Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday: House hunting through history

Posted on July 2, 2014 by carriegelson

It’s Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday!

Near the end of the year my students and I did a number of interesting art projects about structures and imaginative houses. If the year had been longer, I had planned to share these two nonfiction titles about houses around the world and homes through time. We ran out of time so I am sharing them here 🙂

If You Lived Here: Houses of the World by Giles Laroche (published 2011)

A gorgeous selection of homes though time located all over the world. Each two page spread features a stunning illustration (bas-relief cut-paper collages ) and a box of text. If you lived here . . . each page begins and some details of life in a particular dwelling are shared. Also included on each page are headings and more info about: House Type, Materials, Location, Date and a Fascinating Fact. I have three favourites where I wouldn’t mind spending a month or so:

a chateau in southwest France – the one featured in this book was in the 1700s and became a museum in 2004
a Fujian tulou located in China built out of lime, find sand and soil for the exterior walls
a house in a white washed village in the Agean Sea (as featured on the cover)- I loved these homes on my visits to Greece

How People Lived: Snapshots of Life from Prehistory to the Present written by Jim Pipe and illustrated by Zack McLaughlin (published 2011)

This is a book perfect to introduce to a class at carpet time and then let little groups share during buddy reading. So much information about how people have lived over time beginning 160,000 years ago in caves in South Africa. I had my eleven year old page through this title and he was most interested in the pages featuring a Viking Port, a Roman town and a Sultan’s Palace in Istanbul. The pages include photographs, drawings, maps and information about food, technology, structures and culture. Back pages include riddles, a timeline, glossary and index. A great title for the classroom or library nonfiction collection. The illustrations are so detailed that even beginning readers will be interested in this book.

Some fiction titles I love related to homes and building houses if this has put you in a creative mood!

Thanks to Alyson from Kid Lit Frenzy for the inspiration to read and share more nonfiction picture books in 2014! Follow the link to Alyson’s blog to read about more nonfiction titles.

My goal is to read 65 nonfiction picture books for 2014. Progress: 77/65 complete!

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday: Our children, our rights, our world

Posted on June 18, 2014 by carriegelson

It’s Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday!

There are many reasons that I have human rights and the rights of children on my mind right now. I recently read a number of books to my class including Who Says Women Can’t be Doctors and Donovan’s Big Day which led to discussions about everyone’s rights regardless of their gender or who they love, etc. We are also in the middle of an intense labour dispute between B.C teachers and the government. Rights are on my mind. The rights of children to an equitable, accessible excellent public education system are front and center. So I have been thinking books – and – here is where my thinking has led me . . .

We Are All Born Free: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Pictures (with Amnesty International). (published 2008)

This book was published in association with Amnesty International to honour the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Human Rights. Each of the specific articles is illustrated by an international artist – most of them children’s book illustrators. Some of my favourite illustrators are featured including Peter Sis (who did the cover), Marie-Louise Gay, Polly Dunbar and John Burningham.

I have used this book in the past to just talk about one specific article and illustration at a time to begin a discussion or introduce another book on the subject (like children’s rights to an education or not to work).

I Have the Right to be a Child written by Alain Serres, illustrated by Aurelia Fronty (published 2012)

The afterward of this book explains that the rights outlined in the book were adapted from the Convention on the Rights of the Child adopted in 1989 by the U.N. General Assembly. Gorgeous illustrations and child friendly language make this a title that can be read and shared in one sitting. I love the page about education:

I have the right to go to school without having to pay, so that I can learn how birds or planes or poppy seeds fly.

Whoever You Are written by Mem Fox illustrated by Leslie Staub (published 1997)

Soothing and celebratory, this is one of my favourite titles to introduce diversity and sharing the most important thing about ourselves with everyone – our humanity.

I have used this title when talking about peace, about diversity, about community or just because. It reminds us with gentle, lyrical text that we are all the same in many ways no matter how we look or where we are from.

Joys are the same, and love is the same.

Pain is the same, and blood is the same.

A School Like Mine: A Unique Celebration of Schools Around the World (In Association with Unicef) (published 2007)

A book full of photographs and information about children going to school all over the world. Students love reading about classrooms and families and how they are different and similar from their own.

Every Human has Rights – A Photographic Declaration for Kids A National Geographic book with a forward by Mary Robinson. (published 2008)

What I particularly love about this title is the poetry that accompanies the list of rights. All written by children and teens. The photographs from around the world make the rights so much more powerful, real and worth defending. I would share this book with intermediate students over primary children because of the more mature message in the poems and some of the photos.

Thanks to Alyson from Kid Lit Frenzy for the inspiration to read and share more nonfiction picture books in 2014! Follow the link to Alyson’s blog to read about more nonfiction titles.

My goal is to read 65 nonfiction picture books for 2014. Progress: 73/65 complete!

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday: Next reads

Posted on June 11, 2014 by carriegelson

It’s Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday!

I have been reading and sharing lots of nonfiction with my class lately but none of these titles have been “new to me” books. Today, I am sharing my pile of “next reads” – a pile that is sitting on my shelf and that I plan to get to this week. I am always on the lookout for titles to add to our classroom collection or for must reads to share aloud. I think I have discovered some treasures!

What Do You Do When Something Wants to Eat You? by Steve Jenkins (published 1997)

I have a collection of Steve Jenkins titles and use them often, every year in my room. Somehow I had missed this one and so when I saw it at the bookstore, it chased me home! These things happen . . .

Whose Nest? by Lynette Evans with illustrations by Guy Troughton (published 2013)

I am a little bit obsessed by nests. Fallen bird’s nests sit in our kitchen windows. I have pieces of an empty wasp nest in my classroom nature collection. We have made clay nests for imaginary birds as part of an art project. So when I found this book at the library in the new nonfiction collection, I knew I had to read it.

Wow! I Didn’t Know That Surprising Facts About Animals by Emma Dods with illustrations by Marc Aspinall (published 2013)

In my classroom, I have a number of fact collectors. If you teach primary children, you probably do too. They follow me around and tell me facts. Nonfiction reading time buzzes with sharing, “Listen to this . . . ” “Did you know. . . ?” This book will happily make its rounds in my classroom so that my fact collectors have some more information to happily store away!

Summoning the Phoenix Poems and Prose about Chinese Musical Instruments by Emily Jiang Illustrations by April Chu (published 2013)

The lovely Crystal Brunelle sent this to me. I plan to read it, share it and then gift it to our school library where it can be enjoyed by all of the children in the school. We have many children who play musical instruments and I know they will be intrigued by the variety of instruments shared in this book. Gorgeous illustrations and poems accompany each description of an instrument.

Gravity by Jason Chin (published 2014)

I am such a fan of Jason Chin’s books and children are always fascinated by them. I was lucky enough to win this title in a give away by the very generous Margie Myers-Culver It arrived in my mailbox at work on a day when I needed an act of kindness. I have been saving it as a treat, smiling at it daily as it sits on the top of my “to read” pile! I know from Margie’s review that I will be delighted and transported (had to fit a gravity reference in there!)

There is nothing like an interesting pile of books just waiting to teach me so many things. How I love nonfiction picture books!

Thanks to Alyson from Kid Lit Frenzy for the inspiration to read and share more nonfiction picture books in 2014! Follow the link to Alyson’s blog to read about more nonfiction titles.

My goal is to read 65 nonfiction picture books for 2014. Progress: 71/65 complete! Hurrah!

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday: Numbers Big and Small

Posted on May 28, 2014 by carriegelson

It’s Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday!

I recently read this very exciting numbers book to my class: How Many Jelly Beans? A Giant Book of Giant Numbers written by Andrea Menotti and illustrated by Yancey Labat (published 2012)

Two siblings explore large numbers while talking about how many jelly beans they would like or might be able to eat. (1 000 in a year seems doable suddenly when spread across a yearly calendar = just 2 or 3 a day) The jelly beans are visually displayed on each page – 10, then 20, then 25, 50 . . . 100, 1 000, 10 000, 1 000 000!! Every time the number gets larger, the jellybeans on the page get smaller. Such fun! Especially the last fold out that really does show a million jellybeans. My kids all got up and gawked and oohed and ahed. It was a “math aha” moment. “So that’s what a million looks like!”

Sharing this with my class got me thinking about what beginning number books have been recently released to share with younger children. I remember that my own children used to love counting and number books and I have been planning to add more of these titles to our buddy reading collection for when the Kindergarten class comes up to read with us. Children love to count together and explore numbers. At my public library I was lucky enough to find . .

Baby Bear Counts One by Ashley Wolff (published 2013)

This title blurs fiction and nonfiction but I am including it here because it is such a delightful title. A beautiful counting book about forest animals preparing for the winter. Colourful pages with perfect counting opportunities. One woodpecker. Two squirrels. Three beavers. Four . . .

Numbers Everywhere by Elliot Kaufman (published 2013)

Are there numbers everywhere we look? This book shows us that there are – some in print, some in shapes, some in nature. Photographs of numbers everywhere in our world. Would inspire a number finding walk!

1 cookie, 2 chairs, 3 Pears: Numbers Everywhere (A Clever Concept Book) by Jane Brocket (published 2013)

Count from 1 to 20 via bright and colourful photographs of everyday objects – some we encounter often and some more unusual. I like the way numbers are grouped to help us associate counting strategies (“Five is useful for counting how many toes on a foot“) Will invite lots of counting and grouping objects found on each page.

Thanks to Alyson from Kid Lit Frenzy for the inspiration to read and share more nonfiction picture books in 2014!

My goal is to read 65 nonfiction picture books for 2014. Progress: 67/65 complete!

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday: Nonfiction I’m reading to my children

Posted on May 21, 2014 by carriegelson

It’s Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday!

I have always read aloud to my children who are now eleven and in Grade 6 (boy/girl twins). Our reading history includes books of all kinds: board books, poetry, picture books, nonfiction, comics/graphics, and novels.

And now? My children are still happy to be my “test children” for new picture book titles. And we ALWAYS have a novel on the go. But do we read nonfiction together? We do. But much more avidly than we ever did! In the past, it was a title here and there. Now, that I am an active participant in this challenge hosted by Alyson Beecher at KidLit Frenzy, my nonfiction reading and awareness has been transformed. I am aware of so many fantastic titles and I have transferred my passion and commitment to nonfiction, to my read aloud time with my children. Usually, we have a longer title on the go that we will read over a week or two – just a little each night. Our evening reading often looks like a section of our nonfiction title and then a chapter or two (depending on the time and the begging) of our novel. Sometimes, we are so engrossed in the nonfiction title, we just read that.

My children and I have all benefitted from the talk that happens with our nonfiction reading. Sometimes one of us is not all that interested in the topic and it requires more talk time and initial research of the topic (watching a video, looking at other books, etc) Other times we are all incredibly curious right from the beginning. Always it is worth it for the connections we make, the questions we share and the learning that we do. How amazing is it to be learning alongside my own children every day!

I highly recommend adding more nonfiction to your read aloud diet!

Our last few nonfiction read alouds were Shackleton’s Journey by William Grill, Dare the Wind written by Tracey Fern and illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully and Saving the Ghost of the Mountain: An Expedition Among Snow Leopards in Mongolia written by Sy Montgomery with photographs by Nic Bishop. I have featured all of these on my blog in recent weeks.

What’s up next for us?

Sea Turtle Scientist by Stephen R. Swinburne (published 2014)

I find these Scientiest in the Field titles the perfect read alouds for this age group (10 – 13). My children and I are quite enamoured with sea turtles and I am particularly interested in sharing details of the conservation efforts to protect turtles.

Chasing Cheetahs: The Race to Save Africa’s Fastest Cats written by Sy Montgomery with photographs by Nic Bishop (published 2014)

Another Scientist in the Field title. Children are fascinated by cheetahs and my children are no different. But, we have talked more and more about how many of Africa’s animals are at risk of extinction. This is an important read.

The Skull in the Rock: How a Scientist, A Boy and Google Earth opened a New Window on Human Origins by Lee R. Berger and Marc Aronson. (published 2012)

I found this book in my school library and immediately signed it out to bring home and share with my children. A nine year old boy out fossil hunting with his Dad (Dr. Lee Berger) finds a piece of bone likely two million years old. This book looks just fascinating! My learning curve will be big. My husband, who loves all things fossils, wants to sit in when we do this read aloud.

Shimmer and Splash: The Sparkling World of Sea Life by Jim Arnosky (published 2013)

Gorgeous paintings by Arnosky and the stories of his experience and knowledge of each of the creatures featured here. We have been reading many nonfiction titles about the ocean so have lots of interest in various sea life.

Unusual Creatures: A Mostly Accurate Account of Some of Earth’s Strangest Animals by Michael Hearst and illustrated by Arjen Noordeman, Christie Wright, and Jelmer Noordeman (published 2012)

I found this in one of my favourite book shops on a weekend walk. It has what looks like a tiny nibble out of one corner (my theory is that one of these creatures featured in this book is secretly alive and comes out at night and dines on the book it now lives within) so it was in the half price bin. Giant Gippsland Earthworms up to 10 feet long. A Mimic Octopus that wasn’t discovered until 1998 (too busy hiding by being able to mimic other creatures!). Leafy Sea Dragons that look like floating seaweed. Really, how could I resist this book? Can’t wait to share and hear the chorus of “Cool!” and “Gross!” that my children are sure to repeat on each page!

Thanks to Alyson from Kid Lit Frenzy for the inspiration to read and share more nonfiction picture books in 2014! Follow the link to Alyson’s blog to read about more nonfiction titles.

My goal is to read 65 nonfiction picture books for 2014. Progress: 63/65 complete!

Monday May 19th, 2014

Posted on May 18, 2014 by carriegelson

It’s Monday! What are you reading?

Join Jen from Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee and Ricki from Unleashing Readers and share all of the reading you have done over the week from picture books to young adult novels. Follow the links to read about all of the amazing books the #IMWAYR community has read. The best way to grow your TBR list!

My favourite picture books of the week

If You Listen written by Charlotte Zolotow and illustrated by Stefano Vitale

How do you know someone is with you even when they are not physically there? A little girl needs reassurance from her mother about how to cope with missing her Dad who is no longer with her. Did he pass away? Has he left the family? It isn’t clarified. The important aspects of the story are how to deal with loss, grief and acceptance of love (whether immediate or far away). First published in 1980 and redone in 2002 with these gorgeous illustrations.

Once Upon a Balloon written by Bree Galbraith and illustrated by Isabelle Malenfant

An intriguing story about imagination, sibling dynamics and an act of kindness. This title explores the land of “what if” and the power of belief just as much as it celebrates the story telling whims of an older brother who knows he has a captive audience in his younger sibling. The ending brings an entire other aspect to this story and allows the reader to think about what it is to be kind and compassionate.

Awesome Book of Love! by Dallas Clayton

Love, love, love. Not any one kind in particular but simply love that is huge and all encompassing. My favourite line?

“or just being around when the others have gone or about letting go when you want to hold on.”

A true celebration of love.

Lala Salama: A Tanzanian Lullaby written by Patricia MacLachlan and illustrated by Elizabeth Zunon

Set by the lake in Tanzania, a mother speaks this lullaby to her child as they see father off in the morning and greet him again at the end of a busy day. Vividly illustrated. A story of routine, daily chores and family love.

Tippy-Tippy-Tippy Splash! written by Candace Fleming and illustrated by G. Brian Karas

Candace Fleming has such fun with language in this story of Mr. McGreely and his annoyance with the rabbits that make him so angry. Always trying to better these “wily twitchwhiskers” Mr. McGreely finds himself always outdone. Finally, he figures out a way to work with rather than against these “flop eared” foes. Silly and fun, a sequel to Muncha! Muncha! Muncha!

Moonday by Adam Rex

Absolutely odd. Stunning illustrations. It will either work for people or it won’t. The cover enchanted me and I felt persuaded to come along on Rex’s imaginative journey asking, “What if the moon ended up perched in your backyard?”

Samsara Dog written by Helen Manos and illustrated by Julie Vivas

Not necessarily a picture book for younger children. Emotional and thoughtful. Based on Buddhist concepts of Samsara and Nirvana, this story tells the tale of a dog who lives many lives, learning and growing in each of them. Finally, he lives the life that allows him to feel deeply, to know much and to give fully.

Shackleton’s Journey by William Grill

Amazing nonfiction – Shackleton’s story of the Endurance’s attempted voyage to Antarctica. Uniquely illustrated by Grill. This book is ironically a book about exploration that needs to be explored for its every detail. Read this aloud to my children (who are eleven) and we were all captivated. I had to own this book as soon as I heard about it and was in no way disappointed.

I finished two novels and am now avidly reading Golden Boy by Tara Sullivan

Completed:

Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy by Karen Foxlee

This was a #MustReadin2014 title

Vulnerable. Beautiful. Sad and full of grief while at the same time magical and full of hope. What a story.

Nightingale’s Nest by Nikki Loftin

I don’t know where to start with this book. The reader must suspend belief and be transported by the sweet song of a young girl and the power of a beautiful voice to heal so much that is wrong. A book full of many examples of choices with huge consequences. Hauntingly beautiful. A story about the power of grief to overwhelm and surround us. Full of so many different kinds of moments- worrisome, sweet and lovely, angst filled. Upper middle grade. Highly recommended.

Next up? After finishing Golden Boy, I plan to begin A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness.

Reading Goal updates:

2014 Chapter Book Challenge: 38/100 novels complete

Goodeads Challenge: 249/650 books read

#MustReadin2014: 16/30 complete

Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge: 63/65 complete

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday: Backyard Books

Posted on May 14, 2014 by carriegelson

It’s Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday!

I had a post all planned for today featuring some recently published books but then I had the best session with one of my nonfiction groups and decided that highlighting some older but wonderful titles was in order instead!

I always like getting a peek into other classrooms and so I hope you enjoy these photos of my students interacting so enthusiastically with these nonfiction books!

I have most of the Backyard Books (published between 2000 and 2002) by Judy Allen and Tudor Humphries in my classroom. Titles such as these highlighted below are perfect in a primary classroom library.

Each book begins with the question Are you a . . . .? The story continues providing information about a specific insect or backyard creature by explaining details of its life cycle, habits and characteristics. The text is lovely to read aloud “If you are a ____________ then you _____________” While these can be read aloud even to preschool children, they are perfect for young readers who are reading independently. Great books to practice extracting information from narrative nonfiction text.

Once a week, I am lucky enough to work with a small group working with nonfiction text. While one of our Resource Teachers and my Teacher Librarian run Reading Workshop with the rest of my class, I take a group down to the library. Today my very keen group of six was working on being “fact detectives” with these Backyard Books titles.

After a few minutes of finding facts together from the Are you a Snail? book, I let each group choose a text and sent them off. The partners took turns reading aloud and noting down information. I circulated to assist and give feedback. Students were trying to find different facts on each page and then record them on chart paper. I overheard:

“Was that a fact do you think?”

“We should write that!”

“How can we write that?”

“Did we find something on this page?”

“Did we already say that?”

Students helped each other with the best way to explain something. Lots of rereading and rephrasing.

By the end, each group had made it through at least half of the text and had noted many facts down on their charts.

I called them back together and asked the children what skills they thought they had been working on. All of them admitted that the task was a little bit more challenging than they thought it would be but they wanted to do it again next time! Here is what they shared:

“We had to reread and think lots.”

“We had to put shorter sentences instead of longer sentences.”

“You have to make sure you have all of the important details.”

“Putting it in different words to make sense is kind of hard.”

For these Grade 3 students, a successful, engaging activity with great nonfiction books!

Thanks to Alyson from Kid Lit Frenzy for the inspiration to read and share more nonfiction picture books in 2014! Follow the link to Alyson’s blog to read about more nonfiction titles.

My goal is to read 65 nonfiction picture books for 2014. Progress: 62/65 complete!

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday: Bright, colourful nonfiction to explore

Posted on April 30, 2014 by carriegelson

It’s Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday!

I am always on the lookout for bright, engaging nonfiction to engage young learners in exploring and asking questions about the world – the world around them or parts and places in the world that are not known at all.

These three titles are books I know would be instantly snatched up in my classroom and have a gaggle of children around them reading, talking and sharing. All of these titles are perfect in the primary classroom for children to explore. All would be great for interactive read alouds and some children would be able to handle the texts independently.

Everything by Sea by Brian Biggs (published 2013)

Reminds me a little of Richard Scary and the countless vehicle books my son adored when he was small. This title is more than just labelled images though. It is filed with funny dialogue, questions and answers and some more detailed explanations like

What is buoyancy?
How can a sailor use sails?
What is an aircraft carrier?

When I was previewing this title, even my eleven year old was giggling and leaning in to ask about certain pages. A great way to build vocabulary and understanding about all things that travel on the water. There are also books about land and air travel in this series.

One Day: Around the World in 24 hours written by Suma Din and illustrated by Christiane Engel (published in 2013)

I like the concept of this book – what are children doing all over the world at a specific time? This title follows fifteen children from around the world through a 24 hour period. All times are expressed using a 24 hour clock so if students were unfamiliar with this way of noting time, there would need to be some pre-teaching. I was confused as each page seemed to pick a random time for one place in the world and all of the other places showed times relative to this time. Still – there is a lot of opportunity for learning about different cultures and habits of children around the world. In the back there is more information about time zones and the history of how time was recorded.

This book also shows how children are doing very different things at different times of the day (really the same time) all over the world. I might give some examples of how to interact with this title – like choosing one of the fifteen children at a time and looking for them on each page to see what kinds of things they do in a day.

How did that get in my Lunchbox? The Story of Food written by Chris Butterworth and illustrated by Lucia Gaggiotti (published in 2011)

Just where do all of the things we eat come from? How are they harvested, produced and shipped to our stores? This book gives us the “back story” on one lunch – from the bread, cheese, fruits and vegetables to the juice and chocolate chip cookies. There is some information about nutrition and food guide choices at the back of the book. I can see this being a great mentor text for possible Where does my favourite meal come from? projects (writing, science, geography, etc)

Thanks to Alyson from Kid Lit Frenzy for the inspiration to read and share more nonfiction picture books in 2014! Follow the link to Alyson’s blog to read about more nonfiction titles.

My goal is to read 65 nonfiction picture books for 2014. Progress: 59/65 complete!

Nic Bishop photography for all ages and stages

Posted on April 23, 2014 by carriegelson

It’s Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday!

I have always been impressed by Nic Bishop‘s incredible close up and fascinating photographs in his nonfiction books for children. But after hearing him speak at Western Washington University’s Children’s Literacy Conference this year, I read books that feature his photographs with even more awe and amazement. What I love best – besides having new understanding for how these photographs actually happen – is that his work is available to students at various reading levels. Today I am featuring three titles that I have shared recently with children. The first two titles I read aloud with my class and the last title I read to my own children who are eleven.

One interesting thing I learned from Nic’s presentation was that the work he does when working on Scientist in the Field titles is called photojournalism and the photos he takes for other nonfiction titles (like these first two) is called photo-illustration. I was pleased to know the correct terms to describe his work.

Spiders by Nic Bishop (published 2007; in Scholastic paperbacks, published 2012)

This is a hugely popular title in my room ever since I book talked the picture book version of this title and showed the students that Scholastic has also published it in a NF reader format. I judge the success of this book by the fact that some students beg to be able to read it next and spend ages marvelling at the photographs of spiders very close up. At the same time, other students insist that I promise to never even put this book near them because the images seriously terrify them! That front cover is pretty menacing.

Chameleon, Chameleon written by Joy Cowley with photographs by Nic Bishop (published 2005)

After a few pages, I had to skip to the back and find out just how this book was created. There was no way that chameleon actors were hired to tell this engaging tale about a chameleon on the move as it encounters different creatures in its habitat (various geckos, a frog, a scorpion, etc.) Yet the photo-illustrations so perfectly accompanied the text . . . Turns out that Bishop spent months with these chameleons in his care – observing them, finding them the perfect food, attending to their special needs. The result is that we are gifted by phenomenal photographs of chameleons to accompany a story that introduces children to lots of information. There are also two pages of additional, more detailed information about chameleons at the back of the book.

Saving the Ghost of the Mountain: An Expedition Among Snow Leopards in Mongolia written by Sy Montgomery with photographs by Nic Bishop (published 2009)

Over many weeks, I read sections of this book to my own children (it is all the more special as I was able to get our copy signed by Nic Bishop when at the #wwuclc2014 conference) as one of many read alouds we have on the go. How can a book about searching for snow leopards be so amazingly interesting when the snow leopards are never actually seen? Montgomery and Bishop tell an incredible tale about these magical and elusive creatures and their champion, scientist Tom McCarthy who has devoted his life’s work to their conservation. Mongolia is a beautiful place we seldom see – its landscape, people and culture highlighted through Bishop’s photographs and the stories Montgomery relates. We learn why the snow leopards are endangered and how the conservation efforts have centered on having the Mongolian people connect and want to protect these mysterious cats. How can McCarthy remain so passionate about an animal he has only seen in the wild a handful of times?

Protecting an animal is like loving someone. It’s not something you do and then finish. It’s a long-term promise, honored over and over, one step at a time.

I loved this quote in the notes form the photographer at the back of the book where Bishop writes,

“Some people have asked if I was disappointed not even to see a wild snow leopard. But in many ways I am happy not to see one. I love that some things in nature will always remain mysterious and unseen. Just knowing that they are out there is pleasure enough.”

Thanks to Alyson from Kid Lit Frenzy for the inspiration to read and share more nonfiction picture books in 2014! Follow the link to Alyson’s blog to read about more nonfiction titles.

My goal is to read 65 nonfiction picture books for 2014. Progress: 55/65 complete!

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday: Some recent reads

Posted on April 16, 2014 by carriegelson

It’s Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday!

While I am still in the middle of many nonfiction books, I am sharing a few recent reads here. These titles are heading into my classroom and I can’t wait for the right opportunity to share each of these engaging reads! I think each one of them needs to be part of the classroom or school library collection. So many rich learning opportunities . . .

The Same Moment Around the World by Clotilde Perrin (published 2014)

Simply – this book depicts a day in the life of the world. More complexly, it is a day in the world – all over the world – one page for each hour, beginning at 6 a.m. in Dakar, Senegal. Hour by hour, we see children in various places doing regular everyday things. But the settings are exotic and mysterious because so many may not be known to us. Children learn about time zones and gather a more complete understanding of what it means when we say that on the other side of the world people are going to sleep just as we are waking up. I am partial to books with interesting shapes – love that this title is tall and rectangular. Fantastic fold out map in the back to explore all of the places mentioned in the book.

How Big Were Dinosaurs? by Lita Judge (published 2013)

Lita Judge’s illustrations are so rich. They inform. They amuse. And they delight. Each dinosaur featured here is drawn next to something that children already know to allow them to imagine the exact size of the dinosaur. For example, the velociraptor was only the size of a modern day dog. A leaellynasaura? Two feet tall and wintered near the South Pole. Not all dinosaurs were towering huge “monsters”! But some sure were gigantic!

Feathers Not Just for Flying written by Melissa Stewart and illustrated by Sarah S. Brannen (published 2014)

I am very excited to share this as a read aloud. So excited that I just read it to my family over dinner – it needed an audience! More specifically, I needed some people to help me guess: what else could feathers be used for besides flight? We had a great time listing what we knew around the table and then reading to find out how many we got and how many we missed! Gorgeous illustrations – feels like you could pluck some of these feathers right off of the page. My daughter made a comment part way through about Stewart’s writing style.

“Each time, she gives an example to explain it more. I completely understand all of the different ways the feathers are used!”

Thanks to Alyson from Kid Lit Frenzy for the inspiration to read and share more nonfiction picture books in 2014! Follow the link to Alyson’s blog to read about more nonfiction titles.

My goal is to read 65 nonfiction picture books for 2014. Progress: 50/65 complete!