Prediction – Page 18 – Unleashing Readers

Recent Nonfiction (Mostly) Picture Book Reads Part One: Informational

September 24, 2014 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!

Over the last few months, I’ve read some nonfiction (mostly) picture books that I haven’t reviewed, but that I definitely need to share with you all.

The Angry Little Puffin
Author: Timothy Young
Expected Publication: September 28th, 2014 by Schiffer Publishing

My Thoughts: This book isn’t completely nonfiction as it is told from the point of view of the puffin, but I love that it includes some very important information about puffins vs. penguins. As someone who loves penguins (and puffins), I love that someone is finally addressing the confusion between the two. This would be a very fun book to pair with Neversink.

A Timeline History of the Thirteen Colonies
Author: Mark K. Pratt
Expected Publication November 1st, 2014 by Lerner Publications

My Thoughts: I thought that this book was such a great way to talk about the start of our country. It has fun infographics and illustrations that hold the attention that goes along with chronological information.

Best Foot Forward: Exploring Feet, Flippers, and Claws
Author: Ingo Arndt
Published August 1st, 2013 by Holiday House

My Thoughts: What a fun and different way to look at animals. The photographs are very well done, and I loved seeing the close ups of their feet. It also is interactive because it starts with the foot close up and inquiry, then gives the answer. Will keep kids engaged.

Gravity
Author: Jason Chin
Published April 29th, 2014 by Roaring Brook Press

My Thoughts: First, if you have never seen a Jason Chin book, you need to get one now just to see the illustrations. Beautiful! Gravity explains gravity in a simple way yet is very scientifically accurate. Great introduction to the natural phenomenon of gravity.

How Big Were Dinosaurs?
Author: Lita Judge
Published August 27th, 2013 by Roaring Brook Press

My Thoughts: When I finished this book, I was so excited to share the title with my friend whose daughter loves dinosaurs. How Big Were Dinosaurs? introduces the reader to a wide variety of dinosaurs and shares a comparison to a modern object. Very entertaining and informative.

Stubby, the Dog Soldier: World War I Hero
Author: Blake Hoena
Illustrator: Oliver Hurst
Published July 1st, 2014 by Picture Window Books

My Thoughts: What a hero! It is always so amazing to learn about the surprising heroes during war and other tough times. Stubby is an amazing animal. He overcomes more than most humans will ever encounter. This story is inspiring and also informative about how animals can really change the game.

All Recommended For:

President Taft is Stuck in the Bath by Mac Barnett

September 17, 2014 by Kellee

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday

President Taft is Stuck in the Bath
Author: Mac Barnett
Illustrator: Chris Van Dusen
Published March 25, 2014 by Candlewick Press

Goodreads Summary: George Washington crossed the Delaware in the dead of night.

Abraham Lincoln saved the Union.

William Howard Taft got stuck in a bathtub and then got unstuck. This is his story.

My Review and Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: This is a humorous look at the myth (truth?) that President Taft got stuck in a bathtub when he was president. I will say that I never think making fun of someone’s weight is funny, but I don’t think that is really what the author is poking fun at (though some of the illustrations are very revealing of his overweightness). Throughout the book, he is trying to figure out how to get out and comes up with some crazy ideas calling in his vice president, secretary of state, secretary of war, etc. Each time, they cannot get him out of the bath. In the end, it is his wife that comes up with the idea that removes him.

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: Although I would say be careful with reading this aloud to kids as they are going to gravitate right towards the humor of Taft’s girth shown in the illustrations, I will say there is some real history shared here, specifically in Barnett’s afterword that is worth talking about. It is also fun to have some American mythology to discuss. Also, I would make sure to discuss all of the great things Taft did for our country with students, so he is not just known for this one mishap.

Discussion Questions: Do you think Taft actually got a special bathtub made? What makes you think so/not?

We Flagged:

Read This If You Loved: King Bidgood’s in the Bathtub by Audrey Wood

Recommended For:

**Thank you to Tracy at Candlewick for providing a copy for review**

Touched by Paul Maurer

September 12, 2014 by Kellee

Touched
Author: Paul Maurer
Published February 6th, 2013 by New Libri Press

Goodreads Summary: Landmines. Quicksand. Class warfare. Now if Jimmy Parker could only find high school that simple. It only gets more complicated when a mysterious female classmate with a special gift enters his life. Jimmy finds out quickly that a simple touch of her hand allows her unwanted clairvoyance into his most sacred thoughts. Soon after the revelation adolescent sparks fly in directions that culminate in Jimmy’s admittance into the sinister Gritch Club. There he is confronted with social and sexual dilemmas that shake his very core. It is only when his classmate’s mental frailties bubbles to the surface he realizes seemingly harmless actions have powerful consequences that end one life and transform another.

My Review: This book’s ending was so shocking. I sat with my mouth hanging open, just shocked. It was so sudden and really caught me off guard. The emotion I felt starts with the characters. Jimmy is a nobody in his high school until Renee enters his life. Renee is special. She doesn’t care about what others think, she stands up to the bullies, and she actually befriends Jimmy. Renee is who propels our plot. She gets Jimmy to get out of his comfort zone, she is mysterious so I was always trying to figure her out, and she was smart and beautiful.

Teacher Tools’ For Navigation: There is almost a sub-genre of books that Touched fits in, though I don’t know if it has a name yet. They all have smart or outcast main characters, and another character enters their life who helps them realize their identity. Teens who like those book will enjoy Touched as well.

Discussion Questions: How does Renee change Jimmy’s life?; What events caused the surprising ending to happen? Did you see it happen? Was their foreshadowing that could have given away the ending?

We Flagged: “Most of high school was about as thrilling as getting a Slushee brain-freeze. But in my first class after lunch a thin vein of gold appeared within the red bricks of the building. English Composition was taught by Clarice Weatherspoon, a wrinkly lady that just about everybody called Mrs. Spoon. She was about eighty years old and one of those teachers who probably probably taught during the depression and was never going to die. I could see her in a coma maybe, but not dead. I never cared much for writing but Mrs. Spoon was supposed to be different. Fun was too strong a word for her class, but at least it wasn’t supposed to bore the living crap out of you. She only weighted a hundred pounds caring a backpack full of Big Macs, but when she spoke she came on as tough as a leather boot. Probably tougher.” (Location 335, Kindle ebook)

Read This If You Loved: The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider, Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, Jumped In by Patrick Flores-Scott

Recommended For:

Just Call My Name by Holly Goldberg Sloan

August 28, 2014 by Ricki

Just Call My Name
Author: Holly Goldberg Sloan
Published: August 5, 2014 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Summary: The happily-ever-after of Holly Goldberg Sloan’s acclaimed debut, I’ll Be There, is turned on its head in this riveting, emotional sequel about friends, enemies, and how those roles can shift in a matter of moments.

Emily Bell has it all. She’s in love with a boy named Sam Border, and his little brother has become part of her family. This summer is destined to be the best time of their lives–until a charismatic new girl in town sets her sights on Sam. Now Emily finds herself questioning the loyalty of the person she thought she could trust most.

But the biggest threat to her happiness is someone she never saw coming. Sam’s criminally insane father, whom everyone thought they’d finally left behind, is planning a jailbreak. And he knows exactly where to find Emily and his sons when he escapes…and takes his revenge.

Review: Holly Goldberg Sloan is an incredible writer. I enjoyed the first book in the series, but I liked this one even more. I appreciate the great depth of her characters. Often, coincidences are categorized as poor writing, but Sloan uses them intentionally and in a clever way—defying literary assumptions about quality writing. The book is quite suspenseful, and readers will have the urge to race through it to learn how the plot unravels. The way Sloan builds the plot details is very thoughtful and meticulous, and I found myself constantly reflecting about how intelligent she is. This sequel is well worth the read. It is a difficult one to put down! It reads like a very literary mystery and would be a great text for teachers to have in their classrooms. One aspect that I love about this series is it turns our concept of family on its head; it will teach readers about the power of a strong family unit—traditional or not.

Teacher’s Tools for Navigation: This would be a fantastic resource for teachers teaching plot, suspense, and foreshadowing. The way Sloan builds the events and details is admirable, and students would learn a lot from her design. While it is a sequel, I think this book could certainly stand alone. The ominous mood made my heart race! Check out more curricular connections here: Curricular Connections.

Discussion Questions: How does Sloan thoughtfully use coincidence to build her story?; What is Destiny’s role in the novel? How does Sam perceive her? Is he right? What does this tell us about Sam? Why does the author name her, “Destiny”?; How do the shifts in point-of-view add to your reading of the text?

We Flagged: “That happens to really happy people. They don’t notice the little things” (p.81).

Read This If You Loved: I’ll Be There by Holly Goldberg Sloan, We Were Liars by e. lockhart, YA Suspense/Mystery

Recommended For:

Review and Teaching Guide!: Frank Einstein and the Antimatter Motor by Jon Scieszka, Illustrated by Brian Biggs

August 13, 2023August 20, 2014 by Kellee

Frank Einstein and the Antimatter Motor
Author: Jon Sciezska
Illustrator: Brian Biggs
Published August 19, 2014 by Amulet Books

Goodreads Summary: Frank Einstein loves figuring out how the world works by creating household contraptions that are part science, part imagination, and definitely unusual. After an uneventful experiment in his garage-lab, a lightning storm and flash of electricity bring Frank’s inventions—the robots Klink and Klank—to life! Not exactly the ideal lab partners, the wisecracking Klink and the overly expressive Klank nonetheless help Frank attempt to perfect his Antimatter Motor . . . until Frank’s archnemesis, T. Edison, steals Klink and Klank for his evil doomsday plan! Using real science, Jon Scieszka has created a unique world of adventure and science fiction—an irresistible chemical reaction for middle-grade readers.

My Review: In the world of illustrated novels, we have many a class clown: Greg, Nate, George & Harold. But now we have our very own genius, and he is a genius that kids are going to love! This book combines the humor and fun plot that Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Big Nate, and Captain Underpants have, but adds in science (though the kids reading it will be none the wiser). The way that Sciezska combines humor, adventure, twists & turns, and science is perfection that will have a whole slew of readers waiting for the next Frank Einstein book.

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: This book has so much that a teacher could touch on while reading it. It would be a perfect book for a read aloud in reading with cross-curricular activities based on the book in science. I was very lucky to once again be able to write a teaching guide, this time for Frank Einstein. To see more specific class activities and discussion questions, view my teaching guide at the Abrams website. (I also wrote the teaching guide for Frank Einstein and the Electro-Finger!)

Discussion Questions:

Frank has a double helix DNA slide. What would this look like?; Grandpa Al uses the phrase “Blow this pop stand” (p. 112). This is an idiom meaning “Let’s get out of here.”
What are idioms? What are some idioms you use in your daily life?
Frank’s parents are in Antarctica, where the ozone is getting a hole in it (p. 110). What is causing this hole? Frank mentions CFCs. What are they? How do they affect the ozone?
In Fig 1.1, Frank shows us that every second between light and sound equals 1/5 of a mile, because of the difference between the speed of light and the speed of sound. So, if there are 5 seconds between thunder and lightning, that means the storm is 1 mile away. What if there are 10 seconds between? 15 seconds? 12 seconds? 100 seconds?; On page 109, we learn that corn flakes were an accidental invention. Are there other accidental inventions?

We Flagged: “Night. Darkness. Flash! A bright bolt of lightning splits the dark and flickers over the skylight. Frank Einstein looks up from his work. He counts out loud, “One thousand one. One thousand two. One thousand three. One thousand four. One thousand five–” Craack boom! The sound-wave vibration of the thunder rattles the old iron-framed windows of Frank’s workshop and science laboratory. “Five seconds between light and sound for every mile. . . One mile away,” Frank calculates, using the difference between the almost-instant speed of light and the much slower speed of sound. “Right on time.”

Read This If You Loved: Series: Frankie Pickle by Eric Wight, Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney, Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey, Big Nate by Lincoln Peirce

Recommended For:

**Thank you to Abrams Books for providing a copy for review**

Winger by Andrew Smith (Kellee’s Review)

August 13, 2014 by Kellee

Winger
Author: Andrew Smith
Published May 14th, 2013 by Simon & Schuster

Goodreads Summary: Ryan Dean West is a fourteen-year-old junior at a boarding school for rich kids. He’s living in Opportunity Hall, the dorm for troublemakers, and rooming with the biggest bully on the rugby team. And he’s madly in love with his best friend Annie, who thinks of him as a little boy.

With the help of his sense of humor, rugby buddies, and his penchant for doodling comics, Ryan Dean manages to survive life’s complications and even find some happiness along the way. But when the unthinkable happens, he has to figure out how to hold on to what’s important, even when it feels like everything has fallen apart.

Filled with hand-drawn info-graphics and illustrations and told in a pitch-perfect voice, this realistic depiction of a teen’s experience strikes an exceptional balance of hilarious and heartbreaking.

My Review: Andrew Smith sure knows how to write a teenage boy’s voice. He gets inside of adolescent male’s mind, and puts it all on paper for us. (It probably has something to do with teaching high school.) Ryan Dean’s voice and his story are so authentic. This book will make you cringe, laugh out loud, shake your head, and cry. I am also so impressed with all of the themes that are dealt with in this book without ever feeling over done. These themes include bullying, absent parents, peer pressure, identity, sexuality, prejudice, and friendship. In addition, Smith builds his characters, setting, and plot seamlessly. You fall in love with all of the characters, main and secondary. Even the antagonist. The setting itself is a character. And finally the plot arc was perfectly done, and was so unpredictable all the way to the end.

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: First and foremost, this book needs to read by teens. However that happens, it is the right thing. The easiest way would be to get it into libraries and classrooms. There are also parts of the book that could definitely be pulled out to be used in the classroom in may different ways. On that junps to mind right away is using Ryan Dean’s comics as mentor texts for writing comics to write narratives of everyday events. Ricki also has some great ideas for Winger in the classroom in her review.

Discussion Questions: What kind of social challenges does Ryan Dean have to overcome since he is 14 but a junior?; Were you able to predict the end of the book?; What are some traits about Ryan Dean that made him easy to connect to?; How does Opportunity Hall and the rest of the school become a character in Winger?

We Flagged:

(p. 21)

Read This If You Loved: Looking for Alaska by John Green, Openly Straight by Bill Konigsberg

Recommended For:

Jumped In by Patrick Flores-Scott

August 31, 2014August 8, 2014 by Kellee

Jumped In
Author: Patrick Flores-Scott
Published August 27, 2013 by Henry Holt and Co.

Goodreads Summary: Sam has the rules of slackerhood down: Don’t be late to class. Don’t ever look the teacher in the eye. Develop your blank stare. Since his mom left, he has become an expert in the art of slacking, especially since no one at his new school gets his intense passion for the music of the Pacific Northwest—Nirvana, Hole, Sleater-Kinney. Then his English teacher begins a slam poetry unit and Sam gets paired up with the daunting, scarred, clearly-a-gang-member Luis, who happens to sit next to him in every one of his classes. Slacking is no longer an option—Luis will destroy him. Told in Sam’s raw voice and interspersed with vivid poems, Jumped In by Patrick Flores-Scott is a stunning debut novel about differences, friendship, loss, and the power of words

My Review: This book is about depression, friendship, poetry, music, loyalty, teachers, and family.. It is amazing that through Sam’s interactions with Luis and introduction to poetry, he goes from trying to be invisible on purpose to having a whole different view of his surroundings. Luis changes how he sees the world because Luis ends up being everything he thought he wasn’t.

This book surprised me. I didn’t know what it was about when I started, so I wasn’t sure what I was getting myself into. At first Sam seems to just be a slacker that is hard to connect with, and I thought it was going to be similar to many other books with a bully that I’ve read. But it ended up being like Luis was to Sam–everything I thought it wasn’t going to be, and it was so unpredictable. From page 1, the author had me. The images just jumped out at me. And that was just the beginning of me being thoroughly impressed with the book. Both of the voices in this book resonated with me for a long time after (As much as I end up liking Sam in this book, I think Luis may be one of my favorite characters ever. He has a beautiful voice, and I felt privileged to meet him.). It was one of those books that I had to let marinate before I could pick up another one because it was still banging around inside of my head (and I couldn’t stop hearing Sam and Luis’s voices).

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: This is a poetry-friendly book. First, although Sam is telling the story, throughout Luis’s voice is shared through his poetry. Beautiful poetry. Also, one of the main settings of the book is an English classroom with a pretty awesome English teacher talking about poetry. There are even examples of poems that she asks her students to write such as diamantes and nonets. All of her poetry unit (and writing process) activities would be perfect to use in the classroom.

Discussion Questions: Was there ever someone you judged by looking at them, but later learned that they were not what you thought?; Have you ever just tried to be invisible? Why?; Do you ever have “brain movies” like Sam when your brain just won’t stop thinking?; How does Luis’s friendship change Sam?; How is Luis different than what Sam assumed he would be?; How does Gilbert affect Sam?

We Flagged: “I pull away from everyone, and after a while, I pretty much quit talking altogether. It’s been two years. I’m a sophmore. I shouldn’t still be stuck like this. But the pit I’ve dug for myself feels so deep, I can’t climb out of it. I want to. I want to climb out and join the world. But I can’t. I don’t know how.” (Sam, p. 32)

“Callado

I’m Callado
Still waters, aguas quietas

But in school you have to speak
To be seen as running deep

To be thought of as more than
The tragic mask
I wear to put you off
I don’t know why, so don’t ask

Someday I’ll scrap the mask
I’ll let loose my new, crazy words
I’ll speak my piece
Without ceasing till you’ve learned…

That I’m as deep
As Everest is voluminous

I’m as thoughtful
As the sun is luminous

As lucid
As Casanova is amorous

As passionate
As a grizzly is carnivorous…” (Luis, p. 51)

Read This If You Loved: Dr. Bird’s Advice for Sad Poets by Evan Roskos, Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein, Reality Boy by A.S. King, Wine Young Fool by Sean Beaudoin

Recommended For: