Tag: nonfiction

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

Spotlight On: The Top Secret Files series!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

If there’s any way I can get kids in my libraries (and my house!) reading nonfiction, I jump on it. This series takes a look at some of the more adventurous, juicier – even scandalous! – parts of history. Check ’em out, load your shelves, and make sure to enter the Rafflecopter giveaway to win a book pack of your own!

Top Secret Files by Stephanie Bearce

October 1, 2015

Book Information:

Title: Top Secret Files: The Wild West

Author: Stephanie Bearce

Release Date: October 1, 2015

Publisher: Prufrock Press

Summary:

Take a look if you dare, but be careful! Some secrets are meant to stay hidden…

9781618214621Bandits, lawmen, six shooters, bank robberies, and cowboys were all a part of the Wild West. But so were camels, buried treasure, and mail carrying ponies. Dive into strange tales like the mysterious Lost Dutchman’s Gold Mine and Rattlesnake Dick’s lost fortune. Discover the truth about notorious legends like Pistol Pete, Buffalo Bill, bandit queen Belle Starr, and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Then, learn how cowboys branded and drove cattle and how to make your own chuck wagon grub. It’s all part of the true stories from the Top Secret Files: The Wild West.

Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26052945-top-secret-files

Buy Links:

Amazon- http://ow.ly/SlLQh

Barnes & Noble- http://ow.ly/SlM0K

Books A Million- http://ow.ly/SlMhO

!ndigo- http://ow.ly/SlNaP

Indiebound- http://ow.ly/SlNOJ

 

Book Information:

9781618214614Title: Top Secret Files: Gangsters and Bootleggers

Author: Stephanie Bearce

Release Date: October 1, 2015

Publisher: Prufrock Press

Summary:

Blind pigs, speakeasies, and tarantula juice were all a part of the roaring 20s. Making alcohol illegal didn’t get rid of taverns or crime bosses: They just went underground. Secret joints were in almost every large city and could be entered if you knew the code words. Discover the secret codes of the Prohibition Era- why you should mind your beeswax and watch out for the gumshoe talking to the fuzz or you might end up in the cooler! It’s all part of the true stories from the Top Secret Files: Gangsters and Bootleggers.

Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26052934-top-secret-files

Buy Links:

Amazon- http://ow.ly/SlPri

Barnes & Noble- http://ow.ly/SlP9P

Books A Million- http://ow.ly/SlOZ1

!ndigo- http://ow.ly/SlOED

Indiebound- http://ow.ly/SlOwt

Also Available:

Top Secret Files: Pirates and Buried Treasure

Top Secret Files: American Revolution

The Civil War

Top Secret Files: World War I

Top Secret Files: World War II

Top Secret Files: Cold War

Top 3 Gangster and Bootlegger Secrets:

1) Striped Pigs and Blind Tigers- When the sale of alcohol became illegal, several enterprising liquor salesmen decided to make money another way. They wouldn’t sell alcohol to their customers; instead, they would sell them a chance to see something unusual, like a pig with stripes or a blind tiger. Once the patron paid to “see” the animal, he or she was given a free drink of liquor. People started saying they were going to a “blind pig” when they were headed to visit a speakeasy.

2) Carrie Nation and the Saloon Busters- Carrie Nation was one of the leaders of the Temperance Movement. These were people who believed that banning the sale and consumption of alcohol would improve life in America. Carrie was famous for leading saloon attacks with a group of like-minded female activists. Carrie and the saloon busters would storm saloons smashing bottles, barrels, windows, furniture, and everything else they could. She was arrested more than thirty times for her activism.

3) Lipstick Long- Lipstick Long was one of the most famous flappers. She was hired by The New Yorker to write about jazz clubs and speakeasies in New York. Lipstick too her job very seriously and spent every evening out on the town dancing and drinking in all of the best, and some of the worst-clubs. She would often go directly to The New Yorker office from her night out. She would arrive in the early hours of the morning wearing her party clothes and smelling of bootleg drink. She would then strip down to her slip and plop down at her typewriter to dash off her latest column for the paper.

About the Author: Stephanie Bearce is a writer, teacher, and history detective. She loves tracking down spies and uncovering secret missions from the comfort of her library in St. Charles, MO. When she isn’t writing or teaching, Stephanie loves to travel the world and go on adventures with her husband, Darrell.

Social Networking Links:

Website: http://www.stephaniebearce.com/about.html

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fabulateacher

Enter this Rafflecopter giveaway for the chance to wine a Top Secret Files Book Pack of your own!

 

 

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Posted in Non-Fiction, Teen, Tween Reads, Uncategorized, Women's History

Radioactive! The story of two women scientists and how they changed the world.

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

radioactiveRadioactive!: How Irène Curie and Lise Meitner Revolutionized Science and Changed the World, by Winifred Conkling (Jan. 2016, Algonquin Young Readers), $17.95, ISBN: 9781616204150

Recommended for ages 12+

Most of us know who Marie Curie was: the scientist who pioneered the study of radioactivity. But how many know that her daughter, Irène, was an accomplished scientist in her own right, whose studies on radioactivity, physics, and the transmutation of elements earned her a Nobel prize, shared with her husband? Have you heard of Lise Meitner, the physicist whose work in physics – often published in conjunction with her friend and research partner, Otto Hahn – led to the discovery of nuclear fission? She was passed over for a Nobel for several reasons, not the least of which involved her being straight-up robbed by a partner who took credit for much of her work during the World War II years, when she was exiled in Sweden.

Radioactive! tells the stories of these two very important women and their historical research. We learn Irène’s story from the beginning, as the daughter of celebrated scientist, Marie Curie. She worked by her mother’s side, operating an x-ray machine on World War I battlefields, eventually going on to further her mother’s work in radioactivity along with her chemist husband, Pierre Joliot. We learn about Lise Meitner, whose work put her in competition with Curie many times, but experienced more sexism and prejudice than Curie ever did. When Hitler rose to power in the 1930s, her Jewish heritage created problems at her research position, where former colleagues turned against her and demanded she resign; she was eventually forced her to flee Austria for Sweden or end up in a concentration camp. Although she continued to consult with Hahn on their nuclear fission research, he took credit for her work and took home the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1944.

I’ve been looking for biographies on women in science for my tweens and teens, and this certainly fits the bill. There are photographs throughout the book, and Ms. Conkling provides strong backgrounds on both Curie and Mietner, making them live again, making the reader care about them, and explaining physics, fission, and radioactive science in terms that we can all wrap our heads around. A valuable addition to libraries and classrooms, and a great book for anyone who wants to inspire the next generation of scientists – female OR male.

Winifred Conkling is an award-winning author of fiction and nonfiction for young readers, including Passenger on the Pearl: The True Story of Emily Edmonson’s Flight from Slavery and the middle-grade novel Sylvia and Aki, winner of the Jane Addams Children’s Literature Award and the Tomás Rivera Award. Her author website provides teacher guides for her books. There is no guide up for Radioactive yet, but I’m sure there will be one closer to the book’s publication date.

Posted in Uncategorized

#Presidents: Follow the Leaders – A funny social media guide to the Presidents

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

follow_pres#presidents: Follow the Leaders, by John Bailey Owen (Aug. 2015, Scholastic), $9.99, ISBN: 9780545849388

Recommended for ages 8-13

Imagine for a minute, if all the Presidents – all 44 of them! – were on Twitter? And they could talk to one another? Can you imagine what you’d find out if you were able to follow them? That would be the best history lesson ever!

#presidents: Follow the Leaders does exactly that. We hear from the Presidents – and some Vice Presidents and First Ladies! – as they tell us a little bit about themselves and react to other Presidents. There are hilarious screen names, too: James Madison, our shortest President and the author of the Constitution, goes by @LILJCONSTITUTION; William Henry Harrison, who caught a cold during his inauguration speech and died after 32 days in office, can be found @ILLWILL_H. Bill Clinton can be found @CLINSTAGRAM, and our current Prez, Barack Obama, is @BAMIMOBAMA. We’ve got some guest stars, like the White House Pets, Camp David, the Secret Service, and the White House Chef, and the Rules of Running for President makes sure everyone knows how the process works.

There are profile pictures, hometowns, hilarious hashtags, even #tbt pictures. A timeline of the U.S. Presidency rounds out the book. It’s a fun companion to a kid’s history books, but make sure no one’s doing their history homework with this as their sole source of information (I can see some of my patrons trying it)!

Author John Bailey Owen is a humorist. His author website offers blog posts and links to his other books.

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

Military Animals with Dog Tags – Because some heroes have more than two legs

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

military animalsMilitary Animals with Dog Tags, by Laurie Calkhoven (Aug. 2015, Scholastic), $7.99, ISBN: 9780545871594

Recommended for ages 7-11

You may know that horses were on the battlefield at war time, especially before vehicles like tanks and Jeeps came along. You may have even seen recent pictures of dogs aiding our soldiers overseas. But did you know that Poland had a bear that was a private? Or that honeybees have been used to sniff out bombs?

 

Military Animals tells the stories of different animals who have served in the military throughout time. You’ll learn about elephants, who have aided military operations from ancient history through to the VietNam War; how rats can find unexploded land mines (without getting blown up!), and how dolphins have helped with underwater surveillance. There are beautiful photos, stories that kids will love hearing about (great for read-alouds) and reading about, and a glossary and index at the end of the book. Get this one for your animal lovers and talk about the great things animals do to help us out. Then, brainstorm things that the animals in your own lives to do help you out – for instance, my cat helps cheer me up by cuddling with me when I don’t feel well, and my dog helps protect our home.

Author Laurie Calkhoven is all over my library. She’s written some great biographies for kids, and she’s written books for both the American Girl and Heroes of Olympus series, both of which see a lot of action in my public library. Her author website has links to her books and information about author visits.
Posted in Non-Fiction, Teen, Tween Reads, Young Adult/New Adult

Really Professional Internet Person – A YouTube Superstar’s Story

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

9780545861120_30ac9Really Professional Internet Person, by Jenn McAllister (Jennxpenn) (Aug. 2015, Scholastic), $14.99, ISBN: 9780545861120

Recommended for ages 12+

Jenn McAllister is a star on YouTube. Starting in middle school, she began making and uploading videos with pranks, sketches, and vlogs about her life. She’s got over 2 million YouTube subscribers, has worked with Old Navy and Mattel, and gets mobbed at DigiCon like a rock star. She’s a Really Professional Internet Person.

Really Professional Internet Person is one of those books where I really feel out of my league reading and reviewing. I’m not the audience for this book, and that’s apparent just from reading the language of the book, which is made up mostly of “like”, “literally”, and “basically”.

I also couldn’t wrap my head around how McAllister’s mom and school were okay with her missing huge chunks of school at 15 years old so she could work digital conferences. I know this is actual work, but at 15, where was the school board? The state? And her mom letting her make the move on her own, with her YouTube friends to California, completely blew me away. McAllister does finish high school via online school when she relocates from Pennsylvania to California, but her not seeing the value in education over YouTube is really stressful to me. We’re a pretty disposable society these days – I hate it, but I recognize it, so where is YouTube celebrity going to leave 19 year-old Jenn in a few years? McAllister even talks about knowing she is a role model to her under-18 fans, so this worries me even more.

There are some solid highlights to this book. Jenn speaks frankly about her struggles with anxiety, which is great for anyone that may be dealing with the same issues. It happens to everyone, even famous people. She writes in a manner relatable to her audience, and loads the pages with Top 10 lists, which breaks information down into small, interest-heavy bits. She includes tons of screen shots, photos, social media posts, and anecdotes about her life with fellow YouTubers, which provides an inclusive feeling. Jenn, who writes about never feeling like she fit in at school, knows how to make her audience, even on paper, feel like they’re part of her crowd. And she is earnest and sincere in her love for her subscribers and viewers.

Overall, this is just not my book. I’d like to talk to the tweens and teens in my library and see what they think, though – this book is written for them.

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

Our Moon gives us a new look at an old friend

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

our moonOur Moon: New Discoveries About Earth’s Closest Companion, by Elaine Scott (Feb. 2016, Clarion Books), $18.99, ISBN: 9780547483948

Recommended for ages 10-13

You may have heard the old myth about the man in the moon, or even that the moon was made of green cheese. Did you hear about a Chinese princess named Chang-o or a rabbit, though? Those ancient Chinese stories are only the beginning of what I learned from Elaine Scott’s Our Moon: New Discoveries About Earth’s Closest Companion.

 

Our Moon is a great biography about our one and only satellite, Luna. The Moon. We get her all of her numbers: size, speed, temperature; we learn in depth about her phases, and her origin story. Ms. Scott gives us a history of lunar research and exploration, from the Turkish philosopher Anaxagoras’ ideas about moonlight being a reflection of the sun’s light back in the 5th century B.C.E. to the modern lunar landings and space travel. The book is loaded with photographs and quick facts that make for easy reading. A glossary breaks down terms used in the book, and there are resources for further reading, both on- and offline.

This is the book I’d have wanted in my astronomy library when I was a kid. It’s a great library purchase and a great home library purchase. Our Moon will be available in February, 2016, but you can pre-order it from Amazon.

Elaine Scott is an award-winning nonfiction author of children’s books. Her author website includes information about her books, honors, and school visits.

Posted in Early Reader, Non-Fiction, Preschool Reads

It’s a great day for A Visit to the Library!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

visit to the libraryA Visit to the Library, by Mary Lindeed (Aug. 2015, Norwood House Press), $21.95, ISBN: 9781599536910

Recommended for ages 4-7

Take a trip to the library! Read a book, listen to a story at storytime, and use the computer! See what the librarian does, and check out a book! This Easy Reader is a great introduction to the library for young audiences and readers. There are vivid photos and informational, large print text, plus sight words and vocabulary at the end of the book. Activities round out the book and provide a neat little lesson for kids who are about to start using the library through school, maybe without a parent for the first time.

I’m going to read this with my preschoolers at my next storytime as a way to introduce them to the library, and talk with them about using the library. Norwood’s website suggests pairing At The Library with its fiction counterpart, Dear Dragon Goes to the Library by Margaret Hillert. Teachers may want to consider this pairing for a pre-library visit warmup, and parents could borrow this to read to their children in anticipation of a library visit.

A great addition to nonfiction collections.

Posted in Early Reader, Non-Fiction

Celebrate Spring with Mary Lindeen’s latest!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

springSpring, by Mary Lindeen (July 2015, Norwood House Press), $16.95, ISBN: 9781599536798

Recommended for ages 3-6

Seasonal books are great for young readers. Preschool teachers always request them, they’re great nonfiction picks for storytime, they pair really well with a related fiction choice, and you can tie super-fun crafts in with them.

Prolific children’s author Mary Lindeen’s newest seasonal book, Spring, is a great choice for school and public libraries alike. There are beautiful, bright pictures of springtime images and multicultural children enjoying the season, easy to read text, loaded with sight words for new readers, and parent/teacher resources in the back, including a list of the 85 words included in the book, plus discussion questions. This book is already on my to-order list for my libraries, because I can’t keep seasonal books on the shelf long enough – like I said, everyone loves them.

You can find more books on Spring from Norwood House at their website, and a partial list of Mary Lindeen’s work on Goodreads.

Posted in Preschool Reads

Mahalia Jackson: Walking with Kings and Queens is a beautiful biography for young readers

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

mahaliaMahalia Jackson: Walking with Kings and Queens, by Nina Nolan/illus. by John Holyfield (2015, Amistad/HarperCollins),$17.99, ISBN: 978-0-06-087944-0

Recommended for ages 6-10

Mahalia Jackson had a voice that could make the world stop. I’m only familiar with her through my mom’s records and Ms. Jackson’s enduring performance as a choir soloist in the movie Imitation of Life, but once you’ve heard her sing, her voice is with you forever.

Walking with Kings and Queens is Mahalia’s story, from her New Orleans childhood to her performance at the March on Washington. It’s a story of determination and endurance, of her faith, and her talent. Orphaned at a young age, she lived with her aunts, forced to drop in and out of school as other duties made themselves known. She always had her singing, though. As a child, it made her feel like a peacock, spreading his feathers, and as she grew, it was a source of strength and comfort to her. She drove to churches that would pay her to sing, and was finally noticed by someone from Decca Records. From there, her gospel was heard far and wide. Her aunt once told her she would “walk with kings and queens” one day, but she never counted on being a queen herself – the queen of gospel.

This book is gorgeous, with beautiful acrylic paintings bringing out the true joy that singing brought Mahalia Jackson. Her face is always tilted upward, illustrating her relationship with God and her music, a beatific smile lighting up her face. The story emphasizes Mahalia’s determination not only to keep singing, but her determination to continue her education. There are positive messages to be found through this whole story, and I’m hoping it finds a place on library and classroom shelves to introduce a new generation of listeners to Mahalia Jackson and her amazing voice.

Posted in Early Reader, Graphic Novels, Non-Fiction

We Dig Worms is a great intro to science for young readers!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

wedigwormsWe Dig Worms, by Kevin McCloskey (Apr 2015, TOON Books), $12.95, ISBN: 978-1-935179-80-1

Recommended for ages 4-8

Worms are so much more than those squiggly things you pull out of the dirt and put on a fish hook. Kevin McCloskey has put together a great little graphic novel that appeals to a range of young readers, illustrating just how worms help us. There’s so much to appeal to kids here – a cartoon side story involving a bird that wants to say hello to a worm and invite him to lunch (wink, wink, nudge, nudge), a Q&A about worms that gives us answers involving worm poo (it’s good for the soil!), and a detailed map of a worm’s interior and exterior.

The illustrations – originally painted on recycled grocery bags, which give a great look and feel to the book – are cartoony and kid-friendly, with simple facts and explanations. The map of the worm can be made even simpler for the youngest readers by just explaining that it is a map of the worm – that’s how I read it to my toddler, who loves this book and demands it be read to him every night.

WRM-slideshow-4

This is a great entry into graphic nonfiction, and a book that belongs on library, school, and children’s bookshelves. I’m making sure this one gets into my libraries; I’ve had great luck with TOON Books this far and look forward to adding to my collection.