Mammoths and Mastodons: Titans of the Ice Age, by Cheryl Bardoe

Published July 16, 2013 by Dagmar

Here’s a great non-fiction book for enthusiasts of the pre-historic era. It begins with an important discovery by two boys just north of the Arctic Circle in 2007. Two boys found a frozen baby mammoth. The mammoth, later named Lyuba by scientists, died nearly 40,000 years before and was fully intact.

Mammoths and Mastodons does a great job of connecting the past with the present. It includes information about the current scientific work of three paleontologists and how their work builds our understanding of these great creatures and how their work might be able to help us save elephants and other large mammals today. I learned in the book that elephants and mammoths lived at the same time, 5 million years ago. One of the questions scientists are trying to answer is “Why didn’t elephants go extinct when mammoths went extinct?”

In addition to the photographs throughout the book, there are interesting panels of information, like: Did dinosaurs and mammoths live at the same time? and Do these elephants and mammoths seem almost human?

This book is targeted toward upper elementary and middle school readers and would be a great book for students interested in prehistoric animals or modern day elephants.

Ask Mr. Bear, by Marjorie Flack

Published July 12, 2013 by Dagmar

Here is an old fashioned but very sweet book that is always a hit with my preschoolers. Although the illustrations are dated, there is good preschool-level suspense when Danny goes into the woods to talk to a bear.

Danny wants to buy a gift for his mother for her birthday. He asks a hen, goose, goat, sheep, cow and then finally a bear what to give his mother. The bear gives the best answer, a hug.

Greek Myths and Legends, by Graphic Universe

Published July 9, 2013 by Dagmar

One of my favorite genres is the graphic novel. I have many students who are graphic novel devotees and will read anything written in this format, including mythology and American history.

My students are big fans of The Olympians series of graphic novels. They’ve read all the books in the series that I have in the library (Zeus, Hades, Hera, Athena and Poseidon). They are eagerly awaiting the newest book in the series, Aphrodite.

Thank goodness for Graphic Universe and their series of Greek mythological tales. They’ve helped quench my students’ thirst for Greek myths. These graphic novels include myths like Jason: Quest for the Golden Fleece; Theseus: Battling the Minotaur; Trojan Horse: The Fall of Troy, Perseus: The Hunt for Medusa’s Head and others.

While these tales are a quick read (I often get them back the same day I check them out), there are quite a few of them and they do a great job broadening my students’ understanding of Greek myths. Written by various authors and drawn by various artists, these books bring these stories to life in a dramatic and exciting way. I would recommend them to any mythology or graphic novel fan.

Baby Beluga, by Raffi

Published July 7, 2013 by Dagmar

This book was the book that made my kindergarten class sing last year. Baby Beluga is a great song song by children’s musician, Raffi. The book is part of the Raffi Songs to Read series. I love to sing, and singing Baby Beluga with a crowd of kindergartners is absolutely the best. We created hand movements and sang this book at every class time. The kids brought tears to my eyes when they performed Baby Beluga with their teacher at an assembly. I love “singing” this book to any young child.

This book follows the song exactly as it is sung. Check out Raffi singing the song on YouTube to hear how the song goes. The illustrations by Ashley Wolff are sweet. Best yet, this inspired an interest in whales in my library! Off we were to discover more about Beluga whales, blue whales, gray whales and more! If you like to sing, Baby Beluga may just be the book for you.

Ivy and Bean, by Annie Barrows

Published July 4, 2013 by Dagmar

In the first book of the Ivy and Bean series, we meet seven year old Bean — a girl with a lot of friends. She doesn’t need a new friend, particularly the nice girl, Ivy, from across the street, because “nice, Bean knew, is another word for boring.” Ivy wears a headband. Bean definitely does not. When Bean’s plans to play a prank on her older sister go south, Ivy steps in to help. Ivy surprises Bean. “Ivy looked like a wimp, but she didn’t talk like one.” So begins Ivy and Bean’s friendship. It’s a great book that shows that people can surprise you and friendship can come from any corner. I just loved this book and can see why this series so popular in my library. It’s cute without being “too cute”.

Ivy and Bean is a wonderful early chapter series perfect for 2nd and 3rd grade. There are now 10 books in the series.

Summer reading update continued

Published July 4, 2013 by Dagmar

Happy 4th of July! Summer is my favorite time to hunker down with my books, and I’ve read three more books from my summer reading list. You can see the reviews of the first three summer reading list books I read, here. My hope is to find great books to recommend to my tween and middle school students next school year. I’m happy to say that I found one book that I absolutely love, one that I liked, and one that I know I should like but feel lukewarm about. Let’s start with the good news.

The book I absolutely loved and just know will fly off my shelves is the sequel to One Crazy Summer, P.S. Be Eleven. I think it’s best to first read One Crazy Summer (click the link to see my blog post). Briefly, in One Crazy Summer, Rita Williams-Garcia tells the story of Delphine, Vonetta and Fern. These three young girls leave Brooklyn, where they live with their Pa and grandmother, Big Mama to fly to Oakland, CA, to meet the mother that abandoned them. Their mother, Cecile, is unapologetic about leaving her children to become a poet in CA. Life in Cecile’s neighborhood in North Oakland means learning and living with members of the Black Panthers, something very foreign to the girls’ family in Brooklyn. (My public school is located just blocks from where One Crazy Summer takes place in Oakland.) The girls, who have always taught not to make a spectacle of themselves, learn the words “oppression”, “revolution” and “Black Power”. I didn’t know what to expect from P.S. Be Eleven, but I was so pleased that it picked up right at the end of One Crazy Summer. In P.S. Eleven, the girls continue their relationship with Cecile by writing to her often. But, in this book, you enter their lives with Pa, Big Mama, their uncle Darnell, fighting in the Vietnam War, the sensation of the Jackson Five, and the girls’ new stepmom. I love the way the three sisters interact, and I had to smile every time they said “Power to the People”. I also love getting to know Delphine and her family a little more. This book is excellent – just as good as One Crazy Summer, but different. In One Crazy Summer, you admire Delphine’s strong, independent and reliable nature. In P.S. Be Eleven, you wish that she didn’t have to be quite so strong and reliable, and you root for Cecile as she tries to convince Delphine to just “Be Eleven”. While I think I got even more out of this book, because I lived at this time, I think kids will get a valuable glimpse into the late 60s and early 70s. I can’t wait to recommend this to my students. My son, who loved One Crazy Summer, has already declared that he plans to read it.

I am a big fan of Steve Sheinkin’s books. Although I haven’t written about it yet, I loved his book, The Notorious Benedict Arnold, as well as his award-winning book, Bomb: The Race to Build – and steal – the Most Dangerous Weapon in the World. Lincoln’s Grave Robbers was a good book, but it wasn’t great. It tells the story of a fantastic plot by counterfeiters in the 1870s to steal Abraham Lincoln’s body and ransom it. The book begins with various stories of counterfeiters and the birth of the United States Secret Service, the organization formed to catch them. Only after several chapters do you understand how their stories link to the plot to steal Abraham Lincoln’s body. Once the link is made, the book is off to the races, and lots of suspenseful chapters ensue. When the story is completed, the book goes into true tales of body snatching that are somewhat interesting (a little gruesome, maybe) but again, disconnected from the rest of the book. So, while an interesting premise and a suspenseful story, this book just didn’t knock my socks off, as Sheinkin’s other books did.

I was really looking forward to Out of the Dust, by Karen Hesse, after reading her fabulous book, Witness, about the infiltration of the KKK into a small town in Vermont in 1924. Out of the Dust won the 1998 Newbery Medal. Written in verse, Out of the Dust tells the story of girl named Billie Jo who lives with her mother and father on a small farm in the Dust Bowl in the 1930s. Her father tries to make a living farming through the many dust storms and drought. The family becomes very poor. The family’s struggle extend beyond their financial circumstances to a terrible tragedy. I can appreciate that this book is powerful and tells of an important time in our nation’s history. I just can’t move past the grim feeling I had as I read much of the book. I was glad that it took a happier turn at the end, but think it will be tough to enthusiastically recommend this book to my students.

Seven Blind Mice, by Ed Young

Published July 2, 2013 by Dagmar

This Caldecott Honor book is a favorite with my young readers. I usually read it to pre-k through 1st grade. The colors are brilliant, set on a black background.

Seven mice, red, green, yellow, purple, orange, blue and white, try to understand the large object in front of them. Each one feels a different part of the whole and makes a guess as to what the object must be. It isn’t until the seventh mouse runs “up one side, down another and across the Something from end to end” that he discovers that the “Something” is an elephant. The others, then do the same and agree with the white mouse. The moral? “Knowing in part may make a fine tale, but wisdom comes from seeing the whole.”

Etched in Clay: The Life of Dave, Enslaved Potter and Poet, by Andrea Cheng

Published July 1, 2013 by Dagmar

This is a very moving book, written in verse, about Dave the Potter a slave who lived in South Carolina in the 1800s. Andrea Cheng has woven the voices of Dave’s various masters, with Dave’s own voice and the voices of his two wives, Eliza and Lydia. The book moves quickly and is filled with beautiful woodcuts that help illustrate the story. I read this book in one sitting and immediately handed it to my 12 year old son to read. He also read it in one sitting.

Dave was bought on the auction block when he was 17. Bought to dig clay in the river in South Carolina, Dave’s master, Harvey Drake, the owner of a pottery company, teaches him to throw pottery. Drake sees that Dave is talented at creating pottery and soon, Dave no longer digs for clay. He only creates pottery. Drake marries Dave to a woman named Eliza, who is sold off after a few years. Dave misses her terribly. When Drake, at his wife’s urging, helps Dave learn to read, Dave not only reads, he starts to think in verse. Soon, he wants to write down his words on the pots he creates. But, slaves who could write were feared in South Carolina. In fact, a slave caught writing would be punished by lashing. Despite the danger, Dave bravely continues to write verse on the pots he creates, showing the world that he made those beautiful pots. Dave moves from master to master throughout his life and even works as a type setter for a time before returning to creating pottery. He is married a second time to a woman named Lydia who has two sons he loves. Again, they are taken away from him. Finally, after the Civil War ends, Dave is free. Yet, he continues to work for his last master, Lewis Miles in Edgefield.

This book portrays the cruelty of slavery in a meaningful way that I think will resonate with students. Readers really feel his hurt from the time when his master decides what to call him to the loss of his wives and stepsons and the indignity of being told it is dangerous for him to read and write.

Highly recommended for middle and high school. A Junior Library Guild selection.

Women of Hope: African Americans who Made a Difference, by Joyce Hansen

Published June 30, 2013 by Dagmar

I love to read parts of this book aloud to my students during African-American history month. This book features quotes, black and white photographs and a page about many notable African-American women, including: Ida B. Wells-Barnett, The Delany Sisters, Septima Poinsette Clark, Ella Josephine Baker, Fannie Lou Hamer, Ruby Dee, Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison, Marian Wright Eledman, Alica Walker, Alexa Canady, Mae C. Jemison with a list of more notable women in the back of the book.

This book makes a great resource for teachers or a wonderfully inspiring book for young people. Read a page here and there, or read the entire book. Either way, don’t miss it.

Titanic: Voices from the Disaster, by Deborah Hopkinson

Published June 28, 2013 by Dagmar

The story of the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 on its maiden voyage has fascinated so many. The Titanic’s story never really captured my attention, but that ended when I listened to the audio version of this book last year. I decided to read the book myself when I saw the number of pictures and side bars the author included in the book. Although I liked the audio edition, I think you lose something if you don’t actually read the book. The additional content is really great.

Titanic: Voices from the Disaster was published in 2012 on the 100th anniversary of the loss of the Titanic at sea. It tells the story of the Titanic from the time it was built to the day of the disaster and, finally, its discovery at the bottom of the ocean in September 1985. The author weaves in an incredibly suspenseful story from the recollections and pictures of different survivors, passengers and crew alike, pictures of the Titanic’s incredibly luxurious accommodations and details about the construction of the boat. I couldn’t put this book down. It moved quickly, and the side bars and pictures were really interesting.

I’d recommend this book to middle school, high school and adult readers, especially those interested in the story of this great ship. This book won a 2013 Silbert Medal honor.

Thanks to Junior Library Guild for introducing me to this great book.

Kids' Lit Corner

Books kids will love!