Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday: Solving the Puzzle Under the Sea

Solving the Puzzle Under the Sea: Marie Tharp Maps the Ocean Floor
by Robert Burleigh; Illustrated by Raúl Colón
Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books (January 5, 2016)
Audience: Grades 2nd to 5th
Nonfiction * Biography * Science/Technology
IndieBound | WorldCat

Description from GoodReads: 
Filled with gorgeous illustrations by acclaimed artist Raúl Colón, this illustrated biography shares the story of female scientist, Marie Tharp, a pioneering woman scientist and the first person to ever successfully map the ocean floor.

Marie Tharp was always fascinated by the ocean. Taught to think big by her father who was a mapmaker, Marie wanted to do something no one had ever done before: map the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. Was it even possible? Not sure if she would succeed, Marie decided to give it a try.

Throughout history, others had tried and failed to measure the depths of the oceans. Sailors lowered weighted ropes to take measurements. Even today, scientists are trying to measure the depth by using echo sounder machines to track how long it would take a sound wave sent from a ship to the sea floor to come back. But for Marie, it was like piecing together an immense jigsaw puzzle.

Despite past failures and challenges—sometimes Marie would be turned away from a ship because having a woman on board was “bad luck”—Marie was determined to succeed. And she did, becoming the first person to chart the ocean floor, helping us better understand the planet we call home.

My thoughts on the book:
In honor of Women's History Month, I am featuring books all month about women who have made contributions to history or science. 

This week I finally read Solving the Puzzle Under the Sea: Marie Tharp Maps the Ocean Floor. As a child, Marie learned about creating maps from watching her father draw maps. 

Though it was not common for women to be scientists in the 1940's, Marie was determined to find something that would lead to a significant scientific discovery. 

Along with Bruce Heezen, a colleague, Marie set out to map the seafloor. With meticulous work of comparing the various sound waves or soundings. Her research led her to discover a deep rift in the ocean floor. The work that Tharp did with Heezen took 20 years. It would take another 20 years before Tharp would receive full recognition for her work and contribution to science. 

Burleigh made an interesting choice in telling the story with Marie as the narrator.  At the end of the book, the author provides a one page summary of Marie Tharp's life with additional information not found in the narrative.  Also, resources at the end of the book provide readers with links and books for further reading. 

Other Biographies of Women: 

Dare the Wind: The Record-Breaking Voyage of Eleanor Prentiss and the Flying Cloud by Tracey Fern; Illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully (Farrar, Strauss, & Giroux, 2014) 

Life in the Ocean: The Story of Oceanographer Sylvia Earle by Claire A. Nivola (Farrar, Strauss, & Giroux, 2012)

Look for any of these at your local indie bookstore or public library. 

Don't forget to link up your nonfiction reviews:

Slice of Life Challenge Day 8: Principals As Writers

Today, we did the first day in a 2-day Writing Institute for a number of Principals and Assistant Principals in our District. 

We kicked off the training with an invitation for everyone to write. It really is amazing how giving everyone 10-15 minutes to write on whatever topic they would like to write about can be so powerful. When everyone shared out about the experience, there were a lot of comments about how it didn't feel like 10 minutes and "I use to journal...".  

As different individuals shared what they wrote, it was exciting to see a different side of these administrators. Some shared a humorous writing piece and others shared childhood memories and others shared important insights. It was incredible to see how the write environment and tone freed up everyone to write. 

I look forward to another day of learning tomorrow as we further explore what writing workshop looks like and how to support teachers who will be implementing the workshop model in their classrooms next year.

For the month of March, I will be writing and posting daily as part of the Slice of Life Challenge. Thank you to the Two Writing Teachers for hosting the March Slice of Life Challenge.

The Typewriter Blog Tour & Giveaway

In October 2010, I discovered Bill Thomson's book Chalk and I was blown away about the beauty of the illustrations and the creative storytelling. I loved this book so much that I gifted it to all of the teachers I was working with. Then in March of 2011, I facilitated a school-wide book event around Bill Thomson's first book, CHALK.  I blogged about it here and created an animoto about the event. It was simply magical like the book.

In November of 2011, the school that I was at welcomed Bill Thomson for a school visit. Below is an animoto of his visit with us. Just like CHALK, our time with Bill was also magical. 

In November 2013, I had the opportunity to visit with Bill Thomson during a trip he took to Pasadena.  His newest book FOSSIL was just coming out and if I had been at a school campus, I would have created another event. Like CHALK,  FOSSIL was filled with these incredible illustrations and a boy and his dog and some fossils and a bit of imagination develops into something bigger than life. You can read about my visit with Bill here and check out the official book trailer below. 

Now Bill's third book in his imagination trilogy, THE TYPEWRITER, is here for all to read and experience. 

The Typewriter
by Bill Thomson
Two Lions (March 8, 2016)
Fiction * Play * Imagination
Audience: Prek to 2nd grade
Amazon | WorldCat

Description of the book from GoodReads: 
Using just nine words, the award-winning creator of Chalk takes readers on another unforgettable journey. When three children discover a typewriter on a carousel, they are transported on an adventure of their own creation—complete with a giant beach ball and a threatening crab. Stunning, richly colored artwork is paired with limited text so children can tell their own version of the story

Check out Bill Thomson's blog post on building the props for the making of The Typewriter.

My thoughts on the book: 
Now Thomson's third book in his nearly wordless picture book trilogy is out and ready to take children on another adventure. This time with words, well sort of. In THE TYPEWRITER, three children happen upon a carousel that is closed but typical of curious children, they discover a special box covered in letters and sitting upon a large bumble bee carousel ride. Like in CHALK, and FOSSIL, things have a tendency to magically appear but instead of drawing objects, when the children type words using the typewriter they appear. 

I loved how each book in this trilogy shared common features and yet also had a little twist. Additionally, each book took children on an incredible adventure that gets just a little bit scary but allows children to discover a way to be in control of the outcome. Also, in THE TYPEWRITER, words play a significant role, albeit there are not a lot of words in the book, but the ones that are there are critical. 

One of these days, I will get a chance to create a school-wide event around all three of these incredible book. Until then I will enjoy each book and look forward to new book creations from the talented Thomson. 

For the Curriculum Guide, please click on the image.

About the author/illustrator: 
Bill Thomson is the creator of Chalk and Fossil and the illustrator of Baseball Hour, Karate Hour, Soccer Hour, and Building with Dad, all written by Carol Nevius. Thomson’s books have received many accolades: the National Parenting Publications Gold Award, designation as a Notable Children’s Book by the American Library Association, a Teacher’s Choice selection from the International Reading Association, a Booklist Editor’s Choice, the Connecticut Book Award for Children’s Illustrator, Kentucky’s Bluegrass Award, Ohio’s Buckeye Children’s Book Award, and the Prix Livrentête in Paris, France. Thomson’s artwork has also received more than 75 awards in the country’s most prestigious juried illustration competitions.
Thomson lives with his family in Southington, Connecticut and is also a professor of illustration at the University of Hartford. To see more of his artwork, visit: www.billthomson.com.

Follow the tour: 

Fri, Mar 4        Teach Mentor Texts

Mon, Mar 7      The Book Monsters

Tues, Mar 8     Kid Lit Frenzy

Wed, Mar 9     5 Minutes for Books

Thurs, Mar 10   Cracking the Cover

Fri, Mar 11     Unleashing Readers

Mon, Mar 14   Sharpread

Tues, Mar 15   Jean Little Library

Wed, Mar 16   NC Teacher Stuff

Thurs, Mar 17   A Rup Life

Fri, Mar 18    A Foodie Bibliophile in Wanderlust

Tues, Mar 22   Library Fanatic


Giveaway!
One lucky winner will receive a copy of THE TYPEWRITER (U.S. addresses).

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Slice of Life Challenge Day 7: Video Story-Telling

Over the past several weeks, I have been getting a crash course in how video editors put together hours and hours of film footage in order to create a 10 minute video. It's been an amazing learning experience. 

In late December and January, our District's TV and Film studio has been filming teachers, students, parents, and administrators participating in our Writing Workshop pilot. I lost track of how many hours of interview and classroom footage has been captured. The task was simple, or so we thought, create a five minute video to share with our Board as part of our update report. 

I learned that creating a video is very much like writing a story. What is the message you want to tell and with pictures and snippets of interviews how will you tell it? At one point, we had identified 2 hours of interview clips and hours and hours of "B" roll. Far from the 5-10 minute video that we needed. Though video editors work with film, they are very much like writers and book editors. They need to see how story should come together and know what is needed and what is not necessary. 

Thanks to the amazing staff at KLRN who have worked in the editing cave for hours and hours narrowing down and cutting out excess until a story emerged, we will be unveiling an 8 minute video - 3 minutes longer than we originally anticipated but much shorter than it was a few weeks ago. It was exciting to see the almost finished video with "B" roll included. Our fabulous editors will be polishing and cleaning for a bit longer to make it perfect for our unveiling. 

After spending hours in the editing cave with this fabulous team, I have come to a place of greater appreciation for the hard work that goes into making the incredible videos that they produce for District. Can't wait to see the final video! 

For the month of March, I will be writing and posting daily as part of the Slice of Life Challenge. Thank you to the Two Writing Teachers for hosting the March Slice of Life Challenge.

It's Monday! What are you reading? From Picture Books to YA - 3/7/16

It's Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme hosted by Kathryn at Book Date.  Jen Vincent of Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee Moye of Unleashing Readers decided to give It's Monday! What Are You Reading? a kidlit focus. It is a great way to recap what you read and/or reviewed the previous week and to plan out your reading and reviews for the upcoming week. It's also a great chance to see what others are reading right now...you just might discover your next “must-read” book!

Here's what has jumped out from what I have been reading lately...

B is for Bear: A Natural Alphabet by Hannah Viano (Little Bigfoot, 2015)

Nobody Likes a Goblin by Ben Hatke (First Second, June 2016) - Add this to your "TBR wishlist".

Tell Me a Tattoo Story by Alison McGhee; Illustrated by Eliza Wheeler (Chronicle Books, April 12, 2016)  

Let's Play! by Hervé Tullet (Chronicle Books, March 29, 2016) - Similar to Press Here! - Tullet has done it again! 

The Knowing Book by Rebecca Kai Dotlitch; Illustrated by Matthew Cordell (Boyds Mills Press, February 2016) 

Elizabeth Started All the Trouble by Doreen Rappaport; Illustrated by Matt Faulkner (Disney-Hyperion, February 2016)

Follow the Moon Home: A Tale of One Idea, Twenty Kids, and a Hundred Sea Turtles by Philippe Cousteau, Deborah Hopkinson; Illustrated by Meilo So (Chronicle Books, April 5, 2016)

Cry, Heart, But Never Break by Glen Ringtved; Illustrated by Charlotte Pardi; Translated by Robert Moulthrop (Enchanted Lion Books, February 2016)

Solving the Puzzle Under the Sea: Marie Tharp Maps the Ocean Floor by Robert Burleigh; Illustrated by Raúl Colón (Simon & Schuster, January 2016) 

Author Events: 

Lisa Yee at Vroman's Bookstore - Wonder Woman at Super Hero High (DC Super Hero Girls #1) - Random House Books for Young Readers

Emily Arrow at Once Upon a Time Bookstore - Emily Arrow: Storytime Singalong CD

So, what are you reading?