Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday 3.23.16 The Secret Subway

Every Wednesday I join Alyson Beecher from kidlitfrenzy and other

kidlit bloggers to share wonderful nonfiction picture books.

The intention of today's blog is to give educational professionals

new nonfiction reading material and ideas to use 

with students to promote a love of reading nonfiction materials.

I am excited to share Shana Corey's The Secret Subway.  It's a great example of research, great storytelling by author Shana Corey and brilliant artwork by Red Nose Studio.

The Secret Subway gives us the story of New York's first underground subway.  Starting with a great question, "what if....".  With that question, Alfred Ely Beach started the wheels of what became New York City's first underground transportation system.  

Wanting to give the citizens of New York a way to travel where weather wouldn't be an issue, where traffic would no longer be a concern, where it wouldn't add to the city's dirt and grime.  But where to get started?  A sneaky plan was hatched and it was supported by New York City's well known mob boss, Boss Tweed.

Working in the dark hours of night, under the city, Beach and his workers built a tunnel and a train, one that was powered by an enormous fan.  Leaving no details spared, visitors were treated to an underground "fairyland", complete with a waiting room that had a designer's flourish, entertainment and food.

Of course the real sight to see was the underground train that transported the riders back and forth on 294 feet of tracks.

However, not everyone was enthralled with the new subterranean railway.  Shopkeepers wanted people to stay above ground, where their shops were.  Boss Tweed funded his friends' plans for an above ground railway.  Beach's invention came to a halt and was not allowed to be expanded.  

Of course, we know this was not the end to New York's subway system.  But did you know this was the beginning?  I always enjoy finding a new part of our history.

One of the biggest things that will stick with me in this book are the illustrations.  There is a small blurb on the cover that tells us to look behind the book jacket.  I did that before even reading the text and I loved having the information as I read the story.  By taking the book jacket off, you read how Red Nose Studio (illustrator Chris Sickels) put the illustrations together.  He starts out by letting us know how he had to research all the different images (more primary resources!) in order to start making sketches.  Getting the historical details was very important to him.  After sketching the book, he was ready to start constructing the sculptures that became the people and objects in the illustrations.  It was fascinating to learn about his process.  I love public libraries, but this is a book I am so glad I own so I can take the book jacket off and read about this process!

Want to see some of this artwork in action?  Check out the fantastic book trailer!

Using This Book as a Mentor Text:

• Point readers to the Author's Notes at the end of the book.  Corey shares that most of her research was done through primary source documents.  Find places that show evidence of having come from primary sources.  How do students think this may help the authenticity of the story?  How can they use primary sources in their research?  Look at places Corey used to show students ideas where to find primary sources.
• I love how this story gives us a new piece of history.  How do authors find those new pieces to write about?  Have a discussion about inquiry and wondering.  Find places in the text that show people thinking and wondering and asking those big questions.  How does that move us forward in our thinking?
• Do you do Genius Hour or talk about Passion Projects?  Link this in with what you do - discuss Beach's passion and how it got this project off the ground.  Talk about how not all inventions are successful, yet how we learn from them.

Pair this book with:

Lost in NYC:  A Subway Adventure by Nadja Spiegelman (TOON Graphics)

Tricky Vic by Greg Pizzoli

Library Reads That Became Book Purchases 3.22.16

I buy books.  A lot of books.  My books are read by me and then my daughter (sometimes in reverse order).  Then most go into my school.  They are read by students.  They are borrowed by my intervention students and sometimes non-intervention students (word gets around).  I use them in my lessons.  Teachers borrow them to use in their lessons.  

But with all the money I spend on books I try to be smart about it.  I try not to pre-order everything I see.  Some things get pre-ordered without much thought.  Books by favorite authors.  Books that get a lot of buzz by people I respect. But sometimes I end up pre-ordering a book that ends up not being something I am going to use.  And with the amount I spend, I need to be careful about this happening. 

I think our public libraries are a wonderful thing.  I use mine.  Every week.  And the one that is in my school district.  Because libraries don't always order the same books.  I can read books and make decisions on if they are books I need to purchase.  Here are some books that I got at the library and then because of how good they are, I bought.  


I Hear a Pickle by Rachel Isadora
Loved the way the senses are explored and explained.  Getting ready to order my second copy of this book.  Someone else loved it so much it hasn't made it's way back to me.


Peep and Egg: I'm Not Hatching by Laura Gehl
Love Joyce Wan's bold illustrations and it's such a cute story.  Great read aloud!


That's Not Bunny! by Chris Barton
When a book makes me laugh out loud, I know it's one to share with kids.


Dorothea's Eyes by Barb Rosenstock
Any story that has a character overcoming a physical challenge has my heart!


Swatch: The Girl Who Loved Color by Julia Denos
Loved the illustrations!


When Green Becomes Tomatoes by Julie Fogliano
Poetry can be tricky for me, but these quick poems that are illustrated by Julie Morstad turned out to be a favorite for me.

How do you use your library?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 3.21.16

This weekly post comes from Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee and Ricki at Unleashing Readers.  It's a great source to find new books to use with your students.

Last Week's Adventures

Use these biographies on strong, American women for a variety of mentor text lessons!  Check them out here.

So many of you are participating in the SoL March Challenge.  Many of your classrooms are too.  Do you talk to your students about having a writer's life?  Use these books to help make your point!

Picture Books


Swatch: The Girl Who Loved Color by Julia Denos
4/5 stars
I loved the illustrations in this book!  The contrast of Swatch - the girl who could tame colors - in her black and white and the vibrant colors in the book.  This one is going on my long list for 2017 Mock Caldecott.
This book would be fun to use for theme too - what freedom means, is it ok to keep things locked up - and lessons learned.


Chuck and Woodchuck by Cece Bell
3/5 stars
Cute story about friendship.  Two friends need a little nudge in their friendship.
Sometimes we all need a Woodchuck in our lives to help us make friends!


Poetry


When Green Becomes Tomatoes by Julie Fogliano
5/5 stars
This is my new favorite poetry collection.  I love the poems.  I could pour over the illustrations for days.  Julie Morstad is absolutely one of my favorite illustrators.
The collection is divided into seasons.  I think the summer poems are my favorite, but there are some real truths in many of the poems!

Young Adult


Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
4/5 stars
Oh, I loved this one!  A bit predictable, but I thought it still had something more than most dystopian/special powers books I've read lately.  I really liked the main character, Mare, and even though she is clearly in a battle with herself over a boy, it wasn't over the top and too romantic.  The conflict between classes was an interesting one.  I'm looking forward to reading #2!

Currently Reading


The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey
I bought this book when it first came out and like so many others, it got put to the side.  So many books... you know the story.  But my brother asked to borrow it so I figured I should read it.  Glad I'm finally getting to it!  The nice thing is I have the second one waiting and then only a couple of months before the third one comes out.  I like that waiting period!

It's Spring Break, so I should have lots of time to read, right?  Nope.  Looking at my schedule and trying to figure out where I'm going to find time.  Why do we always fill every available time with things to do?  Here's to reading!

Spotlight Friday - The Writer's Life 3.18.16

Time to get ready for the weekend!

Kick up your feet and find a good place to read.

Sharing #booklove for your classroom or library.

Spotlighting a book or two because these books deserve the spotlight!

Last week I spotlighted books you can use to show a Readerly Life.

This week I am sharing books that you may want to have to spotlight throughout the year what a writer does.

Written and Drawn by Henrietta 

by Liniers

What a lovely book to use for Writer's Workshop!

The Whisper 

by Pamela Zagarenski

Imagination and the power of making your own story.

Billy's Booger: A Memoir (sorta)

by William Joyce

Creativity and memoir writing!

Rufus the Writer

by Elizabeth Bram

Write for yourself.  Write for others.

The Day the Crayons Quit

by Drew Daywalt

The power of persuasive writing!

One Word From Sophia 

by Jim Averbeck

How word choice is important, and more opinion writing!

Battle Bunny

by Jon Scieszka and Mac Barnett

Make the story your own :)

little Red Writing

by Joan Holub

Word choice and puns, oh my!

What Do You Do With an Idea?

by Kobi Yamada

Ideas sometimes need time to grow.

Inside My Imagination

by Marta Arteaga

The power of the imagination.

What picture books do you share about writing?

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday 3.16.16 Strong, American Women

Every Wednesday I join Alyson Beecher from kidlitfrenzy and other

kidlit bloggers to share wonderful nonfiction picture books.

The intention of today's blog is to give educational professionals

new nonfiction reading material and ideas to use 

with students to promote a love of reading nonfiction materials.

It seems that publishers were trying to get books out about strong women in time for March's Women's History Month!  During the past few weeks, I read some great picture book biographies about strong, American woman.  
As I read these books, I noticed they could be used for a variety of purposes.  Check out these books and then see how you can use them as mentor texts or to talk about the person through character traits and theme purposes.


Miss Mary Reporting
written by Sue Macy
illustrated by C.F. Payne
published by Simon and Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books
I wrote more about this book here.


Solving the Puzzle Under the Sea 
written by Robert Burleigh
illustrated by Raul Colon
published by Simon and Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books


Fearless Flyer
written by Heather Lang
illustrated by Raul Colon
published by Calkins Creek, an imprint of Highlights


Dorothea's Eyes
written by Barb Rosenstock
illustrated by Gerard DuBois
published by Calkins Creek, an imprint of Highlights

Mentor Text for Reading/Writing

• What point of view is the book told through?  How does it make a difference in the story?  Do you think when it is told through 1st point of view, does it take liberties in that the author is making potential guesses at what the person may or may not have said?
• Look at the illustrations, what information do they add to the text?  Since Solving the Puzzle Under the Sea and Fearless Flyer have the same illustrator, do you notice differences between illustrations?  
• Take a look at the end notes.  Which ones do you find most useful?  Which ones serve a purpose for author research?
• When you read narrative biographies, how do you gain information?

Using the text to talk about the person

• Each book has to do with the person's passion - how they followed their passion to their dreams.  However, the road to get to their destination was different for each female.  Compare/contrast.
• Look at character traits of each person and compare and contrast.
• Use these books to talk about the themes of determination, following your dream, crossing boundaries.

Goodreads Summaries:

Miss Mary Reporting

While sitting in the bleachers of a Soap Box Derby in the 1950s, Mary Garber overheard two African-American boys in the following exchange: “See that lady down there?” asked one boy. “That’s Mary Garber. She doesn’t care who you are, but if you do something good, she’ll write about you.”

Mary Garber was a pioneering sports journalist in a time where women were rarely a part of the newspaper business. Women weren’t even allowed to sit in the press boxes at sporting events, so Mary was forced to sit with the coaches’ wives. But that didn’t stop her.

In a time when African-American sports were not routinely covered, Mary went to the games and wrote about them. Garber was a sportswriter for fifty-six years and was the first woman to receive the Associated Press Sports Editors’ Red Smith Award, presented for major contributions in sports journalism. And now, every year the Association of Women in Sports Media presents the Mary Garber Pioneer Award in her honor to a role model for women in sports media.

Sure to inspire future journalists, athletes, and any child who has a dream, this illustrated biography of Mary Garber captures her feisty and determined spirit and brings her story to life.

Solving the Puzzle Under the Sea

Marie Tharp was always fascinated by the ocean. Taught to think big by her father who was a mapmaker, Marie wanted to do something no one had ever done before: map the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. Was it even possible? Not sure if she would succeed, Marie decided to give it a try.

Throughout history, others had tried and failed to measure the depths of the oceans. Sailors lowered weighted ropes to take measurements. Even today, scientists are trying to measure the depth by using echo sounder machines to track how long it would take a sound wave sent from a ship to the sea floor to come back. But for Marie, it was like piecing together an immense jigsaw puzzle.

Despite past failures and challenges—sometimes Marie would be turned away from a ship because having a woman on board was “bad luck”—Marie was determined to succeed. And she did, becoming the first person to chart the ocean floor, helping us better understand the planet we call home.

Fearless Flyer

On November 19, 1916, at 8:25 a.m., Ruth Law took off on a flight that aviation experts thought was doomed. She set off to fly nonstop from Chicago to New York City. Sitting at the controls of her small bi-plane, exposed to the elements, Law battled fierce winds and numbing cold. When her engine ran out of fuel, she glided for two miles and landed at Hornell, New York. Even though she fell short of her goal, she had broken the existing cross-country distance record. And with her plane refueled, she got back in the air and headed for New York City where crowds waited to greet her. In this well-researched, action-packed picture book, Heather Lang and Raúl Colón recreate a thrilling moment in aviation history. Includes an afterword with archival photographs.

Dorothea's Eyes

After a childhood bout of polio left her with a limp, all Dorothea Lange wanted to do was disappear. But this desire not to be seen helped her learn how to blend into the background and observe others acutely. With a passion for the artistic life, and in spite of her family’s disapproval, Dorothea pursued her dream to become a photographer and focused her lens on the previously unseen victims of the Great Depression. This poetic biography tells the emotional story of Lange’s evolution as one of the founders of documentary photography. It includes a gallery of Lange’s photographs, and an author’s note, timeline, and bibliography. 

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 3.14.16

This weekly post comes from Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee and Ricki at Unleashing Readers.  It's a great source to find new books to use with your students.

I took a little break last week as we were on vacation.  Lucky me, vacation brought nerdy bloggers together - I had the chance to visit with our "Unleashing Readers" friend, Kellee Moye!  Love meeting nerdy friends in real life!  

Vacation always leads to some extra reading time.  Sharing some great new chapter books today and my weekend of binge reading picture books!

Last Two Weeks Adventures

Looking for some great nonfiction picture books?  Check out This is the Earth here which would make a perfect Earth Day book.  If you teach K-2, you want to make sure to add this book about community helpers to your book shelves.  Loved it!

I read this glorious book and immediately wanted to reread.  Be sure to check out Hour of the Bees.

Did you follow along on the Normal Norman blog tour?  Here are some ideas on using this wonderful book in your reading or writing block time!

Now that we're more than halfway through the school year, it's a great time to have students look back on the readerly lives.  Here are some books you might use when talking about it!

Picture Books


Emma and Julia Love Ballet by Barbara McClintock
3/5 stars
A comparison between a young child, Emma, and a professional ballerina, Julia, and how similar they are.  Both have a passion for ballet and work hard at what they love.  I could see young ballerinas loving this story but I think you could also use it to talk to kids about doing what they love and chasing a dream.


Puddle by Hyewon Yum
4/5 stars
Sweet picture book that young readers will really enjoy.  A mother-son story about the power of imagination and making it come to life!


Lionheart by Richard Collingridge
4/5 stars
The illustrations are gorgeous.
It's a sweet story about a boy who needs to be brave to fight a monster.  His stuffed animal comes to life to show him how to use his friends and find his voice to roar!
Reminiscent of Where the Wild Things Are and "Narnia", I think young readers will enjoy this one.  The theme is a good one, maybe a bit weak in the telling, but one you could use as part of a collection of books to teach theme.


Get a Hit, Mo! by David Adler
3/5 stars
Mo, our surprise Geisel winner, is back and this time it's baseball season.  Mo is still too small, too young to be the star on his baseball team.  This time, it's pure luck that helps him win the game for his team.


Dylan the Villain by K.G. Campbell
3/5 stars
I do love villain stories!  This was a cute one, will be fun to read with some villainous laughter!  Liked the open ending.


Quick, Little Monkey by Sarah L. Thomson
4/5 stars
Loved this picture book!  Perfect for young readers.  Little Monkey learns to heed the life lessons from her Papa when she finds herself in new territory.  Great author's note giving real information about the animals seen in this book.


Ideas Are All Around by Philip Stead
4/5 stars
I could see teachers using this in writer's workshop - how to get ideas all around you and turn those small moments into a story.


Transitional Chapter Books


Piper Green and the Fairy Tree:  The Sea Pony by Ellen Potter
4/5 stars
This series is so perfect for fans of Junie B., Clementine and Judy Moody.  I hope Piper Green gets as much love as they do!
In this third installment, Piper gets a special whistle necklace from the Fairy Tree.  As in all gifts from the Fairy Tree, you never know when they will come in handy, but like always, this special necklace helps out in unforeseen ways!

Middle Grade


Rookie of the Year by Phil Bildner
4/5 stars
If you haven't already read the first book in the Rip and Red series, A Whole New Ballgame, I highly recommend you get to it soon.  This series is so fun for kids and for teachers.  Teachers will want to be Mr. Acevedo.  Teachers will see that this series is perfect for read aloud!  Kids will love the characters in the story and relate to the problems the kids come across.  Make sure you put this second book on your radar in July.

Young Adult


Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys
5/5 stars
I have loved Sepetys' other two young adult books and this one was just as amazing.  It took a little bit to get into since the story is told in 4 different voices.  Once I had the characters straight and I knew what was going on in the story, I was sucked in and just wanted to keep reading.  I love getting the different perspectives and seeing this time in history from four different views.  Some characters I really liked and some I loved to hate.  
It's after reading books like this that tell me a part about history that I might not have ever really known about that always amazes me that there is so much about this world I don't know.

Currently Reading


Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
This is my February #mustreadin2016.  I know, I'm a bit late.  But so glad to be getting to this one!  If you enjoy Marie Lu's books, this is a don't miss!

Happy Reading!