Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge: Boots on the Ground

Boots on the Ground: America's War in Vietnam
by Elizabeth Partridge
Viking Books for Young Readers (April 10, 2018)
Nonfiction * History * Military & Wars
Audience: Young Adult
Indiebound | WorldCat

Description from GoodReads: In March 1965 President Lyndon B. Johnson sent troops into Vietnam. 57,939 American soldiers would be killed and seventeen years would pass before this controversial chapter of American history concluded with the dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in 1982.

The history of this era is complex; the cultural impact extraordinary. But it's the personal stories of eight people--six American soldiers, one American nurse, and one Vietnamese refugee--that form the heartbeat of Boots on the Ground. From dense jungles and terrifying firefights to chaotic medic rescues and evacuations, each individual's story reveals a different facet of the war and moves readers forward in time. Alternating with these chapters are profiles of key American leaders and events, reminding readers what was happening at home, including Kent State, Woodstock, and Watergate.

Quick thoughts on the book:
I realized that there are certain periods of history that I am more familiar with than other time periods. Lately, I find myself wandering back to the 1960's and 1970's. Searching for answers to questions about the future. And though I lived through much of these two decades, I realized that I was oblivious of so much that was happening maybe because I was really too young and also just politically disconnected. 

I picked up Elizabeth Partridge's newest book, in part because I had read her previous book Marching to Freedom, and in part because the cover was so compelling. As I began to read, I was drawn in by Partridge's personal connections shared in the prologue. What I wasn't expecting was the way she utilized alternating voices of soldiers and presidents and protesters, and back and forth between Vietnam and America, finally wrapping it up with Maya Lin and the Vietnam Memorial. Partridge captures the complexity of the war through nuanced stories of individuals and multiple perspectives.  

In addition to the alternating voices, the book is filled with black and white photographs. The final pages include source notes, bibliography, and an index. 

Look for a copy of this at your local indie bookstore or community library. 

About the author: Elizabeth is the acclaimed author of more than a dozen books, including Marching to Freedom: Walk Together, Children, and Don’t You Grow Weary, as well as biographies of Dorothea Lange, Woody Guthrie, and John Lennon. Her books have received many honors, including National Book Award Finalist, Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, Los Angeles Times Book Prize, Michael L. Printz Honor, SCBWI Golden Kite Award, SLJ's Battle of the Books, and the Jane Addams Children's Book Award. Elizabeth is on the core  faculty at the Vermont College of Fine Arts, MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults. www.elizabethpartridge.com

Artwork by Sarah S Brannen ©2017

Don't forget to link up your nonfiction reviews...

Hello Hello celebrates Endangered Species Awareness

Hello Hello
by Brendan Wenzel
Chronicle Books (March 2018)
Fiction * Endangered Animals
Audience: Ages 3 to 6
Indiebound | WorldCat

Description from GoodReads: This gorgeous follow-up to the Caldecott Honor–winning They All Saw a Cat explores another aspect of seeing the world for young children. Beginning with two cats, one black and one white, a chain of animals appears before the reader, linked together by at least one common trait. From simple colors and shapes to more complex and abstract associations, each unexpected encounter celebrates the magnificent diversity of our world—and ultimately paints a story of connection. Brendan Wenzel's joyous, rhythmic text and exuberant art encourage readers to delight in nature's infinite differences and to look for—and marvel at—its gorgeous similarities. It all starts with a simple "Hello."

Quick thoughts on the book:

From the cover and through each page of the book, the bright colors jump off the white pages in a lively and celebratory style that makes readers want to read Hello Hello again and again.

In addition to the bright colors and fabulous array of animals, the simple text expose young readers to simple contrasts such as spots and stripes and dots and size. 

This is one book that I definitely don't want to share my only copy so I will be picking up a couple of additional books for teachers. 

Look for a copy of Hello Hello at your local indie bookstore or community library. 

A note about Endangered Species Day: 
Hello Hello showcases species classified as endangered, vulnerable and threatened from around the world and beautifully demonstrates how the earth’s creatures are connected . Hello Hello has been described by the New York Times as, “ spreading its arms wide, introducing the staggering range of species that share the earth” and lauded by the Wall Street Journal as “ a subtle exhortation to notice the beauty and variety of animals, especially rare and endangered ones. ”

To further efforts to protect wildlife around the world, Publisher Chronicle Books has made a donation of $25,000 to the Wildlife Conservation Society in honor of the publication of Hello Hello.

About the author/illustrator: Brendan Wenzel is an illustrator based in Brooklyn, NY. His work has appeared internationally in children’s books, animations and magazines. An ardent conservationist, he is a proud collaborator with many organizations working to ensure the future of wild places and threatened species, especially within Southeast Asia. Check out his website, here. 
 

The Lifters - Interview with author, Dave Eggers

The Lifters
by Dave Eggers
Knopf Books for Young Readers (April 24, 2018)
Fiction * Fantasy & Magic
Audience: Grades 3 to 7
Indiebound | WorldCat

Description from GoodReads: Journey to an underground world where adventure awaits and heroes are made in this middle grade novel from the bestselling, Pulitzer-nominated author of The Monk of Mokhaand Her Right Foot.

When Gran and his family move to Carousel, he has no idea that the town is built atop a secret. Little does he suspect, as he walks his sister to school or casually eats a banana, that mysterious forces lurk mere inches beneath his feet, tearing up the earth like mini-hurricanes and causing the town to slowly but surely sink.

When Gran's friend, the difficult-to-impress Catalina Catalan, presses a silver handle into a hillside and opens a doorway to underground, he knows that she is extraordinary and brave, and that he will have no choice but to follow wherever she leads. With luck on their side, and some discarded hockey sticks for good measure, Gran and Catalina might just find a way to lift their town--and the known world--out of danger.

___________________________
Thank you Dave Eggers for stopping by Kid Lit Frenzy to talk about your new middle grade novel, The Lifters. 

Kid Lit Frenzy: In THE LIFTERS, the town is called Carousel. Are there any Carousels that inspired you and if so, where is it located? 

Dave Eggers: When I did research into the making of carousels back in the day, I found so many great examples of the form, and many had been made in Pennsylvania. Here are some great photos of an extraordinary carousel made in Pennsylvania and still in use there, at Weona Park in a town called Pen Argyl, PA.

KLF: In many middle grade fantasy books, there seems to be a "portal" of sorts into another world. In THE LIFTERS, you use the tunnels to get to the other world. What influenced your decision to use tunnels as your portal?

DE: To me the main thing was the door. I’m from a very flat part of the country, Illinois, and now I live in a hilly region — northern California — and since moving here I’ve been obsessed with the topography, and what lies beneath. The Lifters started about ten years ago, when I would be walking through the hills close to the Pacific, and started picturing being able to just open a door on the hillside. It seemed so plausible to me that it was bewildering that I couldn’t just do it. So I made up a story that made it possible.

KLF: The Art Designer is an important member of a team creating an illustrated novel. The Fan Brothers do the jacket art (by the way, love the surprise when you remove the jacket) and Aaron Renier did the interior art. Some authors have input on the illustrations and others have little say. Did you get to be a part of this process? 

DE: I’ve been designing books for about twenty years now myself, commissioning art and doing the typography, so in this case the publisher allowed me to take on that role for the interior of the book. It was a blast working with Aaron Renier, who I’ve known for a long time. We worked on the premise that there should be some kind of artwork on every spread, and Aaron just went to town on the project with that as his mandate. He created this very moody, mysterious environment that pretty much exactly mirrored the images I had in my head. 

KLF: A friend of mine who is a big fan of Harry Potter and Stranger Things and who is listening to THE LIFTERS audiobook wanted to know if you are a fan of those series and did they possibly influence you in the writing of THE LIFTERS?

DE: The weird thing is that Harry Potter came out when I was about 30, so I was not lucky enough to be part of the generation that got to experience those books at the prime target age. And I keep hearing about Stranger Things, but I don’t have broadcast or cable TV at home, so I have to wait until things appear on DVD. I’m excited to dig in once they compile the show in my preferred 1990s format.

KLF: Short chapters can be a fabulous tool for drawing in reluctant readers. However, it can be a challenge for writers to develop the story and to keep the pacing.  What were the factors that influenced you to write shorter chapters?

DE: I was thinking of pacing for sure. Something about the shorter chapters creates an accelerated rhythm that I wanted for The Lifters. And secondly, I was thinking of young reluctant readers, like the reader I was when I was in middle school. I would have been attracted to chapter books with a healthy amount of pictures, and with a different approach to chapters. There’s a sense of accomplishment, I think, when you’re ten years old and, because the chapters are short, you can read 12 chapters in a sitting.

KLF: The names of your characters are quite creative (Granite Flowerpetal, Catalina Catalan). How did you come up with the names? Also, are there parts of you in Gran?

DE: There’s not much of me in Gran, I have to say. The one thing we share is that I spent a lot of time as a boy making animals out of clay. That part is all me, as is the part of about having an odd name. Eggers isn’t the easiest name to have as a kid in public schools. There are endless ways boys can hassle you for a name like that. But when I was a kid, the kids making fun of my name were my friends, so it was just part of the banter of a bunch of knuckleheads. Catalan is a word I’ve always loved, in its inherent lyricism. Adding Catalina as a first name, I thought, gave a musical air to a young woman who is very serious and purpose-driven.

KLF: Can you share anything about upcoming projects for children that you are working on?

DE: In the fall Chronicle Books will publish a book I did with Shawn Harris called What Can a Citizen Do? It’s a rhyming book that talks about, well, participatory democracy, really.

KLF: You talk about 826 National in your acknowledgements. How did you help establish 826 National and why are you so passionate about it? 

DE: The story of 826 National is probably too long, and there are too many aspects to the network now, to encompass here. But it started as a writing and tutoring center for kids in the Mission District of San Francisco. Then other cities adopted the model, and we grew into a network of 22 centers in 8 cities. The basic idea is that young people should feel comfortable as writers, because virtually all their power as citizens will come from their ability to express their desires, hopes, needs, rights, and vision for change. 

Look for a copy of THE LIFTERS at your local indie bookstore or community library. 

About the author: 
Dave Eggers grew up near Chicago and graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is the founder of McSweeney’s, an independent publishing house in San Francisco that produces books, a quarterly journal of new writing (McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern), and a monthly magazine, The Believer. McSweeney’s publishes Voice of Witness, a nonprofit book series that uses oral history to illuminate human rights crises around the world. In 2002, he co-founded 826 Valencia, a nonprofit youth writing and tutoring center in San Francisco’s Mission District. Sister centers have since opened in seven other American cities under the umbrella of 826 National, and like-minded centers have opened in Dublin, London, Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Birmingham, Alabama, among other locations. Eggers’s work has been nominated for the National Book Award, the Pulitzer Prize, and the National Book Critics Circle Award, and has won the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, France’s Prix Médicis, Germany’s Albatross Prize, the National Magazine Award, and the American Book Award. Eggers lives in Northern California with his family. His novels include The Circle, A Hologram for the King, and Heroes of the Frontier.

#Road2Reading Challenge: Polly Diamond and the Magic Spell (Book 1)

Polly Diamond and the Magic Spell
by Alice Kuipers; Illustrated by Diana Toledano
Chronicle Books (May 1, 2018)
Fiction * Fantasy & Magic
Audience: Ages 6 to 9
Indiebound | WorldCat

Description from GoodReads: 
Polly loves words. And she loves writing stories. So when a magic book appears on her doorstep that can make everything she writes happen in real life, Polly is certain all of her dreams are about to come true. But she soon learns that what you write and what you mean are not always the same thing! Funny and touching, this new chapter book series will entertain readers and inspire budding writers.

Quick thoughts on the book:

It is always fun to discover a new book that introduces young readers to a new series. The newest character that will entertain students is Polly Diamond. Polly loves books, and writing, and spelling. She has a younger sister Anna and a new baby on the way. And since amazing things happen in threes, Polly gets a surprise on the third day. With a drumroll and trumpet, a package arrives for Polly. In the package, is a "writing and spelling for Polly Diamond". 

It doesn't take long for Polly to learn that her new Writing and Spelling book is more than it appears to be. It is truly a magical book that can make what you write actually happen. I was curious how this would play out. When writers include magic in a book, there needs to be rules. But wait don't rules ruin all the fun? Well, actually no. What really ruins a book is if magic just fixes things or saves the day without the main character doing anything. This can be a particular challenge in a shorter book especially one written for beginning readers. 

Kuipers does a nice job of allowing Polly to have some fun with magic (painting her room like an ocean filled with fish, or turning her sister into a banana) but also understanding that not everything you ask for is what you really want. Young readers that are moving from early readers to beginning chapter books will enjoy this new series. 

Look for Polly Diamond and the Magic Spell at your local indie bookstore or your community bookstore. 

All journeys have a starting place.
This is a weekly place to find books and tools
that you may use with readers at the start of their reading journey.
Join in the conversation at #road2reading.

Do you work with readers who are starting their journey on the road to reading?  Join Michele Knott from Mrs. Knott's Book Nook and myself every Thursday as we explore books and ideas to help readers have a successful start to independent picture book and chapter book reading. If you blog or have a Goodreads page, please link up with us!

Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge: Astronauts-Aquanauts: How Space Science and Sea Interact

Astronauts-Aquanauts: How Space Science and Sea Interact
by Jennifer Swanson; Forward by Fabien Cousteau and Kathryn D. Sullivan
National Geographic for Kids (January 9, 2018)
Nonfiction * Science & Nature * Discoveries
Audience: Ages 9 to 12
Indiebound | WorldCat

Description from GoodReads: 
Journey from the deepest trenches in the oceans to the farthest humans have ventured into space and learn what it takes to explore the extremes. You might just be surprised by how similar the domains of ASTRONAUTS and AQUANAUTS really are.

Space and the ocean. If you don't think they go together, think again! Both deep-sea and space explorers have to worry about pressure, temperature, climate, and most importantly, how to survive in a remote and hostile environment. Join us on an amazing journey as we go up in space with astronauts and dive deep down in the ocean with aquanauts to explore the far-off places of our planet and the solar system.

With a strong tie into STEM topics--such as making connections, making comparisons, and recognizing patterns across content areas--readers will discover the amazing science and incredible innovations that allow humans (and sometimes only machines) to survive in these harsh environments.

Quick thoughts about the book:
Have you ever thought about how astronauts are similar to aquanauts? We have all heard about astronauts but I honestly have never thought about those who explore the sea as being aquanauts. When I looked up the word, I discovered that it has been in use since the 1880's. Hmmm...I guess I haven't been reading the right books all these years. However, isn't this part of why you love reading nonfiction so that you can learn new things? I know it is certainly one of my reasons for reading so many fabulous books.

I love learning new things and Jennifer Swanson's newest book provides readers with a looks at the similarities and differences of exploring space and sea. The book looks extensively at the environments of space and the deep sea and how both astronauts and aquanauts have to have extensive training, special suits, and understand how these unique environments will affect their bodies. Readers learn how buoyancy and gravity along with pressure are significant factors in exploring space and the deep sea. I appreciated the clear explanations and examples used to explain these concepts. I also realized that I had developed misconceptions of what a "lack of gravity" in space really meant. 

Swanson also includes activities that you can try at home to learn more about some of the concepts discussed in the book. At the end of the book, readers get to "meet" real astronauts and aquanauts through several mini-bios. 

As typical in books published by National Geographic, the book is filled with fabulous photographs, lots of definitions, extra facts and additional resources. For teachers looking for a book which uses a comparison/contrast text structure to share with students, this one is a good example to include in your classroom library. 

Look for Astronauts-Aquanauts: How Space Science and Sea Science Interact at your local indie bookstore or community library. 

Don't forget to link up your nonfiction reviews...