Week 7 - Picture Books - and Adult Titles - that YA Claim

  

Picture Books - and Adult Titles - that YA Claim

A Fun Picture Book to Generate More Interest in Sports Research

Don't miss this 2020 picture book that older primary and upper elementary readers (and even older) - check this book trailer at https://youtu.be/agE3jvHYNtU.  Slate, S. (2020). Swish!: The Slam-Dunking, Alley-Ooping, High-Flying Harlem Globetrotters.  Illustrated by Don Tate. Little-Brown.

And then read the backstory regarding the research for the book - research from both the author and the illustrator's perspective. 

Cbethm.  (2020, September 22).  Book Trailer Reveal: Swish! Swish!: The Slam-Dunking, Alley-Ooping, High-Flying Harlem Globetrotters by Don Tate (Illustrator) and Suzanne Slade (Author).  Nerdy Book Club.  Retrieved from https://nerdybookclub.wordpress.com/2020/09/22/book-trailer-reveal-swish-the-slam-dunking-alley-ooping-high-flying-harlem-globetrotters-by-don-tate-illustrator-and-suzanne-slade-author/

Suzanne Slate talks about the writing of the book on WGNTV.  View it here -- https://wgntv.com/morning-news/author-suzanna-slade-of-swish-talks-about-her-new-harlem-globetrotters-book-for-kids
 
Don Tate is interviewed here: IRC shares the complete article from the Winter 2020 IRC Journal, Insights from Authors: A Conversation with Don Tate, by Constance A. Keremes, Guest Columnist.

Adult Books of Interest to Young Adults.
The most convenient place to start with taking a look at "adult" books that have interest for YA readers is to begin with the ALEX award lists that are chosen by the American Library Association each year. The Alex Awards annually recognize "ten books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults ages 12 through 18".

Check out the Alex Award lists on the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the ALA, website at http://www.ala.org/yalsa/alex-awards.  The current list of 10 and those from the past 4-5 years will provide you a good start toward reading and reacting to one book marketed to adults but which young adults find an interest.

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Picture Book Focus

Kathleen Krull 

Kathleen Krull is an author of unique talent. In 2017 HarperCollins released an introduction to the women of the White House, America's First Ladies. Krull has authored many informational books - several featuring women of history. Her recent series includes Coretta Scott King, Judy Blume, and other accomplished women. Her older titles included one featuring Wilma Rudolph and another featuring Caeser Chavez. Some are picture books that can get learners thinking about an era or a personal contribution to society -- leading to more study and reading about the topic. Check out Kathleen Krull's books and explore her writing process.

As much as I like the books that Kathleen Krull writes -- actually I love her books, I did find that America's First Ladies contains some misleading facts. With older students I think I might ask them to read the book and discover the historical statements that are in error. The errors are not earth shattering but are errors - the symptom of editorial missteps, for example:

• Louisa Adams is said to be the only First Lady to be foreign born - however, Melanie Trump was also foreign born so that would be two. 
• Later (page 184) Krull tells us that Richard Nixon selected Jerry Ford as his running mate. That is not so, Nixon selected Spiro Agnew. The pair was elected twice to the Presidency and Vice-Presidency. But later, in 1973, Agnew resigned because of criminal charges and at that time Jerry Ford became the President under the provisions of the 25th Amendment - a point that secondary students should understand. And later Ford became President when Nixon resigned. 

 Actually - this book would be a great opportunity to make readers aware of always being critical readers and to understand that writers (and editors) sometimes misinterpret facts and information.  Teaching critical reading is an important skill.  Also copyright date is very important.  I am guessing that Krull wrote the sentence about Louise Adams being the only foreign born first lady BEFORE Melanie Trump was FLOTUS.  Then by the time the book was to be published she was included but somehow the editors (and the author) failed to connect to the fact that including her would impact what had been said about other first ladies.  Books take a few years to be published so drafts of books come about long before its publication.

And of course now Dr. Jill Biden would be included - perhaps this is an opportunity to ask students to do a little research and write their idea of what should be included in this book about her. I wonder if there has ever been a first lady that has been so highly educated.  I don't know.

Update: Kathleen Krull died from cancer on January 15, 2021.  Accordingly any update of her First Ladies title will not be forthcoming from her.  Perhaps using her book as a mentor text, secondary readers could write the chapter on Dr. Jill Biden.

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World War II - and the Holocaust

And if you teach the Holocaust, or any information about World War Ii - don't miss this 2021 book from Peter Sis - too important to miss - (A book for ages 6-9 but needs to be read by all who can read - children, teens, adults, and elders)

Peter Sis's book Nicky & Vera (Norton Young Readers, 2021) Check out this blog post with some other resources about Nicholas Winton:

McElmeel, Sharron. (2021, Jan. 31). Nicky Winton - A Hero Hidden in Plain Sight. McBookwords (Blog). http://bit.ly/WWII-hiddenhero

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Using Information Books

A few information books that might ignite some interest in older readers. The information in these books is sound and extremely interesting. Information books - more than any other genre are driven by the interest of the reader. Regularly we have used basic picture books to introduce rather sophisticated topics: black holes (Black Holes: A Kids Book About Space - What Is a Black Hole? by Jared Johnson [2013]), biology - genetics (Gregor Mendel: The Friar Who Grew Peas by Cheryl Bardoe [2015 pb]), and so forth. If you haven't seen the Bardoe book -- don't miss it. It is one of my favorites to use with older readers.

Cheryl Bardoe's newest title is Nothing Stopped Sophie: The Story of Unshakable Mathematician Sophie Germain.The book with illustrations by Barbara McClintock (Little, Brown, 2018) tells the story of an eighteenth century mathematician who persisted the prejudices against female scholars to solve the unsolvable to find the solution that eventually enabled structures such as the Eiffel Tower to be constructed in such a way that it would not topple.

Other titles to explore:

• Baker, J. (2016) Circle. Candlewick Press. -- The incredible migration journey of the bar-tailed godwits who fly from their breeding grounds in the Arctic to Australia and New Zealand and back again. Their paths have been followed for thousands of years ... over the Great Barrier Reef and city scapes in China. 
• Tougias, M. (2016). A Storm Too Soon. Henry Holt & Co. - Three passengers are left to struggle for survival when a forty-seven-foot sailboat disappears in the Gulf during a calamitour storm. 
• Fabiny, S. (2016). Where is the Amazon? Grosset & Dunlap. -- Explore the wonders and beauty of the Amazon - the humans who have lived there for thousands of years, and the flora and fauna of the region. 
• DK Publishing (2016).  Eat Your Greens Reds Yellows and Purples. DK Publishing. - A children's cookbook and guide to colorful and tasty food.
• Rockett, P. (2016) Francisco Goya. Rosen Publishing. (Inspiring Artists Series). 

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Biographical Titles / Historical Fiction

Stories such as Walking Home to Rosie Lee can initiate a dialogue about the impact of slavery and the Civil War on families over time. The impact did not just impact during the days of slavery but had many ramifications as time went on. Families had little or no ancestral history, sometimes no family members to interact with. Does this have an impact on today's families? Did the structure of the broken families carry over to the present day?Inventor's Secret highlights the need for including inventors that are not European white men. An interesting small press publisher making a mark with their books: Cinco Puntos Press - two favorites Saltypie andWalking Home to Rosie Lee, http://bit.ly/CPP15 #weneeddiversebooks
About the author/illustrator - if you haven't already read the webpage-- McElmeel, S. (2011) McBookwords - Walking Home to Rosie Lee. McBookwords. Retrieved from http://www.mcbookwords.com/books/walkinghome.htm

Suzanne Slade and illustrator Jennifer Black Reinhardt created a book that emerged in September 2015 -- The Inventor's Secret: What Thomas Edison Told Henry Ford. (Charlesbridge, 2015).
Here's some interesting background about the book - http://bit.ly/Edison-Ford. 

Now the challenge -- we need to think about inclusion of diverse subjects. This book fits great into an inventor's focus but so often the only inventors included are those that came as European white men. In response to this news item share a collaborative read about inventors that features an inventor that is not white or not male. I'll be interested in what titles each of you come up with. For example:

• Do you know of Granville T. Woods (if there is not a book about him -- are there alternative ways to share information about him?) 
• Do you know who invented the potato chip? 
• Or, how about: Elijah McCoy,
  
  1. Elijah McCoy,
  2. Benjamin Banneker, 
  3. Garrett Morgan, 
  4. and Chester Greenwood (earmuffs), 
  5. Earl Dickson (band-aids®), 
  6. Clarence Crane (life savers®), 
  7. William Russell  (guess what he invented?), 
  8. Igor Sikorsky (helicopter), 
  9. Catherine Greene (ideas provided Eli Whitney with refinements making his cotton gin a success), 
  10. Margaret Knight (safety mechanism on loom & the paper bag- and 26 patents), 
  11. Sarah Breedlove Walker (hair products), 
  12. Bette Graham (white-out), 
  13. Ann Moore (SNUGLI - a baby carrier, and later a carrier for oxygen tanks), 
  14. Stephanie Kwolek (strong fiber - Kevlar), 
  15. Gertrude B. Elion (drugs for leukemia and popular organ rejection drugs), 
  16. Mary Anderson (windshield wipers), 
  17. Josephine Cochrane (dishwasher), 
  18. Marion Donovan (disposable diaper), 
  19. Melitta Benz (automatic drip coffee maker), 
  20. & George Washington Carver (over 300 different products, many using peanuts [but not peanut butter]). 

These inventors generally do not have books about them. How can information be shared -- or can you find books/articles about any of these inventors? Can you find articles? Picture books? Full biographies? Or chapters within collective biographies? Share what you find.
Here's a start --

Renaud, Anne. (2017) Mr. Crum’s Potato Predicament. Illustrated by Felicita Sala. Kids Can Press. 
Taylor, Gaylia. (2011) George Crum and the Saratoga Chips. Illustrated by Frank Morrison. Lee & Low. 
Stowell, Penelope. (2005). The Greatest Potatoes. Illustrated by Sharon Watts. Jump at the Sun. 
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A more contemporary inventor of note was featured by Chris Barton (author) and Don Tate (illustrator).  The inventor is Lonnie Johnson the inventor of the super-soaker.  Lonnie Johnson not only invented the super-soaker but also holds over 120 additional patents.
Barton, Chris. (2016).  Whoosh! Lonnie Johnson's Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions. Illustrated by Don Tate.  Charlesbridge.


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• Stone, Tanya Lee. (2018) Who Says Women Can’t Be Computer Programmers? The Story of Ada Lovelace. Illustrated by Marjorie Priceman. Henry Holt and Co..
• Grady, Cynthia. (2018). Write to Me: Letters from Japanese American Children to the Librarian They Left Behind. Illustrated by Amiko Hirao. Charlesbridge Press

I was particularly enamored with the Grady title as it seemed to perfect lead-in for one of my favorite WWII books

• Oppenheim, Joanne. (2006) Dear Miss Breed: True Stories of the Japanese American Incarceration During World War II and a Librarian Who Made a Difference. Scholastic Nonfiction. $22.99. (0-439-56992-3). A public librarian Miss Breed made sure that the Japanese-American children who were interred in concentration camps were sent books during their incarceration during World War II. (non-fiction) Books to children (online)

Check out others from the Nerdy Book site at Check out others from the Nerdy Book site at https://nerdybookclub.wordpress.com/2018/03/02/31-new-picture-book-biographies-to-celebrate-womens-history-month-by-kate-hannigan/ and

Writer's Rumpus list at https://writersrumpus.com/2018/05/11/picture-book-biographies/

My two old favorites:

Markel, Michelle. Balderdash!: John Newbery and the Boisterous Birth of Children's Books. Illustrated by Nancy Carpenter. Chronicle Books, 2017.

A second book that I love is one that would fit nicely in a classroom's STEM focus. This book introduces Grace Hopper - the woman who revolutionized computer coding, to readers.

Grace Hopper: Queen of Computer Code. Illustrations by Katy Wu. Sterling Children's Books, 2017.
Wallmark, Laurie.

• List 2-3 reasons why you feel this book was published (what were its significant attributes)
• Who might be interested in this book – as a reader?
• Positive elements from your personal perspective.
• Negative elements from your perspective.
• How could this book fit into your curriculum.

End of week 7 newsletter