Children's Books discussion
Fiction Club
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May, June, July and August 2023 -- STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics)
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Norah Piehl, for *BookPage*
It's on my list now!
Amanda Visits the Planets I recall as being very good, altough maybe more of a picture book.Also in non-fiction, I Wonder Why the Sea Is Salty by Anita Ganeri. I would recommend pretty much every non-fiction book by this author based on the ones I read and rated highly (4* territory)
Also, let's not forger about The Magic Schoolbus!Originally by Joanna Cole, later picked up by other authors, available on numerous subjects (and also in tv-series and videogames to give even reluctant readers a push).
https://www.goodreads.com/series/6961... is just one of the bookseries, many more available, with different reading levels, and all rather decent.
Manybooks wrote: "Mimi, I really liked Ganeri's Prickly and Poisonous (but it is of course a picture book)."Don't think I read that one yet, will have to look into it. I know I read a couple of hers in the horrible Science series, amongst others. Slowly going through my list now, turns out I read more non-fiction than I thought!
Classified: The Secret Career of Mary Golda Ross, Cherokee Aerospace Engineer was an eyeopener, and totally interesting. A portrait of one tough and determined dame.
Nature All Around: Plants The watercolor illustrations give this quick-reference book a fairytale-book-like quality.
Concise introduction to flowering plants throughout Northern America through the seasons.
Not sure whether one would classify architecture under STEM, or rather under liberal arts, so feel free to remove this post if needed.Julia Morgan Built a Castle about the architekt who ended up building San Simeon for William Randolph Hurst. Another strong female inspiration
Animal Autopsy by Steve ParkerThe full title being Beginner's Guide to Animal Autopsy: A Hands-In Approach to Zoology, the World of Creatures and What's Inside Them
Sounds iffy, but the illustrations are very kid friendly, and the whole thing was rather fascinating.
Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the WorldNot listed as a kids book, but engagingly written, it would capture the interest of kids wanting to know more about bananas, agriculture, gene modification and/or history. Age group 10 and up, I would say.
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Julia Morgan Built a Castle about the architekt..."
I definitely consider architecture as STEM considering how much of it is requires both mathematics and engineering.
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I got very lucky; I found a perfect tween fiction book in a Little Free Library! I gave Project Middle School four stars:
Don't be a snob, biased against celebrity authors or against cartoony illustrations. This is a fun and funny story, a joy to read, that also explores a lot of things that tweens are interested in: not just the wonderful STEM focus, but a bit of girl power, a tiny bit of systemic racism, animal advocacy, friendship, and personal growth. It's a nice, fairly light story, with no melodrama or tragedy or bullies (such a relief). And I did *not* predict the ending at all!
I would love to read more in the series, and more by the co-author, Debbie Rigaud.
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I gave this four stars:
In my opinion, this picture-book biography stands out from the crowd. It's concise, but makes the effort to include the relevance of the Cherokee values that influenced this amazing woman. And both author and illustrator are from named native Nations! Excellent back matter including the values in all relevant languages.
Cheryl wrote: "Btw, Flowers for Algernon is not a whole lot about science, and best for older teens as it has significant mature content and complexity. Otherwise it's an excellent book."I read it in middle school (for some reason, it was an assigned text in eighth grade maybe) and I remember weirdly liking it at that age even though I never was a huge fan of that genre until well past high school. I'd say it's more speculative science than actual science.
Also in non-fiction, I Wonder Why the Sea Is SaltyI had I Wonder Why Snakes Shed Their Skin And Other Questions About Reptiles as a kid and it was the first fun nonfiction I remember reading that wasn't completely didactic. I recently picked up I Wonder Why Kangaroos Have Pouches: And Other Questions About Baby Animals at a Little Free Library and I have the rest of them on my thriftbooks longlist.
Manybooks wrote: "Camp Panda: Helping Cubs Return to the Wild"I haven't read this one but I imagine it would pair nicely with
Panda Kindergarten by Joanne Ryder. I've really enjoyed this one; it has more of a narrative nonfiction format and is seemingly less didactic than the other one. I had heard of the other one and I think there's another one out there because I swear I've seen Panda Kindergarten, Camp Panda: Helping Cubs Return to the Wild, and one other as a three-book set somewhere.I used Panda Kindergarten in a lesson plan with a nine-year-old student who was into animal stories. I paired it with Owen and Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship and Tiger Pups for a little mini-unit on animal stories during our tutoring sessions (Tiger Pups and Panda Kindergarten have got to be from the same publisher and press, the books are almost identical except for the content. I've been looking for more books in this style (think Craig Hatkoff and his daughters but slightly less wordy) as they present facts well and in an engaging way. However, I couldn't find the exact name of this company or style beyond the basic publishing information.
I will say that Panda Kindergarten and Tiger Pups sadly do not have any back matter or further reading suggestions or bibliography. For Panda Kindergarten this is especially disappointing since I know there is at least a small selection of similar books that readers would be interested in, such as Camp Panda that would pair well.
Reviews in the order I used them with my student:
Owen & Mzee review
Tiger Pups review
Panda Kindergarten review
As for the rest of my books, I think I have a list that may be even more extensive than Gundala's on the first two pages. Especially now that I've discovered that animal topics connect with a lot of the kids I work with this year.I'm swamped with finals right now but I'll post a short list (okay fine, that isn't short at all).
Middle grade books that I enjoyed and would love to reread:
Every Soul a Star by Wendy Mass (I don't think I've read this one since middle school so I'm going to be a bit rusty) - this one deals with a solar event (I think an eclipse at a totality location but I'm not 100%) and centers around three middle school-aged kids who go to see it at a space-themed farm or rural park - like a NASA based state park I think. There are three main characters. One girl, whose family owns the park but is selling after the eclipse to experience city life. This character (Allie?) is very disappointed about this and is trying to force her family to reconsider. The second character (Brittany? Beth? Becca? I think it started with a B) is very much a city girl but her family is the one that's buying the park, and she's also upset about it. A third character, Jack (this name I'm almost 100% about) is the bullied "fat kid" at school, and he doesn't see himself as good at science, but is invited by his science teacher to accompany him to this park for the eclipse. I think Jack was always my favorite character because of his growth throughout the story. There is some romance between Allie and Jack, and between B and Ryan, Allie's former best friend who has some sort of history with the space park as well, but now they're growing apart. Even though Ryan isn't a POV character, his story is a big part of the book as well.Every Soul a Star has a lot of interesting space stuff. It talks about detection systems used to track for alien life, various technology and techniques for seeing celestial objects, and of course the eclipse and how people at this mass viewing event prepare for it for days leading up to the event.
Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt (another one I haven't read since middle school, but it was a favorite back then) - I don't remember much about this one, just that I really, really liked it. Set during the Vietnam War era, Doug is the most well-behaved of his family, but that's not saying much. He has a brother overseas in the war, and I think both his other brother and his father have been to prison. So he doesn't have a lot of great role models. After getting into trouble for something, his punishment is that he has to work in the library somewhere. The librarian introduces him to Audubon and his birds, and Doug becomes really interested in the birds and the paintings and learns to replicate them. I can't remember if there's much more science content than this though.
Ungifted by Gordon Korman (I don't remember a lot about this one as I think I only read it once in middle school) - another story of a "delinquent" kid, Donovan is a daredevil at risk of getting kicked out of school. Except, when the superintendent witnesses an incident, Donovan's name is accidentally written on a list of students getting referred to the gifted school in the district. Donovan flounders at his new placement, except in one area: robotics. With a full cast of characters of various points of view, Ungifted challenges common school stereotypes. However, I do remember talking about with one of my teachers, and she saw the book as promoting stereotypes more than challenging them. I'd need to go back and reread this to see what I think after getting an education degree and spending a lot more time with kids of various abilities in general.There is a lot of STEM content in this one, and in fact I think it was one of the first popular ones that dealt with STEM when the movement was first popularized in the Obama administration.
The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen - when high school track star Jessica loses her leg in a car accident, she has to relearn everything. She also has to focus on her math more than ever, and this becomes a problem as math is something she's never excelled in, and now she's missed a lot of it. She ends up getting tutored by a wheelchair-bound student with cerebral palsy named Rosa, and she realizes that she always treated Rosa with the same sense of invisibility that everyone is now giving her. I think there's a fair amount about the math itself, as well as some of the science behind prosthetic limbs, but I don't remember much.
Although the characters are high-school aged, the story is suited for a much younger audience - upper elementary or middle grade for sure.
And for slightly older readers:
An Abundance of Katherines by John Green - one of John Green's earlier works (2006), An Abundance of Katherines is definitely lighter than most of his other books. What happens to the child prodigy after graduating high school? Colin isn't sure he wants to find out. Newly graduated and headed to Northwestern, Colin wants to spend his summer trying to graph the trajectory for a perfect romance.
He and his best friend, Hassan (another failed child genius) go on a road trip from Chicago to rural Tennessee to try to figure things out. From the summary, "Colin is on a mission to prove The Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, which he hopes will predict the future of any relationship, avenge Dumpees everywhere, and finally win him the girl." Being a genius, there are a lot of interesting facts interspersed in this one. I especially liked the illustrated development of the graph throughout the story (and this was something I definitely noticed the absence of when I listened to it on a family road trip after my initial read). John Green includes a long appendix and author's note to acknowledge the people who assisted him with the information in this book. This includes Daniel Biss, a mathematician and state senator from my home state of Illinois, who I've met at some political rallies.
Although An Abundance of Katherines deals with life after high school, it is definitely appropriate for middle grade readers, possibly those who are at a more advanced reading level. As I said, it's one of John Green's lighter books in terms of content, and there are no suicides or cancer deaths (or any type of death, except historical). This is a fun one for readers to play along with and try to figure things out before Colin.
Ones the kids at work have enjoyed recently:
Maxed Out!: Gigantic Creatures from the Past by Ginjer L. Clarke - the kids had so many questions about this one when they found out all the animals were extinct. pointing at a dragonfly picture - "but those still exist..."
Me: that's true, but these were really big ones, like the size of my arm.
Kids: "woah" and wide-eyed stares and continuing reading.
The Who Would Win books -
,
, and
by Jerry Pallotta - thank you QNPoohBear for reminding me about these on another thread in this group. These ones are a big hit with the boys and even some of the girls. I also have Who Would Win? Killer Whale Vs. Great White Shark, Ultimate Shark Rumble (I just haven't brought these in yet) and Rattlesnake vs. Secretary Bird (which I don't like because it pits unfamiliar animals from vastly different environments together - they would never come into contact, and unlike lions and tigers (for instance), people don't pit them together in their mind, or even know about them. There are not many similarities.These books are fun. They provide comparative facts that invite students to draw their own conclusions about who would win in a fight, although the book provides its own speculation in one specific instance. I like the way these help kids to access their critical thinking and comparing skills. I was reading Lion vs. Tiger with a kid today and we were running short on time, so he said, "skip to the fighting." He had his own ideas about who would win the fight as well. It was cool to see how he was able to navigate the form of these nonfiction books of a certain predictable style after having seen a few of them together.
I've gotten in the habit of buying them whenever I see them at the thrift shop or used book sales.
Since I only use this Goodreads account for children's books, I've been able to compile lists on these shelves (most of these have reviews):Math shelf
Science shelf
Nature shelf
Space shelf (some of these are fantasy rather than science or STEM based, and I haven't reviewed many).
General nonfiction shelf (including STEM related, social sciences, language, people and cultures, SEL, and biographies)
I'll review more in-depth later in the month. Other titles I want to get to:
Queer Ducks (and Other Animals): The Natural World of Animal Sexuality by Eliot Schrefer
Gene Hunter: The Story of Neuropsychologist Nancy Wexler by Adele Glimm
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Manybooks wrote: "Camp Panda: Helping Cubs Return to the Wild is excellent, balanced (with great secondary sources) and the author also mentions dissenting voices regarding protecting and helping pan..."Definitely looking to read it since I've loved Panda Kindergarten
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You should if you get the chance also read The Woman Who Split the Atom: The Life of Lise Meitner and Maria Sibylla Merian: Artist, Scientist, Adventurer (not just STEM but also a celebration of women of science).
I'm looking into more women in STEM books too. I want to read
and of course
too (and maybe the adult or at least abridged adult version while I'm at it). I'm glad I have the entire summer to do this, I plan to raid the curriculum library from every angle and hopefully go beyond to get to the public libraries as well.
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I read it in middle school..."
The shorter version (novelette length, iirc) is offered to younger audiences. I remember being surprised and disappointed by the full-length novel.
Cheryl wrote: "Celia wrote: "Cheryl wrote: "Btw, Flowers for Algernon is not a whole lot about science, and best for older teens as it has significant mature content and complexity. Otherwise it's an excellent bo..."It was probably the abridged version then. I've been meaning to read the longer one for a while but never gotten around to it.
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This looks wonderful, and it is widely avl. in my libraries so I'll get it soonish.
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Yup, the synopsis definitely looks wonderful and I am hoping to get to it tomorrow (after just plowing through over 700 pages with Lorna Doone, I am definitely ready for some easy reading).
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Although there is in fact quite a bit more information on what has come after German meteorologist and continental drift pioneer Alfred Wegener's 1930 death (in Greenland, during a blizzard) being featured by author Greg Young's in his 2009 non-fiction picture book Alfred Wegener: Pioneer of Plate Tectonics (regarding geology in general and of course plate tectonics in particular) than there is on Wegener himself, Young does provide a really decent and academically sound biography of Alfred Wegener, and also shows with regard to the theory of continental drift as it was originally proposed by Wegener (and that he is now also considered as the great grandfather of plate tectonics), well, Alfred Wegener himself actually was mistaken regarding what has caused and is still causing the earth's continents to move around over the aeons (not through centrifugal force and gravity, as Wegener suggested but because of the continents being on a number of plates and that these plates are what moves, and with the plates of course also the continents).
Interestingly, engagingly penned is Alfred Wegener: Pioneer of Plate Tectonics, and I really do very much appreciate that Greg Young does not fall into the trap of claiming that Alfred Wegener actually proposed plate tectonics right from the onset, but simply that he proposed the theory of continental drift, that this concept was totally rejected, but that today's theories regarding plate tectonics do owe a lot to Wegener, even though he himself did not actually know about plates and in fact considered that the earth's continents drifted mostly as already mentioned above due to gravity and the force created by the earth spinning on its axle. But indeed and yes, a wonderful introduction to both Alfred Wegener and also to plate tectonics is Alfred Wegener: Pioneer of Plate tectonics, with Greg Young's enlightening text, the wonderful and detailed back matter (timelines, glossary and a very decent bibliography) as well as the many accompanying photographs and maps providing a wonderful and delightfully successful combination of text and images, highly recommended to and for readers from about the age of ten or so onwards (and for me most definitely a solid and shining five star rating).
And finally, I also do textually adore how marvellously balanced Alfred Wegner: Pioneer of Plate Tectonics is, how factually true and unexaggerated, with Greg Young thankfully not really ever dwelling too much with Alfred Wegener: Pioneer of Plate Tectonics on how and on why Alfred Wegener's continental drift theories were originally very much rejected and that he was only rehabilitated so to speak decades after his untimely death, but simply pointing this out without comment and rumour, and which for and to me is indeed oh so much better than other books on Alfred Wegener I have read in the past where the rejection of Wegener's theories were somehow supposed to be related to him being German and not to the fact that geologists simply did not and could not believe Wegener regarding continental drift and that he also was not really showing all that much if any proof either except for the shape of the continents looking like a jigsaw puzzle (and just to say that while the information Greg Young provides in Alfred Wegener: Pioneer of Plate Tectonics about how Alfred Wegener and his brother were very much into kites, hot air balloons and even managed to achieve a world record with regard to hot air ballooning is not really all that essential and important to consider for continental drift and plate tectonics, it has certainly been interesting reading about this in Alfred Wegener: Pioneer of Plate Tectonics and shows a more rounded portrait of Alfred Wegener the scientist and the all-round explorer).
And there is also a shorter picture book by same author on Alfred Wegener, but for me, Alfred Wegener: Uncovering Plate Tectonics: Earth and Space Science is a bit too simplistic.
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On Open Library (where I found this book whilst doing research for something entirely different), Peggy J. Parks' 2015 (and entirely non-fiction) The Importance of Plate Tectonic Theory is shelved as being geared towards a juvenile readership. However and for me personally, how in The Importance of Plate Tectonic Theory Parks has penned her presented text, how the information on plate tectonics (both past and present) is shown and encountered, this in my opinion is just as suitable for adult readers wanting a basic but thorough introduction to basically everything related to plate tectonics.
And I would therefore (and also quite strongly) consider The Importance of Plate Tectonic Theory and Peggy J. Parks' printed words to be recommended for ALL interested readers from about the age of twelve or so onwards (but definitely notes much for younger audiences, as while there is nothing thematically problematic in The Importance of Plate Tectonic Theory, there indeed is much and very densely presented scientific information present and with the author, with Peggy J. Parks also writing in quite meticulous detail about a pretty substantial number of geologists from the 17th century until now), with The Importance of Plate Tectonic Theory providing both a detailed, exceedingly well researched and solidly scientific introduction about how the theory of plate tectonics was proposed and finally, finally became accepted in the middle of the 20th century (as well as showing how some of the earlier proponents and continental drift champions like for example Alfred Wegener were rather mercilessly ridiculed and denigrated) and also detailing specifically what precisely plate tectonics are, that earthquakes and volcanoes are signs of the earth's plates and the continents moving and with The Importance of Plate Tectonic Theory also showing that plate tectonics also has played and still plays a role in naturally occurring climate change (and with my only caveat for The Importance of Plate Tectonic Theory being that while Parks' text is nicely uncomplicated and does not use too much annoying and difficult to understand scientific and in this case of course geologic jargon, I would probably only suggest The Importance of Plate Tectonic Theory for readers who are actually interested in plate tectonics or for use in the classroom of for homeschooling purposes).
And yes, for me, The Importance of Plate Tectonic Theory most definitely rates with five glowing and shining stars, with Peggy J. Parks' text being wonderfully enlightening, solidly factual and thankfully without any annoying author speculations (or snarky humour) either, and of course with the detailed sources (which appear as endnotes for The Importance of Plate Tectonic Theory), the bibliography of books and online sources for further study and reading, the list of the geologists Parks has presented in The Importance of Plate Tectonic Theory and last but definitely not least the very thorough index providing the absolute and superb icing on an already very much delicious reading cake.
Cece Loves Science: Push and Pull, an early readers book about a class of kids making a dog treat dispenser from objects found around the house like a cardboard tube and a cup, a toy truck, string, etc. I had fun learning along with the kids and was proud of myself for coming close to figuring out how to make it work. (My idea was to make a Rube Goldberg device, which they basically do). The Friendship Code
A middle grade books similar to the Babysitters Club series about a group of middle schoolers who join a coding club at school. There's some minor friend drama but when they don't actually use the computer at the first meeting and learning seems to be going slowly, the main character, Lucy, is frustrated. She asks her older brother for help but he's too busy being a teenage butthead to bother. Her parents won't help either as they trust her teacher. When someone starts leaving mysterious notes in code in Lucy's locker, she's determined to figure them out. She must get help from some friends, old and new, to solve the mystery.
This was a fun book. I stayed away from it at first because STEM is not my thing and coding is not in my wheelhouse. However, it turns out I DO understand coding and I knew some of what they were talking about and it was kind of fun. The content in the story boosted my confidence. I don't think I have the patience to write a lot of code but I was happy to learn about how to do it. (I remember having to program the old Apple IIE to run a floppy disk and I've written HTML, XHTML and CSS).
I didn't care for Lucy all that much though. She was kind of irritating and so self-conscious. I appreciate that she wants to help her uncle, who has cancer and that she wants to be the first Black woman to win a Turing Award.
It would be nice if the book had more illustrations of girls doing the coding work instead of all text but other than that I enjoyed it.
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Excellent picture book biography of Cecilia Payne, a female astronomer, the first astronomer to figure out what elements a star is made of. Includes an extensive bibliography.
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[bookcover:The Fire of Stars: The Life and Brilliance of the Woman Who Discovered What ..."
This looks really good, and with a 2023 publication date, should also be really up-to-date.
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Now while I do really and truly love the detailed and intricate animal illustrations and generally also appreciate how the information is presented (especially having words that might prove difficult explained at the bottom of the letter entries and not relegated to the back as a glossary, as is so often the case), I still feel there could have been a bit more (at least supplemental) information provided (and really, for an alphabet book, the text of Paul Kratter's The Living Rain Forest does sadly and frustratingly lack lyricism, spontaneity and a sense of wonder).
However, I think one of the biggest aesthetic drawbacks with The Living Rain Forest is that the locations of the different animal species are not on the animal page, are located not on the letter entry page, but on the inside covers; I keep having to flip back and forth to find where the different animal species live, which is rather distracting (and could become majorly annoying if one were actually using The Living Rain Forest in the classroom or reading it to a child or a group of children at a library story-time reading session)
And well, for me personally, it is also both strange and massively annoyingly frustrating that while author/illustrator Paul Kratter has included animals from diverse tropical rain forests of the world, he has completely and utterly ignored the temperate rain forests of Western North America (as though they are not even worthy of being called rain forests). Now perhaps the author only ever wanted to show the animals of tropical rain forests, but if that were indeed the case, the title, The Living Rain Forest is rather problematically misleading at best, since it (for and to me) implies ALL rain forests and NOT simply just the tropical ones. Still, The Living Rain Forest remains recommended as an informative alphabet book for older children (with the main caveat that it should most definitely be discussed and mentioned that there are, that there exist both tropical and temperate rain forests). Two and a half stars, now rounded down to two stars, as the tendency of oh so many children's books on rainforests to specifically and only focus on tropical rain forests like the Amazon and blithely ignore the temperate ones really does majorly chafe and frustrate!
The Girl with a Mind for Math: The Story of Raye Montague
This is a dreadful biography because it's told in rhyming couplets. The backmatter includes a real biography, timeline and bibliography. I liked that much better. The author spoke with Raye Montague and researched Raye's life. The actual biographical material is more interesting than the story. I don't care for the artwork much either.
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Well and also necessarily, before I actually post a review of Ivy Noelle Weir's 2022 graphic novel (and contemporary) retelling of L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables I feel that I must say the following about some of the rather weirdly negative (and sometimes even a bit ranting and raving) comments regarding the latter I have encountered in a number of positive and glowing reviews of Anne of West Philly (mostly concerning the supposed unacceptable datedness, ethnic non diversity and the rural Prince Edward Island setting of Anne of Green Gables).
But honestly, L.M. Montgomery penned Anne of Green Gables at the beginning of the 20th century, and while for 1908, Montgomery's text should (in my opinion) be considered in many ways as quite modern, forward thinking and also with a budding sense of feminism and of taking children (including girls) and their desires, their wants and needs seriously, in 1908, a story set in Prince Edward Island would generally and realistically speaking NOT be including many if any depictions of ethnic multiplicity and would also and authentically be showing a very rural and small town White Anglo Saxon Protestant attitude (and this would likely even be the case in PEI cities like Charlottetown and Summerside, so it would in all probability be even more prevalent for a small town such as the fictitious but based on reality Avonlea). And yes, I really do have to wonder with a lot of personal negativity, frustration and major annoyance, why so many positive and appreciative reviews of Anne of West Philly also seem to feel the need to be trash talking both Anne of Green Gables as a novel and L.M. Montgomery as an author. Because this certainly tends to feel ridiculously nasty, opinionatedly problematic for no reason whatsoever (and that for me and sadly so, at first, it also made me rather badly and negatively disposed to Anne of West Philly and to Ivy Noelle Weir without even having read the book, and that I therefore do leave the important and also required caveat for interested readers of Anne of West Philly to NOT bother reading any online reviews before your perusal, to just read Anne of West Philly cold turkey so to speak and to see whether you think that Ivy Noelle Weir has successfully penned a contemporary, modern day retelling of Anne of Green Gables).
So yes, for me (both emotionally and also intellectually), my general textual feeling regarding Anne of West Philly is that Anne of West Philly is most definitely a nicely decent and often even quite delightful retelling of Anne of Green Gables (although at first, Ivy Noelle Weir's current-day Anne Shirley feels just a bit too brash for me to consider as a true kindred spirit, but that by the end of Anne of West Philly, I do definitely like and appreciate Anne on a personal and emotional level). For yes, having an ethnically diverse and urban setting for Anne of West Philly (and with Anne Shirley clearly being shown both textually and even more so illustratively as African American and the Cuthberts as Latino), this definitely makes sense for 2022, and that I also absolutely appreciate Ivy Noelle Weir sticking close enough to L.M. Montgomery's original text for me to consider Anne of West Philly as basically being a nicely reflected contemporary mirror image of Anne of Green Gables. But furthermore, considering that I have always been rather peeved at L.M. Montgomery basically killing off Matthew Cuthbert at the end of Anne of Green Gables, I really do totally and utterly love love love how the author, how Ivy Noelle Weir has her Matthew Cuthbert character in Anne of West Philly also end up with suffering a heat attack like in Anne of Green Gables but that he, that Matthew survives and that Anne Shirley then uses her tuition and scholarship money to help out the Cuthberts with the heavy-duty (American style) medical expenses incurred.
However, I still cannot say that my reading experience with Anne of West Philly has in any way been even remotely as rewarding and as magical as Anne of Green Gables and L.M. Montgomery's fiction in general has always been and continues to be, and that for me, the combination of Ivy Noelle's text and Myisha Raynes' artwork (and Anne of West Philly as a graphic novel) can and will always be no higher than three stars (and that I will also continuously and always choose Anne of Green Gables over Anne of West Philly).
For one, even though illustrator Myisha Haynes' artwork for Anne of West Philly generally and decently successfully mirrors Ivy Noelle Weir's featured text, I do have to question why in particular the Diana Barry character of Anne of West Philly is more often than not depicted by Haynes as clad quite majorly revealingly (and that I personally do find said scenario a trifle problematic since textually Diana never behaves sluttily and in a sexually provocative manner in Anne of West Philly), and not to mention that I also find especially Anne Shirley's often grimacing and distorted looking facial features for Anne of West Philly rather aesthetically unappealing and sometimes even bordering on the grotesque (and do wish that Myshia Raynes would turn turn the visual exaggeration and make her images for Anne of West Philly a bit less one dimensional and cartoon like).
And for two, textually speaking (and as a total and utter Anne of Green Gables fan), yes, I do have a number of personal issues with changes and omissions made by the author in Anne of West Philly (and these are also not changes and abridgements I am able to simply ignore). I mean, the sweet and laugh out loud humour of in Anne of Green Gables L.M. Montgomery having Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert being sent a girl from an orphanage when they in fact are expecting a boy, this is totally MIA in Anne of West Philly since Matthew and Marilla are both experienced foster parents and have deliberately chosen a girl (and yes, I also miss the shy and sometimes downright awkward Matthew Cuthbert from Anne of Green Gables as the much more outgoing and with strong opinions Matthew Cuthbert the teacher of Anne of West Philly is for me just not how I would every expect Matthew to be depicted as and indeed even in a modern retelling of Anne of West Philly. And finally (but for me truly frustratingly and beggaring belief), why does in Anne of West PhillyIvy Noelle Weir make Diana Barry get drunk and physically ill from liquor filled chocolates instead of something a bit more similar to the raspberry cordial of Anne of Green Gables, and why, even though in Anne of Green Gables Anne Shirley is a poet, a budding creative writer and with her favourite subject being English literature at school, Anne of West Philly displays all these STEM contents and scenarios (like coding, robotics and the like)? For yes, one reason that Anne of Green Gables is such a personal favourite for me is that L.M. Montgomery's heavily into the humanities Anne Shirley really tugs at me and makes me feel like Anne and I have quite similar cultural and literary tastes (and no, Ivy Noelle Weir's Anne of West Philly and her contemporary Anne Shirley being into and intrigued by robotics and the like, this just does not work all that well for me with regard to making Weir's Anne a true and complete kindred spirit).
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Math shelf
Science shelf
Nature shelf
Space shelf (some..."
Thank you!!
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I've added the Friendship Code to my list. This looks fun, too.
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Kind of SF, kind of STEM. MC is bright and also thoughtful & empathetic. But still only a third-grader, which means the adventures are funny, as the cover implies. If you're interested, and if your library has not yet weeded it, check it out.
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First and foremost, I definitely do think it is rather a shame that Journey to the Last River, with illustrations by Teddy Keen, and written by a supposedly "unknown adventurer" (but actually penned by Frances Lincoln) only made it to the long but not to the short list for the 2023 Kate Greenaway Medal (since I for one absolutely find the combination of text and images for Journey to the Last River utterly spectacular, as I do consider this book both textually and visually stunning).
And basically but wonderfully, delightfully, Journey to the Last River is fiction masquerading as non-fiction. But while these kinds of novels can and often do feel artificial, unbelievable and with shoddy and sometimes even downright erroneous and problematic science, technology and such, Journey to the Last River reads so utterly convincingly like an authentic, realistic, like the personal account of mysterious anonymous adventurer who really exists (or existed) and is chronicling his and his scientist friend's bona fide trek into the northern Amazon that I actually ended up doing online research just to check whether the presented narrative for Journey to the Last River is in fact non fiction like fiction and not pure non fiction (and that I actually have ended up being totally and even gladly able to suspend any textual feelings of disbelief whilst reading Journey to the Last River, since the scientific and ecological information and details on the Amazon, on its animals and its plants are realistic, scientifically sound and thus not in the realm of fantasy, and that the whip scorpions, emerald tree boas, goliath bird-eating spiders, otters, squirrel monkeys, piranhas, and poison dart frogs being encountered and described in Journey to the Last River all really do exist in the Amazonian rain forest, and that the information in Journey to the Last River regarding how different species are interconnected and interdependent is both clearly demonstrated and also relies on solid scientific facts and not ever artificiality and make-believe, leaving a wonderful text that absolutely could be non-fiction, that totally and utterly feels like it is showing and telling the truth, is presenting and featuring factual ecological, zoological and botanical reality).
Finally, but definitely not in any way least, regarding Teddy Keen's artwork, to call his illustrations for Journey to the Last River wonderful might be the truth but is also for me a bit of an understatement. For Keen's pictures (and just like the presented text) look totally like they are part of a real and bona fide, and actually in existence journal being kept during a trek, during a voyage into and through the Amazon, with presented scribbles, dirt, and a pull-out map, with feathers, twigs, and petals appearing to be taped to the pages (and with illustrations of Amazonian animals, plants and landscapes that are detailed but also visually feel like they have been drawn in haste and whilst travelling). So yes and indeed, for and to me, absolutely everything about Journey to the Last River has been and is totally spectacular (the concept, the writing, the art, and also the strong and science based ecological and environmental messages), highly and warmly recommended, and therefore totally, glowingly five stars for Journey to the Last River.
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Penned in 2014 by Fred Bortz and accompanied by many photographs, portraits, mathematical formulae (and in my opinion, suitable for readers from about the age of twelve or so onwards), Johannes Kepler and the Three Laws of Planetary Motion is in my humble opinion a pretty much perfect STEM themed biography of late 16th to mid 17th century German astronomer and mathematician Johannes Kepler. Solidly factual and scientifically sound, Bortz' text for Johannes Kepler and the Three Laws of Planetary Motion is informative, engagingly presented and features a plethora of relevant and interesting, of enlightening information not only on Johannes Kepler's life and regarding his mathematical, his scientific discoveries, achievements and contributions (and of course this being first and foremost his, Kepler's three laws of planetary motion, how they allow us to accurately calculate the positions and the movements of the planets in the past, in the present and also in the future, and how in conjunction with Isaac Newton, Kepler's three laws can also be used for other solar systems, that his three planetary motion laws, even though Johannes Kepler originally created these only for our solar system, also work beyond beyond the reaches of the latter) but that Fred Bortz in Johannes Kepler and the Three Laws of Planetary Motion equally provides much historical background information on the late Renaissance era in what is now Germany, on the Protestant Reformation and how both the Renaissance and the Reformation majorly contributed to scientists, to astronomers like Nicolaus Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, Galileo Galilei and of course Johannes Kepler questioning the Ptolomeic heliocentric (and uncritically and totally supported by in particular the Catholic Church) model of the solar system (of the universe) and showing with math, with science that the earth and the planets move around the sun and not the other way around.
Now textually speaking, while Johannes Kepler and the Three Laws of Planetary Motion might be written with a juvenile, with a teenaged audience in mind, in my opinion, Fred Bortz's words also would provide a delightfully basic (but still sufficiently extensive) and never too complicated and convoluted introduction to Johannes Kepler and his three laws of planetary motion for adult readers desiring a solid but uncomplicated introduction without too much jargon, and that very much essentially and importantly, potential readers of Johannes Kepler and the Three Laws of Planetary Motion also and happily therefore do not in any manner require advanced and university level knowledge in mathematics, in physics etc. to understand and figure out the details of Kepler's laws of planetary motion as they are presented and described by Fred Bortz in Johannes Kepler and the Three Laws of Planetary Motion (leaving with Johannes Kepler and the Three Laws of Planetary Motion a wonderful and solidly educational introduction to Johannes Kepler that would in my opinion work very well for a middle school or high school astronomy class or section, and with the additional resources, including websites, astronomy associations, and detailed biographical materials providing the absolute icing on an already very much delicious and wonderful cake).
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Laws of Motion and Isaac Newton
The Periodic Table of Elements and Dmitry Mendeleyev
The Laws of Genetics and Gregor Mendel
Johannes Kepler and the Three Laws of Planetary Motion
Charles Darwin and the Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection
Beyond Jupiter: The Story of Planetary Astronomer Heidi Hammel
The Sun-Centered Universe and Nicolaus Copernicus
The Big Bang Theory: Edwin Hubble and the Origins of the Universe
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(Did not read the first yet.)
Fun and, yes, empowering. Kids can make a difference, and they deserve to see how.
Children's Books
Books mentioned in this topic
LOL Canadian Nature (other topics)Gross & Disgusting Nature (other topics)
Children of the Stones (other topics)
Children of the Stones (other topics)
Children of the Stones (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Zoë Tucker (other topics)Jenny Offill (other topics)
Katherine Applegate (other topics)
Katherine Applegate (other topics)
Stacy McAnulty (other topics)
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Crow Smarts: Inside the Brain of the World's Brightest Bird
The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian's Art Changed Science
Mission to Pluto: The First Visit to an Ice Dwarf and the Kuiper Belt
Life on Surtsey: Iceland's Upstart Island
Mary Anning's Curiosity
Maria Sibylla Merian: Artist, Scientist, Adventurer
Walking with Aalasi: An Introduction to Edible and Medicinal Arctic Plants
Billions of Years, Amazing Changes: The Story of Evolution
Wild Horse Scientists
The Tree Book for Kids and Their Grown Ups
The Whale Scientists: Solving the Mystery of Whale Strandings
Saving Sorya: Chang and the Sun Bear
Handles
The Woman Who Split the Atom: The Life of Lise Meitner
Little Monsters: The Creatures that Live on Us and in Us
The Truth About Animals: Stoned Sloths, Lovelorn Hippos, and Other Tales from the Wild Side of Wildlife
They have all been four/five star books for me.