Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday: Best of Nonfiction for Kids 2014 Part I

December 17, 2014 Alyson Beecher

For the past three years, I have hosted the Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday Challenge. This year, I pushed myself to read even more nonfiction and to fill in some of my gaps. At this point in the year, I have read 140 nonfiction books released in 2014, and another 112 from previous years. And I am still squeezing in a few more titles before next week's favorites are selected.

Last week, I shared with everyone the Best Of... Lists for Children's Books and how they fared with fiction and nonfiction. Overall, there was not enough nonfiction or a variety of nonfiction on these lists. So, I am doing my own best of list for nonfiction books for children. However, as I started looking over the books I have read this year, I realized that I would have a tough time limiting it to 10 or 20 books. Hence, I am doing the post in two parts and also sneaking in some runners up.

This week I share with everyone, Part I of my Nonfiction for Children Best Of 2014 list. Please note that the list is not in any specific order.

Best Poetry:

Winter Bees & Other Poems of the Cold by Joyce Sidman; Illustrated by Rick Allen (HMH Books for Young Children, November 4, 2014)

Runners Up: On the Wing by David Elliot (Candlewick, September 2014); Harlem Hellfighters by J. Patrick Lewis (Creative Editions, August 2014); Dear Wandering Wildebeest: And Other Poems from the Water Hole by Irene Latham (Millbrook Press, September 2014); Water Can Be by Laura Purdie Salas (Millbrook Press, April 2014).

Best Series:

Scientist in the Field by various authors (HMH Books for Young Children, 2014) - Since I couldn't pick which one was my absolute favorite, I selected them all.

Best Book With an Ick Factor:

When Lunch Fights Back: Wickedly Clever Animal Defenses by Rebecca L. Johnson (Millbrook Press, September 1, 2014)

Best Baby Animals Book:

Born in the Wild: Baby Mammals and Their Parents by Lita Judge (Roaring Brook Press, October 21, 2014)

Runners Up: A Baby Elephant in the Wild by Caitlin O'Connell, Photographs by Timothy Rodwell (HMH Books for Young Readers, March 2014); A Mom for Umande by Maria Faulconer, Illustrated by Susan Kathleen Hartung (Dial, April 2014)

Best Early Readiness Concept Books:

Jane Brocket's Clever Concept Books by Jane Brocket (Millbrook Press, 2014)

Best Math/Numbers/Time Concept Book:

If...A Mind-bending New Way of Looking at Big Ideas and Numbers by David J. Smith; Illustrated by Steve Adams (Kids Can Press, August 1, 2014)

Runners-Up: Mysterious Patterns: Finding Fractals in Nature by Sarah C. Campbell, Photographs Richard C. Campbell (Boyds Mills Press, April 1, 2014); At the Same Time, Around the World by Clotilde Perrin (Chronicle Books, March 2014)

Best Book for Making a Beetle Likeable:

Behold the Beautiful Dung Beetle by Cheryl Bardoe, Illustrated by Alan Marks (Charlesbridge, March 2014)

Runner Up: Beetle Busters by Loree Griffin Burns (HMH Books for Young Readers, October 2014)

Best Book that Explains the Science Behind the Super Hero:

Batman Science: The Real-World Science Behind Batman's Gear by Tammy Enz, Agnieszka Biskup (Capstone Press, February 2014)

Best Book About Services Dogs:

Sniffer Dogs; How Dogs (and Their Noses) Save the World by Nancy F. Castaldo (HMH Books for Young Children, July 2014)

Runner Up: Tuesday Tucks Me In: The Loyal Bond Between a Soldier and His Service Dog by Luis Carlos Montalván, Brett Witter, Photographs by Dan Dion (Roaring Brook Press, May 2014)

Best ABC Book:

Attack! Boss! Cheat Code!: A Gamer's Alphabet by Chris Barton, Illustrated by Joey Spiotto (POW!, October 2014)

Stop by next week for Part 2 and more wonderful nonfiction books.

Don't forget to link up your nonfiction reviews:

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday: Let's Talk Nonfiction and Best Of Lists

December 10, 2014 Alyson Beecher

'Tis the season for all of the Best Of... Lists for Children's Books. I love reading these lists and seeing which titles I have read and which titles I should hunt down and read before the end of the year. In the past, I never thought about what nonfiction titles were or were not included on these lists. As I have been reading more and more children's nonfiction, I have started to look for my favorite nonfiction books. I was a bit surprised to see how few were included on most lists and many were the same titles over and over again.

Here is a run down on the Best Of lists and how they stand on nonfiction:

AAAS/Subaru SB&F: Finalists for the 2015 Children's Science Book Category - Similar to NSTA (see below), the focus of this list is science nonfiction. There is also a Young Adult Category and the finalists can be found here.

Chicago Public Library: Librarians Pick Best Books of 2014 - Under KIDS, the division is by Fiction and Informational Text (nonfiction) and by younger and older readers. Teen Picks are divided into Fiction, Nonfiction, and Graphic Novels. There are a total of 54 nonfiction titles on this list.

Horn Book Fanfare 2014 - Horn Book divides books into picture books, fiction, folklore, poetry, and nonfiction. Though the nonfiction is a bit heavier on biographies, there are several titles listed that are not popping up on all of the other lists.

Huffington Post's Best Picture Books of 2014 - Creative categories and some fun biographies and history selections, but no science titles.

Kirkus Review Best Children's Books of 2014 - Kirkus wins for the most categories and best category names. There are 14 titles under informational picture books and another 11 under Middle Grade nonfiction. If I was giving stars out, Kirkus would get one for the variety of nonfiction books represented on their list.

NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Books for K-12 2015 (Books published in 2014) - If you are looking for some truly outstanding science nonfiction, hurry on over to this list.

New York Times Best Illustrated Books of 2014 - Books are divided into several categories, not much for nonfiction, but a great list of art picture book biographies.

New York Times Notable Children's Books - Books are divided into Picture Books, Middle Grade, and Young Adult. Fiction and nonfiction are mixed together and the nominal number of nonfiction titles are ones that are visible on every other list.

NPR's Book Concierge: Guide to 2014's Great Read - NPR has an interesting way of dividing up books. The best that I can see is seven out of the twenty-nine children's titles were nonfiction. Most were biographies and memories. Even under the "Science & Society" category, science took a backseat to the social science.

Publishers Weekly's Best Children's Books of 2014 - Books are divided into three categories - Children, Middle Grade, and Young Adult. Fiction and nonfiction is mixed together. Once again, biographies & memoirs, and history rule. So, where are the science books?

School Library Journal's Best Books of 2014 - Books are divided into four categories - Picture Books, Middle Grade, Young Adult, and Nonfiction. Next to Kirkus, this is the most nonfiction titles on any individual lists.

YALSA 2015 Nonfiction Finalists - Though this is a short list of books, I thought I would include it for those who might be interested.

Please know that I am a fan of many of the books - fiction and nonfiction - included on the lists above. This post was not meant in anyway to be disrespectful of the work of the staff who create these lists. The purpose of this post was just to bring a little attention to the oversight of the many amazing nonfiction books that are published each year. Teachers and Librarians check out these lists on a yearly basis. Maybe it's time to make room for a few more titles, nonfiction titles. Stop by next week for my Best of Children's Nonfiction for 2014 and see what made my list. And I hope that others who have participated in the #nfpb2014 challenge will join in and add their favorite titles from 2014. Updates to the list made on 12/11/14.

For additional Best Of lists, check out Watch.Connect.Read. John Schumacher or Mr. Schu is keeping an update list of BEST OF lists on his site. You can click here for an on-going updated list.

Don't forget to link up your nonfiction reviews:

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday - December New Releases Roundup

December 3, 2014 Alyson Beecher

Thank you everyone for all of the great posts each week for the Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge 2014. We are nearing the end of the year. How are you doing on your goal of reading more nonfiction?

Since this is the last new releases post for 2014, it seems to have morphed into a collection of titles that I missed in other months. I know that these posts are not comprehensive, and many of these I am still tracking down, but I do hope that it helps you to find many new titles to check out.

Since December does not seem to be a big release month, I searched best of 2014 lists and other sources to find titles that I missed during previous months this year. I also included a few longer titles for older students.

If you missed the posts from the past eleven months, I have included links to them below.

December

Chimpanzee Children of Gombe by Jane Goodall; Photographs by Michael Neugebauer (Minedition)

November

Monstergami by David Mitchell (Firefly Books)

Rain Forest Colors by Janet Lawler; Photographs by Tim Laman (National Geographic)

October

Attack! Boss! Cheat Code!: A Gamer's Alphabet by Chris Barton; Illustrated by Joey Spiotto (POW)

Because I am a Girl by Rosemary McCarney; Photographs by Jen Albaugh (Second Story Press)

September

Buried Sunlight: How Fossil Fuels Have Changed the Earth by Molly Bang; Illustrated by Penny Chisholm (Blue Sky Press)

Eyes Wide Open: Going Behind the Environmental Headlines by Paul Fleischman (Candlewick)

Hello, I'm Johnny Cash by G. Neri; Illustrations by A.G. Ford (Candlewick Press)

Something About a Bear by Jackie Morris (Frances Lincoln's Children's Books)

Stand There! She Shouted: The Invincible Photographer Julia Margaret Cameron by Susan Goldman Rubin; Illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline (Candlewick Press)

On the Wing by David Elliott; Illustrated by Becca Stadtlander (Candlewick Press)

August

Alice Waters and the Trip to Delicious by Jacqueline Briggs Martin (Readers to Eaters)

The History of Money: From Bartering to Banking by Martin Jenkins; Illustrated by Satoshi Kitamura (Candlewick Press)

Spic-And-Span!: Lillian Gilbreth's Wonder Kitchen by Monica Kulling; Illustrated by David Parkins (Tundra Books)

March

Behold the Beautiful Dung Beetle by Cheryl Bardoe; Illustrated by Alan Marks (Charlesbridge)

Grizzly Bears of Alaska: Explore the Wild World of Bears by Debbie S. Miller, Photographs by Patrick J. Endres (Little Bigfoot)

January

Friends for Freedom by Suzanne Buckingham Slade (Charlesbridge)

Searching for Sarah Rector: The Richest Black Girl in America by Tonya Bolden (Abrams)

Don't forget to link up your nonfiction reviews:

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday: #NCTE14 - It's a Wrap!

November 26, 2014 Alyson Beecher

Recently, I arrived back home after spending several days in National Harbor, MD for the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Annual Convention. If you are an elementary teacher and you believe that NCTE is only for High School English Teachers guess again. This was my fourth year attending NCTE and I can confidently say that there are amazing sessions for teachers of students at all grade levels.

However, one thing I realized this year is that relationships can make or break the experience for a participant. Early in my career as a teacher, I would at times be sent to a conference. If I was fortunate to be sent as part of the team, the conference seemed to be better than if I went alone. However, when you have worked to develop relationships with those all over the country, the conference is a completely different experience with much more depth.

One of the things that made this experience so meaningful were all of the relationships and connections that I have developed over the past several years. Though I could list dozens of people that I loved seeing, hanging out with having a meal with or a special chat. I would be afraid of missing someone. So I have just provided some highlights from the conference. However, friends please know that this experience was more amazing because of the chance to spend it with each of you.

Day 1:

A few highlights that I must mention -

The Scientist in the Field Session - Loree Griffin Burns and Elizabeth Rusch shared respectively about their new books Beetle Busters and Next Wave. The session was extremely informative as those who attended were able to learn about the research and back stories to the books that they write. Additionally, I have been wanting to meet both of these authors for quite awhile and finally got a chance to meet them after their presentation.

Attending the Panel led by Jeff Anderson which featured Kate Messner, Erin Dionne, Varian Johnson, Sarah Albee, Laurel Snyder, and Linda Urban. The focus was on how to "read like a writer" leading hopefully to writing like one. The focus was on mentor texts, which is an area that I want to learn more about and was excited that I was able to attend.

In the evening, I attended a special dinner hosted by Boyds Mills Press to celebrate authors and poets. It was an "once in a lifetime" opportunity. For the first half of the dinner I sat between authors, Eileen Spinelli and Larry Dane Brimner. For the second half of the dinner, I sat between poets, Rebecca Kai Dotlich and Amy Ludwig VanDerwater. For the most part, I sat in awe and needing to pinch myself to believe I was really there.

Day 2:

On the second day of NCTE, I was kind of nervous. I think the day is a partial blur. Since I was presenting in the late afternoon, I seemed to have trouble focusing. I attended a session about the Orbis Pictus Award and a special luncheon where I was able to hear Lucy Caulkins speak.

Below is a group selfie of Cynthia Alaniz, Lisa Morris-Wilkey, and myself as we wait to get into our room.

Our presentation was on nonfiction and ways to support students while using nonfiction in the classroom.

In the event that the slideshare doesn't work as an embedded app, here is the link.

Finally, in the evening, I had a chance to meet up with Nerdy Book Club friends and of course there was a lot of book talking going on.

Day 3:

On the final day of NCTE, I found myself at some wonderful gatherings and then spending some time in the afternoon with a variety of Nerdy Book Club friends.

Children's Literature Assembly Breakfast - The guest speaker at the breakfast was Jon Klassen. I love hearing all of the back stories to the books that he writes.

Scholastic Brunch - One of the fun sessions is the Scholastic Brunch where authors join in for a form of readers' theater. I am excited about new books from Augusta Scattergood and Pamela Muñoz Ryan.

What's next?

My challenge to you: If you have never attended NCTE, give it a try and sign up to attend in 2015. If you have attended, think about pairing up with others to submit a proposal to present.

Hope to see you in Minneapolis, Minnesota next November for #NCTE15.