scans items and identifies the origins of bones, fossils, pottery, and includes a holographic image of the artifact being scanned.

Illustrated throughout, the latest installment is white-knuckle reading that adventure fans will refuse to put down from start to finish. The characters have become old friends at this point, so readers can jump in, reacquaint themselves, and get down to the business of conservation, preservation, and solving mysteries. The Truth Behind the Fiction highlights a space archaeologist and Egyptologist. Don’t miss this one.

 

Explorer Academy: Code-Breaking Activity Adventure, by National Geographic Kids, (May 2019, National Geographic Kids), $12.99, ISBN: 978-1-4263-3307-1

Ages 8-12

Who loves secret codes? This book, written like a handbook for Explorer Academy students, teaches readers secret codes while sending them on codebreaking missions throughout the book. Hubbard, the adorable Westie who shows up in the Explorer Academy series, appears throughout the book with helpful hints if you get stuck. Readers and codebreakers will learn about acrostic messages, morse code, semaphore, pigpen ciphers, and more, all while learning about different areas in the Explorer Academy: The Library, the CAVE, and the Museum, for starters. A certificate of achievement is ready for readers who finish their missions.

This book is just too much fun, and nicely incorporates the Explorer Academy into the activities. This book would be beat up in circulation in my library, but for Explorer Academy fans, this is a great gift. And for kids who love the spy activities I have at my library, this will be a fun group of exercises to emulate. I had a fun Spy Week during Summer Reading a few years ago; bringing some secret coding adventures back may be fun to explore. Since I have the Explorer Academy books arriving at my library soon, it may be time for an Explorer Academy adventure, with some codebreaking and scavenger hunts around the children’s room… hmmm…

Posted in History, Middle Grade, Non-fiction, Tween Reads, Uncategorized

Big nonfiction roundup!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

I have been curating a pile of nonfiction over the last several weeks, ready to do a back to school post, but all these other great books started coming out, too… so, before this pile crushes me, let’s do this!

North America: A Fold-Out History, by Sarah Albee/Illlustrated by William Exley, (Oct. 2019, What on Earth Books), $19.99, ISBN: 978-1999967925

Ages 8-14

That What on Earth Books fold-out are so much fun! This time, we’ve got a fold-out graphic timeline of Canada, the United States, Mexico, and the Caribbean islands, going from 11,000 BCE to 2017. It’s fully illustrated and offers a wealth of history on early indigenous peoples, including the Olmecs, Maya, Taino, and Aztec. European invasions are covered – first the Vikings; later, Columbus and the conquistadors – and American history covers much of the book’s second half. History is captured with dates and a brief blurb about standout moments, and callout boxes call attention to larger happenings, like the spreading out of humans across the land, and how European conflicts played out in North America. Back matter includes facts; glossary; source notes, and an index.

Not one for circulation – it’ll sustain damage quickly – but it’s a good reference tool and darn fun to have at home. My little guy loves these books.

Source: Bounce Marketing UK

 

Migration: Incredible Animal Journeys, by Mike Unwin/Illustrated by Jenni Desmond, (Aug. 2019, Bloomsbury USA), $18.99, ISBN: 9781547600977

Ages 9-13

Originally published in the UK, Migration profiles 20 different migrating animals, including the humpback whale; emperor penguin; ruby-throated hummingbird; blue wildebeest, and green turtle. Each spread contains acrylic, watercolor, ink, pencil and crayon illustrations of these animals, captured in the progress of their journeys. Some artwork gives an incredible breadth of scale, like the spread dedicated to the Christmas Island red crabs, which form a “river of crabs” as they march to the sea. Others, like the humpback whale, are a more personal journey shared between a mother and her calf. Each spread provides a migration story, which reads like an I Survived novel: crossing rivers; digging through snow for food; flying for miles to reach their destination; marching across an icy landscape. Each spread also offers a quick animal fact. Back matter includes a migration map and notes on making the world safer for migrating animals.

Animals of all shapes and sizes make epic journeys across our planet, through harsh weather, avoiding hungry predators, in their efforts to survive. Travel around the globe with some of the world’s most incredible animals and discover their unique migration stories. A nice addition to your nonfiction collections, especially if your books on migration are spare.

Mike Unwin is a UK Travel Writer of the Year, and Jenni Desmond is a winner of the New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book, The Polar Bear. Migration: Incredible Animal Journeys has a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly.

 

National Geographic Kids Student World Atlas (Fifth Edition), (July 2019, National Geographic Kids), $12.99, ISBN: 978-1426334795

Ages 8-12

This latest edition of this handy-dandy student reference has a wealth of facts, figures, and maps at your fingertips. There are over 100 maps, 70 incredible color photos, 50 charts and graphs with the latest data on climate change, the human footprint on our world, and most populous urban areas. Back matter includes an updated flags of the world section; a list of important websites on world resources, religions, languages, and quality of life; a glossary, thematic and place-name indexes, and more. If your budget allows for you to order two of these, do it: I like to keep one on hand at reference and put one into circulation. Along with the NatGeo Kids Almanac, you can’t go wrong with having these available for homework help.

 

1000 Facts About Ancient Egypt, by Nancy Honovich (February 2019, National Geographic Kids), $14.99, ISBN: 978-1426332739

Ages 8-12

The 1000 Facts series from NatGeo Kids is almost as popular as the digest-sized Weird/Gross/Silly Facts books in my library. These are the books that prove that kids LOVE nonfiction! There are fast, bite-sized facts all about Ancient Egypt in this book: facts about the Egyptian gods and goddesses; facts about the Nile River; about making mummies and about the most famous mummy of them all, Tutankhamun; facts about inventions and temples; facts about hieroglyphics. There’s so much here, presented in compulsively readable, memorable chunks and illustrated with photos of artifacts. Back matter includes a glossary, a look at a tomb excavation, a timeline of Ancient Egyptian civilization, an index, and further resources. Have history fans? Is Ancient Egypt on the schools’ report list this year? Get this book on your shelf.

 

Walk This Underground World, by Kate Baker/Illustrated by Sam Brewster, (Oct. 2019, Big Picture Press), $19.95, ISBN: 978-1536208566

Ages 5-8

Lift the Flap fun! Readers can wander through underground worlds, from Montreal’s famous underground city to the ancient, underground tombs of Ancient Egypt. Wander the hidden natural world and see prairie dog dens, ant cities, and naked mole rat burrows. See Australian fortune hunters and Poland’s salt-rock mines; the bustling London Underground and the sleek underground train stations in Tokyo. There are 12 spreads with over 80 flaps to discover, making this a great gift book for the kiddos in your life. Definitely not going to last in circulation, but you could score a few copies for a program on underground ecosystems or travel.

That’s all for now – I have to get this copy of Walk This World back into my son’s room before he notices it’s gone!