Making Connections – Page 30 – Unleashing Readers

Seymour Simon’s Extreme Oceans and Extreme Earth Records

December 18, 2013 by Kellee

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday is hosted by Kid Lit Frenzy and was started to help promote the reading of nonfiction texts. Most Wednesdays, we will be participating and will review a nonfiction text (though it may not always be a picture book).
Be sure to visit Kid Lit Frenzy and see what other nonfiction books are shared this week!

Extreme Oceans and Extreme Earth Records
Author: Seymour Simon
Published April 2nd, 2013 and August 29th, 2012 by Chronicle Books

Extreme Oceans Goodreads Summary: Join Seymour Simon, the “dean” of children’s science nonfiction, as he investigates the most extreme environments, animals, plants, and weather in the ocean. Imagine exploring the most extreme parts of our amazing oceans—riding the tallest waves, diving to the darkest depths, and encountering the largest and most dangerous sea creatures on Earth. These mind-bending facts and stunning photographs make for an exciting, and sometimes unbelievable, underwater expedition!

Extreme Earth Records Goodreads Summary: Imagine exploring the most extreme parts of our amazing planet—trekking though the driest desert, climbing the snowiest mountaintops, and diving to the deepest regions of the ocean floor. Seymour Simon, the dean of children’s science nonfiction, investigates Earth’s biggest, smallest, deepest, and coldest environments, animals, plants, and most severe weather. These mind-bending facts and photographs invite readers on an exciting, and sometimes unbelievable, scientific expedition of Earth’s most amazing records!

My Review: These books take the other Seymour Simon books I read and just pushes them to the extreme (pun intended). Both books take on different topics and gives the readers extreme facts and information about the topics. Topics range from “Big Waves and Giant Tides”, “Dangerous Sea Animals”, and “Climate Change” in Extreme Oceans and “The Coldest Place on Earth”, “The Biggest Earthquake on Earth”, and “The Largest Volcanic Eruption on Earth” in Extreme Earth Records. In each section, there are bits of information, photographs, sidebars, and text boxes all which add to the topic. All of the information is fascinating and by the end of each section definitely gives insight into the topic. Also, the photographs in these books are just breathtaking!

Teacher’s Tools For Navigation: Like other Simon books, students will definitely love to just read these as they include some fascinating information. Teachers can use them in a couple of different ways: as supplemental materials when teaching a topic, as a research source, or to discuss text features (and I’m sure a bunch of other different ways that I have not even thought of).

Discussion Questions: Would you rather live in the coldest or hottest place on Earth?; Which of the most dangerous ocean animals scares you the most? Why?; Many other discussion questions based on the topics

We Flagged: “Stormy Seas: Imagine being caught at sea in a small ship in the middle of a monster storm that stretches for hundreds of miles in all directions. That’s what happened to a fishing ship, the Andrea Gail, on October 30, 1991. The storm was so big that there was no way to get out. Huge waves and howling winds sampled and sank the boat. It was called the ‘perfect storm’ because all the different factors that can make up a huge storm came together at one time and one place.” (Extreme Oceans p. 25)

“The Largest Volcanic Eruption on Earth: As you read this book, somewhere around the world there are approximately twenty volcanoes erupting. Three-quarters of volcanic eruptions occur unseen beneath the oceans, and no one knows when they happen.” (Extreme Earth Records p. 49)

Read This If You Loved: National Geographic Kids Weird But True, Dangerous Animals of the Sea by Samantha Flores, Pompeii by Mary Pope Osborne, Discovery Channel’s Top 10 Deadliest Sharks, 50 Climate Questions by Peter Christie, Giant Squid by Mary M. Cerullo, The Top of the World by Steve Jenkins

Recommended For:

Explorer: The Lost Islands edited by Kazu Kibuishi

December 12, 2013 by Kellee

Explorer: The Lost Islands
Edited by Kazu Kibuishi
Published October 15th, 2013 by Harry N. Abrams

Goodreads Summary: The highly anticipated second volume to the critically acclaimed Explorer series, The Lost Islands is a collection of seven all-new stories written and illustrated by an award-winning roster of comics artists, with each story centered around the theme of hidden places. Edited by the New York Times bestselling comics creator Kazu Kibuishi, this graphic anthology includes well-written, beautifully illustrated stories by Kazu (the Amulet series), Jason Caffoe (the Flight series), Raina Telgemeier (Drama and Smile), Dave Roman (the Astronaut Academy series), Jake Parker (the Missile Mouse series), Michel Gagné (The Saga of Rex), Katie and Steven Shanahan (the Flight series), and up-and-coming new artist Chrystin Garland.

My Review and Teacher’s Tools for Navigation: I am a huge fan of Kazu Kibuishi. His artwork and his stories are so beautiful, so I know when he pulls together an anthology it is going to be phenomenal and this one does not disappoint. Each story revolves around an island although every story is very different. And I’ll be honest for a second, most of the time when I read short story anthologies, there is at least one story that is just “EH” for me, but I really liked each of these and they all fit a different purpose: Rabbit Island by Jake Parker was fun but had a great message, Loah by Michel Gagne was an artistic masterpiece, Radio Adrift by Katie and Steven Shanahan is so different from the others, etc.

Teacher’s Tools for Navigation: What I love about anthologies is that each story is different and can be used to discuss different narrative aspects. For example, Kazu Kibuishi’s story can be compared to Moby Dick and can also be used for cause and effect, Raina Telgemeier’s story would be great to use for inferencing and Carapace by Jason Caffoe can be compared to other fantasy stories (and these are just what I thought of off the top of my head). And, of course, on top of all of this, it will be read and loved by kids.

Discussion Questions: Which story out of the anthology is your favorite and why?; Which island out of the anthology would you like to live on? Which would you avoid?; How is the captain in Kazu Kibuishi’s story similar to Captain Ahab?; In Carapace, the boy lands on a fantastical island. What fantastical island does it remind you of?

We Flagged:

(Desert Island Playlist by Dave Roman and Raina Telgemeier, p. 58)
Shared by Raina Telegemeier on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/5048366-explorer-the-lost-islands-out-now

Read This If You Loved: Flight series edited by Kazu Kibuishi, Explorer: The Mystery Boxes edited by Kazu Kibuishi, Teen Boat! by Dave Roman, Smile and Drama by Raina Telgemeier, Amulet by Kazu Kibuishi

Recommended For:

Seymour Simon: Animal books

December 11, 2013 by Kellee

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday

Various Animals including Gorillas, Penguins, and Cats
Author: Seymour Simon
Published: Varies

Gorillas Goodreads Summary: Classic movies show giant gorillas scaling tall buildings and swatting planes from the sky, but actual gorillas are gentle social animals that live together in family groups like humans. In fact, gorillas are one of the closest genetic matches to people. And just like humans, gorillas can shriek, chuckle, hiccup, and even burp!

Award-winning science writer Seymour Simon has teamed up with the Smithsonian Institution to bring you an updated edition of his classic full-color photographic introduction to these fascinating animals.

Penguins Goodreads Summary: Did you know that: Penguins are champion swimmers. They spend 75 percent of their lives in water. They are birds, but they can’t fly. Penguins are classified as birds because they have feathers.

Now you can explore a penguin’s world by finding out how they can swim so fast, what they eat, and why people need to protect their habitats. Acclaimed science writer Seymour Simon has teamed up with the Smithsonian Institution to take you on a journey to the Antarctic region for a close-up look at one of nature’s most beloved and sociable animals.

Cats Goodreads Summary: Cats are fascinating, complex creatures. Since cats were first tamed about 5,000 years ago, they have enchanted people with their elegant beauty and mysterious manner. But cats can also be playful and cuddly pets, death-defying acrobats, or ruthless hunters. Come along as celebrated science writer Seymour Simon explores the many faces of this beloved animal with striking full-color photographs and engaging prose.

My Reviews and Teacher’s Tools For Navigation: Seymour Simon’s books have been a hit in my classroom (I even put them on my Top Books for Struggling and Reluctant Readers list); however, I, hypocritically, had never read any of his books. I decided a couple of weeks ago that I needed to remedy this and you will see that I did based on my next couple of weeks of Wednesday reviews.

After reading the three animal books pictured/mentioned above, I can see why Simon is a favorite informational nonfiction author. His books are friendly to read yet include essential information about the animals that they are about. The books are easy to navigate and the photographs that are included are beautiful. These books are written to engage and educate the reader.

There are such a plethora of ways to use Simon’s books in the classroom. They will find love in the classroom library, they can be used in conjunction with science or social studies to get more information about a topic, or they can be used in a lit circle type environment where each group has a different Simon book and then they come together to share what they learned. They can also be used for researching as well as academic vocabulary (and even just vocabulary) instruction. Simons books are made to be used in classes and to be in students’ hands.

Discussion Questions: What was the most interesting fact you learned about _____’s habitat? Diet? Parenting? Behavior? Types?

We Flagged: “Penguins are champion swimmers and divers. But they are not fish and they are not aquatic mammals such as dolphins. Penguins are birds because they have feathers, and only birds have feathers. Like birds, they lay their eggs and raise their chicks on land. But they don’t look or fly like most other birds. Instead they seem to fly through the water, and they spend much of their lives at sea.” (Penguins p. 5)

“All cats are hunting animals. They use claws and teeth to seize their prey. When you watch a cat play with a ball or piece of yarn, it is almost like watching a tiger or a leopard stalk its prey in the wild. Even well-fed pet cats will try to catch mice or birds or insects.” (Cats p. 5)

“Gorillas are sometimes called anthropoid (manlike) apes. A gorilla has two arms and two legs, and a head and body much like a human’s head and body. A gorilla has five fingers and five toes, and thirty-two teeth. You have all of those too, and twenty-eight teeth, in about the same positions. Of course, gorillas are much harrier than people. An adult gorilla has hair all over its body except its face, its chest, and the palms of its hands and soles of its feet.” (Gorillas p. 5)

Read This If You Loved: Any informational nonfiction about animals

Recommended For:

Ye Olde Weird but True! by National Geographic Kids

December 4, 2013 by Kellee

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday

Ye Olde Weird but True!
Author: National Geographic Kids
Published October 8th, 2013 by National Geographic Children’s Books

Goodreads Summary: Nothing attracts young readers like the weird but true…especially when the weird truth is hundreds of years old. Ye Olde Weird But True, the newest addition to the blockbuster Weird But True series, is packed with 300 wacky facts for history lovers ages 6 and up.

In this latest addition to this phenomenal series, readers will have more zany fun, this time from the pages of history! Ye Olde Weird But True delivers 100 percent new content, with 500 more of the amazing facts and photos that kids just can’t get enough of.

My Review and Teacher’s Tools for Navigation: Students love these books (as do I)! They are fascinated with all of the facts and it causes such conversation in the classroom. What I would love to see done with them is take them beyond the just fun books that students read parts of and put aside. I can picture bringing out all of my Weird but True books and allowing students to choose a fact from them and researching the fact. They would then share their fact with the class—a little mini research project. I did this years ago with Sharks where I let them choose any facts or question about sharks, research, and share and it was a very successful project because everyone was so engaged. I could see the same thing happening with the Weird but True books because the students would be able to pick a topic that interests them. I can just picture one student researching using maggots to clean wounds in the 19th century while the student next to him researches Roy Chapman Andrews, the real Indiana Jones.

Discussion Questions: Find a Weird but True fact and research more information about it. After doing so, share with the class what you learned.

We Flagged: “The oldest known musical instrument is a 42,000-year-old flute made out of vulture bone.” (p. 38)
“One of the oldest maps in the world was drawn on a mammoth tusk.” (p. 110)
“French King Francis I once won a wrestling match against English King Henry VIII.” (p. 191)

Read This If You Loved: Any fact books, The Gruesome Truth About…. books

Recommended For:

Bogart and Vinnie by Audrey Vernick

November 30, 2013 by Kellee

Bogart and Vinnie: A Completely Made-Up Story of True Friendship
Author: Audrewy Vernick
Illustrator: Henry Cole
Published June 18th, 2013 by Walkers Children

Goodreads Summary: When Vinnie, a crazy-happy dog, gets lost while visiting a nature preserve with his family, he finds comfort in the company of Bogart, a big, lazy rhinoceros. Vinnie loves his new friend, but Bogart would rather just take a nap. A friendship soon blossoms-even if Vinnie’s definition of “friendship” is very different from Bogart’s-and when word of their unique situation spreads, Bogart and Vinnie are a worldwide sensation! But as soon as their fifteen seconds of fame ends, what’s left is a bond even Bogart can’t ignore.

Pairing picture-book veteran, Henry Cole, with up-and-coming author, Audrey Vernick, this clever spoof of the unendingly popular interspecies animal-friendship story is full of heart and humor.

My Review: I love Vinnie! He is one of the happiest, joyful characters in a picture book every. Just seeing him makes me smile. I mean, how could Bogart not want to be his friend. But the funniest part of the friendship is the opposite attracts aspect. Bogart is not happy and joyful. He is content with standing on his hill eating grass, but then here comes Vinnie to change his life. Vernick cleverly plays off of the unlikely friendship hype (which is so adorable!), but without making fun of it.

Teacher’s Tools for Navigation: This book would be so much fun to read after introducing say Owen and Mzee or other unlikely friendships (always an easy compare and contrast activity), but then what would take it to a whole new level is to ask kids to write their own stories about two animals that are unlikely friends—I think some hilariousness would come out of these stories.

Discussion Questions: What makes Bogart and Vinnie unlikely friends?

We Flagged: “Way in back, rarely visited, stood Bogart, a square-lipped rhinoceros. He breathed in the grassy peace of the rhino range—his alone. He cherished the quiet, his tail curled with happiness.

Vinnie raced straight toward Bogart as though reuniting with an old friend.
“I love you! I’m Vinnie! Hi!”
Nobody knew what attracted Vinnie to Bogart. Was it his color? His shape? His horn? His other horn? THe way he completely ignored Vinnie?” (p. 6-7)

Read This If You Loved: Owen and Mzee by Craig Hatkoff, Elephant and Piggie (series) by Mo Willems, Penguin on Vacation by Salina Yoon, You Will Be My Friend by Peter Brown

Recommended For:

**Thank you to Julie at Bloomsbury for providing a copy for review!!**

The Outside of a Horse by Ginny Rorby

November 23, 2013 by Kellee

This week I am celebrating with my friend and author Ginny Rorby as she receives her award from the Florida Association for Media in Education (FAME) for winning the Sunshine State Young Readers Award (as voted by 6-8 grade students in Florida) for Lost in the River of Grass. To celebrate, I will be reviewing all of her books this week:

The Outside of a Horse
Author: Ginny Rorby
Published May 13th, 2010 by Dial

Goodreads Summary: Hannah Gale starts volunteering at a horse stable because she needs a place to escape. Her father has returned from the Iraq war as an amputee with posttraumatic stress disorder, and his nightmares rock the household. At the stable, Hannah comes to love Jack, Super Dee, and Indy; helps bring a rescued mare back from the brink; and witnesses the birth of the filly who steals her heart. Hannah learns more than she ever imagined about horse training, abuse, and rescues, as well as her own capacity for hope. Physical therapy with horses could be the answer to her fatherÕs prayers, if only she can get him to try.

My Review: Ginny Rorby writes books about animal-human relationships and the healing power of these animals. This is animal fiction that falls into a completely different realm than others. She breathlessly intertwines human problems with animals. Her previous book, Hurt Go Happy, dealt with Joey, a deaf young girl, her mother’s inability to deal with her disability, and how Sukari, a young chimpanzee, helps Joey and her mother accept their life. Her newest book, The Outside of a Horse, deals with Hannah. Hannah Gale feels so alone. Her mother passed away from cancer a few years ago, her father is fighting in Iraq, her stepmother doesn’t really connect with her, and her brother, Jeffy, is just too young to be there for her. The only comfort to Hannah is when her school bus drives by the stables and she gets to see the horses. It is through these horses that Hannah finds comfort during this difficult time in her life that just keeps getting worse and worse.

It is through Ginny Rorby’s believable characters and realistic situations that the reader feels so connected to the animals and humans of her novels. Both The Outside of a Horse and Hurt Go Happy deal with not only a human issue, but an animal issue as well. The Outside of a Horse shows the reader the truth behind horse racing. What makes Rorby’s books different, though, is that she teaches about an animal issue, but does not preach. She lets you take in the truth and decide for yourself if it is an injustice or not.

Teacher’s Tools for Navigation: Outside of a Horse deals with some hard issues and is a book that many students won’t grab right away; however, read a couple of chapters to your classes and there will be a waiting list for it.

Discussion Questions: The Outside of a Horse shares an injustice with us that many people do not realize and is ignored. What is something that you believe is wrong that others enjoy?

Read This If You Loved: BADD by Tim Tharp, Another Kind of Cowboy by Susan Juby, Gabriel’s Horses by Alison Hart, Faithful Elephants by Yukio Tsuchiya

Recommended For:

Hurt Go Happy by Ginny Rorby

August 2, 2015November 22, 2013 by Kellee

Hurt Go Happy
Author: Ginny Rorby
Published August 8th, 2006 by Starscape

Goodreads Summary: Thirteen-year-old Joey Willis is used to being left out of conversations. Though she’s been deaf since the age of six, Joey’s mother has never allowed her to learn sign language. She strains to read the lips of those around her, but often fails.

Everything changes when Joey meets Dr. Charles Mansell and his baby chimpanzee, Sukari. Her new friends use sign language to communicate, and Joey secretly begins to learn to sign. Spending time with Charlie and Sukari, Joey has never been happier. She even starts making friends at school for the first time. But as Joey’s world blooms with possibilities, Charlie’s and Sukari’s choices begin to narrow–until Sukari’s very survival is in doubt.

My Review and Teacher’s Tools for Navigation: This book is so important to me it is even hard to write this review. I have never written one because the book has become so personal to me that I didn’t know how to share my feelings. When I read Hurt Go Happy for the first time, I knew that it was the book that I wanted to share with every student I ever had. Hurt Go Happy shows the importance of empathy for animals, for children and for people with disabilities.

Hurt Go Happy has become the number one community builder in my classroom. After our state test and our Earth day activity with The Lorax we begin our read aloud of Hurt Go Happy. (One of the saddest things about not being in the classroom this year is that I will not be able to have this moment with students.) Not only does the book give me opportunities to work with setting, characterization, cause/effect, prediction, compare/contrast, sequence, and analogies, throughout the book my class participates in conversations about deafness, sign language, chimpanzees, abuse, research facilities, animal abuse, wild animals as pets, survival, parents, school, death, fear, and their future. The conversations are so deep and wonderful. But this is just the beginning. Following the reading of the novel, my students are lucky enough to be able to take part in an interview with the author of Hurt Go Happy, Ginny Rorby. The students generate the questions, vote on which ones to ask and even ask her the questions. Ginny even allows us to send her extra questions and answers them for my students.

The part that really makes students connect to the novel is the field trip that we go on. At the end of the book, the setting changes to a rehab facility called The Center for Great Apes (@CFGA) which, while in the book was in Miami, has moved to Wauchula, FL which is 90 minutes from my school. In the book, you even meet Noelle, a chimp who knows sign language, Kenya, another chimpanzee, and Christopher, an orangutan, who are actually at the center. It is an amazing experience to take the story and turn it into reality.

Hurt Go Happy is a book that I feel not only bring our class together but teaches my students some of the most important lessons for life: to care about every living thing.

Discussion Questions: I have many that would give spoilers, but here are my essential questions for the book: Do you think animal testing is necessary? Defend your answer.; How would being deaf affect your life? How does it affect Joey’s?

We Flagged: “Before she’d lost her hearing, she loved the whisper of wind through pines, and since she had no way of knowing how different it sounded in a redwood forest, the sight of branches swaying re-created the sound in her mind. Even after six and a half years of deafness, she sometimes awoke expecting her hearing to have returned, like her sight, with the dawn.” (p. 11)

Read This If You Loved: Endangered by Eliot Schrefer, The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate, Me…Jane by Patrick McDonnell, Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick, El Deafo by Cece Bell, Half Brother by Kenneth Oppel, Ivan: The Remarkable True Story of the Shopping Mall Gorilla by Katherine Applegate