The Great American Dust Bowl by Don Brown

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NF PB 2014

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!

dust

The Great American Dust Bowl
Author and Illustrator: Don Brown
Published October 8th, 2013 by HMH Books for Young Readers

Goodreads Summary: A speck of dust is a tiny thing. In fact, five of them could fit into the period at the end of this sentence.

On a clear, warm Sunday, April 14, 1935, a wild wind whipped up millions upon millions of these specks of dust to form a duster—a savage storm—on America’s high southern plains.

The sky turned black, sand-filled winds scoured the paint off houses and cars, trains derailed, and electricity coursed through the air. Sand and dirt fell like snow—people got lost in the gloom and suffocated . . . and that was just the beginning.

Don Brown brings the Dirty Thirties to life with kinetic, highly saturated, and lively artwork in this graphic novel of one of America’s most catastrophic natural events: the Dust Bowl.

Review: Ever since I read Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse, I’ve loved learning about this scary time in American history (also, the danger hasn’t ceased just because it happens less often). This book does a beautiful job of taking this time in history and laying it out for the reader so that it is very easy to understand. It includes background about the geographical area, information about the Depression, and then takes you through the Dust Bowl all the way to modern days. So interesting!

Teacher’s Tools For Navigation: First, this book will make a great companion to Out of the Dust. I think many readers struggle with Hesse’s book because they don’t have the background knowledge needed to understand the book and Don Brown’s book gives all the background needed.  The Great America Dust Bowl can also be used as a resource when teaching the Dust Bowl, the depression, or agriculture.

Discussion Questions: How did the Depression impact farmers thus help cause the Dust Bowl to happen?; How is the problems of the Dust Bowl still impacting us today?

We Flagged: 

Read This If You Loved: Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse, Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, The Storm in the Barn by Matt Phelan, Survival in the Storm: The Dust Bowl Diary of Grace Edwards, Dalhart, TX 1935 by Katelan Janke

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For the Good of Mankind?: The Shameful History of Human Medical Experimentation by Vicki O. Wittenstein

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NF PB 2013

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!

for the good of mankind

For the Good of Mankind?: The Shameful History of Human Medical Experimentation
Author: Vicki O. Wittenstein
Published: August 1st, 2013 by Lerner Publishing Group

Summary: 

Experiment: A child is deliberately infected with the deadly smallpox disease without his parents’ informed consent.
Result: The world’s first vaccine.
Experiment: A slave woman is forced to undergo more than thirty operations without anesthesia.
Result: The beginnings of modern gynecology.
Experiment: From 1946 to 1953, seventy-four boys are fed oatmeal laced with radioactive iron and calcium.
Result: A better understanding of the effects of radioactivity on the human body.

Experimental incidents such as these paved the way for crucial medical discoveries and lifesaving cures and procedures. But they also violated the rights of their subjects, many of whom did not give their consent to the experiments. The subjects suffered excruciating pain and humiliation. Some even died as a result of the procedures. Even in the twenty-first century—despite laws, regulations, and ethical conventions—the tension between medical experimentation and patient rights continues.

How do doctors balance the need to test new medicines and procedures with their ethical and moral duty to protect the rights of human subjects? What price has been paid for medical knowledge? Can we learn from the broken oaths of the past?

Take a harrowing journey through some of history’s greatest medical advances—and its most horrifying medical atrocities. You’ll read about orphans injected with lethal tuberculosis and concentration camp inmates tortured by Nazi doctors. You’ll also learn about radiation experimentation and present-day clinical trials that prove fatal. Through these stories, explore the human suffering that has gone hand in hand with medical advancement.

Review: Human experimentation is a very difficult subject matter, one that both horrifies and fascinates teens. I always try to believe in the good of mankind, but books like this always seem to challenge that assumption. It was difficult for me to read this book because I cannot fathom how any person could justify using individuals (including CHILDREN!) for experimentation. This book is incredibly well-researched and documents a variety of cases of experimentation. I couldn’t put it down because I was so astonished by the details of the cases. It is colorful and eye-appealing, and this will captivate reluctant readers. I think teenagers would see nonfiction in a very positive light if they were given books like this one. I absolutely recommend it to teachers.

Teacher’s Tools for Navigation: Teachers might assign different chapters to groups of students. Students will enjoy reading about and presenting the material covered in this book. Persuasive essays are always a chore, but there are many controversial issues within this book, and I think students would really enjoy writing essays about this subject matter. This book also includes discussion questions for readers.

Discussion Questions: Can we justify the experimentation on a human being if it will better the lives of millions of people?; Why do you think human experimentation was allowed for such a long time? Can we judge the doctors who experimented on people centuries ago?; Applying the stories to animals, do you think animal experimentation is justifiable? Why or why not?

Read This If You Loved: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, books in the Real Justice series, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

 

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Ye Olde Weird but True! by National Geographic Kids

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NF PB 2013

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!

yeolde

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

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Harlem: A Poem by Walter Dean Myers

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Harlem: A Poem
Author: Walter Dean Myers
Illustrator: Christopher Myers
Published 1997 by Scholastic Press

Goodreads Summary: Walter Dean Myers calls to life the deep, rich, and hope-filled history of Harlem, this crucible of American culture.

Christopher Myers’ boldly assembled collage art resonates with feeling, and tells a tale all its own. Words and pictures together connect readers -of all ages – to the spirit of Harlem in its music, art, literature, and everyday life, and to how it has helped shape us as a people.

My Review & Teacher’s Tools For Navigation: After reading this book the first time, I knew I was going to have to tackle it differently than just reading a picture book. I wanted to make sense of it and I knew that I didn’t have the background knowledge so I knew that the power of all of the words had not sunk in yet. So, I typed up the poem in Google Drive and began doing my very own close reading of the poem.  I started with research of terms and names that I didn’t know, building my knowledge of the culture and history of Harlem. Through this build up of knowledge, I began to understand the beauty behind Myers’s poem. The voice of this poem is one of heartbreak, but strength; proud of not only what he has become, but where he came from. This poem is a celebration of the history of Harlem and its citizens—a celebration of its religion, music, poets, authors, and everything that made/makes it a hub for the civil rights movement and African America culture.

While doing my research, I found an amazing website that I will definitely use when teaching this poetry book- Harlem: A Visual Interpretative Analysis– which takes an excerpt of the poem and an accompanied collage and takes the reader through an analysis of the excerpt and artwork. Fascinating!

This book would be a great one to use across many different subject areas- history, literature, and art.

Discussion Questions: What references to Harlem’s history did Myers entertwine into his poem?; How did Christopher Myers’s illustrations take the poem to another level?; (Writing) Do research about your ancestors and your heritage. Through this research, find people, places, literature, art, musicians, etc. that helped shape who you or your family are. Use this research to construct a poem about your heritage. Find a piece of artwork to accompany your poem. 

We Flagged: 

The uptown A
Rattles past 110th street
Unreal to real
Relaxing the soul

Shango and Jesus
Asante and Mende
One people, a hundred different
People
Huddled masses
And crowded dreams

Read This If You Loved: Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince and His Orchestra and Ella Fitzgerald: The Tale of a Vocal Virtuosa by Andrea Davis Pinkney, The Complete Poems including Harlem by Langston Hughes, Harlem Summer by Walter Dean Myers, Nonfiction books about Harlem

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History News: Greek News by Anton Powell and Philip Steele

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NF PB 2013

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!

greeknews

History News: The Greek News
Author: Anton Powell and Philip Steele
Illustrator: Various
Published March 10th, 2009 by Candlewick Press

Goodreads Summary: At home or at school, these innovative titles make history come alive

Read all About it Now, with The Greek News and The Roman News, life in ancient Greece and Rome is presented in the form of a daily newspaper written at the time. As accessible as your morning paper, The Greek News and The Roman News will give young readers the unforgettable sense of actually being a citizen of an ancient nation.

Stop the presses! What if ancient civilizations had daily newspapers? And they were amusing and compellingly informative? They might just look like this innovative series of historical nonfiction, presented in a unique, kid-friendly format.

Presents a “special edition” of a Greek newspaper which spans the years 1500 to 146 B.C. and contains articles about history, politics, feasts, fashions, theater, gods, and wars.

My Review: Set up like a Greek newspaper, The Greek News takes important events from the history of Greece and transcribes them as articles. The articles range in topics including Sparta, Alexander the Great, politics, army/navy life, trades, sports, woman, mythology, arts, education, philosophy, and traditions.

Teacher’s Tools For Navigation: The book is so well done with each page including a main article as well as other features including sidebars, maps, advertisements, diagrams, illustrations and political cartoons. I think students will like reading/learning about Greece more from this text than other because the unique format shares the information as if it was happening in the present and puts the reader in the middle of Greece. It also throws in some humor which students will love. This text can lead to such great discussions about not only Greece, but war, philosophy, mythology, propaganda, and so many other things.

Discussion Questions: [Writing prompt] Use The Greek News as a guide to create your own newspaper-esque piece sharing the history of a historical fiction book which you have read.

We Flagged: “In 415 B.C., Athens tried to add to its territory by conquering the island of Sicily. The results were disastrous – thousands of Athenian soldiers and hundreds of warships were lost. The Spartans leaped on Athens’s weakness and cut off the city’s supply of wealth from its silver mines…” (“Sparta Attacks!” p. 6)

“You know what it’s like. One minute your life is going smoothly, then, just when you least expect it, the gods turn their back on you and disaster strikes! Don’t panic – The Greek News will tell you everything you need to know about keeping the gods on your side.” (Lead paragraph for “Pleasing the Gods” p. 20-21)

“Socrates is to die! The jury of 501 men has made its decision – Socrates is guilty of not believing in the state-approved gods and of leading young people astray with his teaching.” (“Death by Poison, pg. 27)

Read This If You Loved: Any non-fiction or fiction text about Greece

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The Mary Celeste: An Unsolved Mystery from History by Jane Yolen and Heidi Elisabet Yolen Stemple

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NF PB 2013

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!

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The Mary Celeste: An Unsolved Mystery from History
Author: Jane Yolen and Heidi Elisabet Yolen Stemple
Illustrator: Roger Roth
Published July 1st, 2002 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Goodreads Summary: The Mary Celeste was discovered adrift on the open sea by another ship in 1872 — with no sign of captain or crew. What happened? Did the crew mutiny? Were they attacked by pirates? Caught in a storm? No one ever found out.

Inside this book are the clues that were left behind and the theories of what people think happened aboard that ship. Become a detective, study the clues, and see if you can help solve this chilling mystery from history.

My Review: This is the final book in the Unsolved Mystery from History series and I think it may be my favorite yet. Like The Wolf Girls, I had not heard about the Mary Celeste before this book, but this mystery was just so enthralling! A crew that just disappears?!?! How?!?! After reading the book, I spent hours online reading about the Mary Celeste and it is so interesting. There are so many websites and opinions and theories—all which would be so much fun to share with students.

Teacher’s Tools for Navigation: Like the other books in this series, I would love to see these books used in classrooms (history or language arts/reading). These books promote studying history, asking questions, inquiry, and vocabulary. Each book begins with an introduction about a young girl who enjoys unsolved mysteries from history and then the books are set up like her case notebook. Each page of the case notebook includes a narrative nonfiction section, an informational nonfiction section where facts about the story are explained even more in detail, and then there are vocabulary words from the two sections defined for the reader. Finally, in the back of the books the different theories about what could be the answer to the unsolved mystery are shared and briefly discussed. The set up of this book leads to infinite possibilities of being used in the classroom. Students could debate, write research papers, could do their very own case notebook about a different mystery, etc. Another option is to get all of the Unsolved Mystery from History books and have students get into lit circle groups and have each group read a different mystery then research and share. The other books in the series are about the Salem Witch Trials, the Wolf Girls, and Roanoke.

Discussion Questions: Which of the theories do you think happened?; Do you trust Captain Morehouse? Why or why not?; One theory mentions a kraken. Do you think sea monsters exist?; Study the weather of the Pacific during the time period the ship disappeared. Is weather an option for the crew’s disappearance?

We Flagged: Narrative Nonfiction “The last place the men looked was in the ship’s hold where her cargo- 1,700 barrels of raw alcohol- was well stowed. Not a single barrel had been opened. All in all, Deveau and Wright looked around the Mary Celeste for over half an hour. They found no sign of anyone on board, no signs of struggle.”

Informative Nonfiction “The cargo was alcohol stored in red oak barrels. Red oak is a porous wood that lets alcohol fumes escape. When the barrels were examined, some of the alcohol was found to be gone, but that was entirely due to evaporation. According to reports, the barrels were “in good order” and not “in any way injury.” Besides, the alcohol was was raw alcohol which was to be used for fortifying Italian wines. Anyone drinking it unprocessed would not become drunk, but would rather lapse into a coma or die. Only one hatch was found open, but there was no sign of smoke damage or an explosion in the unventilated hold.”

Vocabulary “Hold: the area inside the ship where cargo is stored; Cargo: the goods being transported by the ship” (p. 20-21)

Read This If You Loved: The other Unsolved Mystery from History books

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I’m so sad that I am done reviewing the Unsolved Mystery from History series, but I hope you have enjoyed learning about them as I enjoyed reading them. 

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Roanoke, The Lost Colony: An Unsolved Mystery from History by Jane Yolen and Heidi Elisabet Yolen Stemple

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NF PB 2013

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!

roanoke

Roanoke, The Lost Colony: An Unsolved Mystery from History
Author: Jane Yolen and Heidi Elisabeth Yolen Stemple
Illustrator: Roger Roth
Published July 1st, 2003 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Goodreads Summary: In 1587 John White was chosen by Sir Walter Raleigh to lead a new colony at Roanoke off the Atlantic coast. After bringing many men, women, and children to the new land, White went back to England to gather supplies for the long winter. But when he finally returned to the fort almost three years later, he found that all of the colonists had vanished. The only signs of life left were the letters CRO carved into a tree and the word CROATOAN carved into one of the fort’s posts. Some people think that the Spanish army captured the colonists; some people think that the local native people murdered them; others think that the colonists went off to live with the native people and start a new life. Still others think that the colonists tried to sail home to England and were lost at sea. No one knows for sure. Become a detective as you read this true story, study the clues, and try to figure out the fate of the lost colony of Roanoke. The Unsolved Mystery from History series is written by acclaimed author Jane Yolen and former private investigator Heidi Elisabet Yolen Stemple. Read carefully and check your clues. You might be the first to solve a puzzle that has baffled people for years.

My Review: Just like all of the others in this series, I found this story fascinating. Unlike, The Wolf Girls, this is a mystery from history that I wanted to learn more about. I had heard of Roanoke, but I didn’t know anything except that it is the lost colony where everyone disappeared. I was never taught about Roanoke, so this was my initial introduction to the colony and man, it is all so fascinating!

Teacher’s Tools For Navigation: I am going to sound like a broken record here, but this, like the other parts of the series, can be used in such amazing ways in the classroom! Check out my Salem Witch Trials and The Wolf Girls reviews to read about how I envision these books being used in the classroom.

Discussion Questions: What do you think happened to everyone? Do you agree with any of the theories given at the end or do you have one of your own?

We Flagged: Narrative nonfiction The colonists left Portsmouth on April 26, 1587. They planned to meet with the soldiers, then go to Chesapeake Bay, north of Roanoke, where the land was more fertile and the harbor was safer. They sailed in three boats: a flyboat; a pinnace; and the flagship, Lyon. After a month and a haft at sea they reached the Americas at last, stopping first on several islands. At Santa Cruz several colonists ate green fruit. Their lips and tongues swelled badly. A number of people drank from a pond that had ‘water so evil’ they fell dreadfully ill. Some who washed  their faces in the water had swollen eyes for five or six days after. They captured five huge tortoises for meat—so large, sixteen men become exhausted hauling them back to the ship.”

Informational nonfiction “For long ocean journeys several types of ships were generally used, including: Flagship- the fleet’s largest, best, or safest ship, on which the commander sailed; Flyboat- a large boat with one or two masts, generally square rigged; Pinnace- a smaller, faster, more maneuverable boat that sometimes carried oars.”

Vocabulary “Fertile: capable of supporting a plentiful crop; Tortoise: land turtle of the warm climates, a good food source because the meat doesn’t spoil quickly” (p. 10-11)

Read This If You Loved: Any of the Unsolved Mysteries from History, Nonfiction books about Roanoke

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