How big is the ocean, how high is the sky? Old lyrics but new meaning – just how big is this genre of NONFICTION?
Creative, quirky, unusual, interesting – informative, and truly the sky isn’t the limit regarding subject, form, structure or illustrations. How big is the ocean of topics? It is indeed vast and varied: biography, social science, natural science, mathematics, history, social concerns, sports, “how-to’s,” cultural descriptions, languages, and more.
This month, in Beyond Boundaries, we have chosen to focus on quite a variety of topics – biographies, construction trucks, social issues, and history, including natural disasters and natural science.
First, biographies: A library on a donkey? What an idea to share with a child. Jeanette Winter’s new book, BIBLIOBURRO: A True Story from Colombia, will first capture your attention with her delightful and unusual illustrations. We meet Luis, a man who lives “deep in the jungles of Colombia…who loves books.” Luis lives in his little home, sharing a book with a giant orange butterfly and surrounded by tropical creatures, iguanas, hummingbirds, snakes, spiders, birds with giant bills and birds with long legs. Luis has one big problem. His house is FULL of books and he has an idea. He will share his books with children who have none. Luis has two burros, one to carry books, and one to carry Luis. He’s determined that his biblio-burro will bring books to children. And it does.
Other true stories written by Jeanette Winter include award-winning NASREEN’S SECRET SCHOOL, WANGARI’S TREES OF PEACE, and THE LIBRARIAN OF BASRA, winner of the Bank Street Flora Stieglitz Straus Award for Nonfiction. Jeanette’s books gently introduce children to economic and educational challenges faced by many children in this world.
Biographies show real aspects of being courageous – standing up for what one believes in or persisting toward one’s goals.
A PICTURE BOOK OF CESAR CHAVEZ by David A. Adler and Michael S. Adler, illustrated by Marie Olofsdotter, provides a window into the world of César Chávez who risked his life and spent time in jail, but continued to help farm workers in California organize into unions and argue for fair pay and working conditions.
Courage is often small actions, such as planting beans or carrying oranges to the market, instead of being able to go to school. Though not nonfiction, these books offer a window into a specific culture and setting and can be paired with other informational resources to give students a peek into these other lands and peoples.
Another book set in Haiti is TAP-TAP by Karen LynnWilliams, illustrated by Catherine Stock. In this book, a girl carries oranges to sell at market and wonders if she can manage the long dusty walk back home.
Or from the far north, Ningeokuluk Teevee, one of the most celebrated of the Kinngait Nunavut (Cape Dorset) artists has written and illustrated ALEGO. This book presents a picture of today’s daily life of an Inuit child and grandmother – join them as they go clam-digging!
“Fly” back to the United States for one more biography, SKY HIGH: The True Story of Maggie Gee by Marissa Moss, illustrated by Carl Angel – the first Asian-American woman pilot. Maggie showed persistence and courage to fly high and reach her dreams.
Eleven animals. Eleven life-size bites! From the smallest microorganism to one of earth’s largest mammals – the Sperm Whale – each 0ver-sized page brings the reader a close-up view of an animal and a single-serving from its meal of choice: three drops of nectar for the butterfly, a tug of bamboo – a trunkful – for the elephant, one gulp of giant squid for the sperm whale and so on. The “animals” with the most surprising bite of all? Microorganisms! Their billions and trillions of teeny tiny bites enable them to eat the largest animals of the world.
End notes, that elaborate on each animal presented, complete this meaningful introduction to the variety of meals to be found in the animal kingdom.
And don’t forget to check out the TOOL BOX! There you’ll find an excellent Teacher’s Guide for JUST ONE BITE, prepared especially for grades K-2 by Toni Buzzeo.
I was born and grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The city is surrounded by corn and soybean farms. My family lived out in a small subdivision on the north side. We had an apple orchard on one side and wide open spaces behind the houses.
I was a lucky kid. My parents took time to play games with me, go on picnics and READ to me. I didn’t have a lot of books that were mine, but the ones I had were precious and I read them again and again.
A bookmobile also visited our neighborhood regularly. This was a long bus that was lined with shelves and the shelves held BOOKS. Plus, the librarian (who was also the driver) knew what I liked to read and quite often she saved a few titles under her check-out counter just for me. The sound of the bookmobile always brought me running with a tall stack of books that I exchanged for another, even taller, stack of books.
I was (and am) an only child. I never liked that part very much. And because I was allergic to animal hair and fur when I was young, I never had a pet either. But I had friends and a bike. So, I never felt lonely.
As I grew older I became the babysitter for the neighborhood. One time, four different families went on vacation at the same time and left me at one of their homes with six children under the age of 8. We had a wonderful time of puppet plays, games in the yard, reading books out loud, painting and playing jump rope.
What kind of student were you?
I always liked going to school. (Well, most of the time.) Every year I was excited to get my new textbooks, learn about famous people and GO TO THE SCHOOL LIBRARY. Back then our school library was small compared to the wonderful libraries I see in schools today. My favorite kinds of books were the biographies, adventure stories and books about animals. I would always check out as many as I could. Because I enjoyed reading, I always got good grades in Reading. But we never wrote in school and for years I never wrote at home either. I thought the only kind of writing that I was allowed to do was answer questions at the end of chapters. I was pretty good at that, but didn’t care for it at all.
What were your favorite things to do when you were young?
I always wanted to be outside, especially if I could ride my bike. I owned a 24” red Schwinn and together we explored the neighborhood. I knew the names of everyone in a four-block radius of my home. My favorite time of day to ride was after our evening meal. If it was warm outside, our neighbors would be sitting in lawn chairs, pruning bushes, or playing badminton. I’d ride by
and pretty soon someone would wave me over and I would talk with someone for a few minutes, or share some homemade ice cream. One time I even stopped and helped an older man mow his grass. I think the neighbors looked forward to seeing me as much as I enjoyed them.
But when I was inside the house, I liked to play with my dolls. Quite often we played school and I was the teacher. My mom made doll clothes and I liked to wash them in my hand-operated washing machine and dry them on the line.
Did you ever get into trouble?
Sure I did. I think every child is curious and has that adventuresome side. Sometimes I did things that weren’t exactly naughty, but it would have been better if I had given it some thought before moving ahead. I remember one time when I was nine years old. It was winter and really cold outside. I didn’t know how to ice skate, but I wanted to learn. There was no ice-skating rink close to our home, so I decided to make my own. I hooked our garden hose to the faucet in the garage and for more than 30 minutes I flooded our concrete driveway. It was great! It was some of the smoothest ice I had ever seen – so smooth that when my father came home from work he couldn’t stop his Oldsmobile on the driveway. His car slid into the garage and hit the lawnmower. Needless to say he was not pleased with his inventive daughter at that moment.
Did you play an instrument?
I took piano lessons from second grade through my sophomore year in high school. At first my piano teacher was a nun at St. Jude School. She would give me lessons in a little room that was attached to the convent. If I arrived early for my lesson, sometime I would see the other nuns scurrying to chapel or into their kitchen to make dinner.
Recitals were always a little scary. I’d practice for weeks preparing, but I would always get nervous right before it was my turn to play. One year, Diane Brown and I were performing a Hayden concerto for two pianos. The music was 21 pages long, but we had memorized our parts. Sometimes Diane played alone. Sometimes I did. But the best parts were when we both played at the same time. We made it through the entire concerto without any large mistakes and boy were we proud.
If you weren’t a writer, what would you like to be?
No doubt about it, if I weren’t a writer, I would be a landscape artist. Gardening is my passion. Here in Georgia I can finally grow all kinds of flowers like hydrangeas that did not grow well when we lived in northeast Indiana. We also have a large vegetable garden during spring through fall. In the winter, I grow greens in a heated grow box. Yes, even when it’s snowing outside, lettuce, cabbage, arugula and mustard thrive in the grow box.
But I guess that writing and gardening have a lot in common. They both require seeds. In writing the ideas are the seeds. They both need cultivation. A writer needs to think long and hard about an idea before writing the first word. Even then, a writer knows that he/she will revise, or rewrite, a great deal of what is first written. After many months of attention and great care, both offer an abundant harvest. The garden produces flowers and vegetables that renew our body and spirit. The writing offers up words of comfort, inspiration and motivation for the soul.
I can’t imagine one without the other.
Where do you get your ideas?
All writers, whether 8 or 80 years old, get their ideas from the same places. I remember experiences and the people of my life. These can be great fuel for writing. Sometimes I mine an important event or question from a dream. Other times one book leads me to another book idea. I often am surprised when wonderful ideas just pop into my head. Once while I was a teacher, I heard these words on my lunch break, “This is the sunflower, tall and bright, that stands in my garden day and night.” I immediately turned around to my computer and the rest of that cumulative tale poured out of me and onto the page. What a gift! That doesn’t happen very often, but when it does, it’s wonderful.
We once had an amazing cat named Dickens. He had so much personality. He taught himself to ring our doorbell when he wanted to come inside the house. When he was outside he would find a mole and bring it near our front door and talk to it for an hour or more, but never eat it. Sometimes when I was cleaning the house, he would jump up as if to scare me, then run away. One day he had an unfortunate accident and died. Both my husband and I were sad for a few weeks. At that time I spoke to one of my editors and told her that if she ever wanted a group of cat stories I would like to write them in honor of Dickens. Within that year I wrote the first three MITTENS stories. Each year a new MITTENS (I Can Read, HPC) story comes out. All because I had a cat that was unique and fun.
What’s the hardest part about writing a book?
For me, it’s remembering to be patient. Good writing takes time. I write a draft and want that draft to magically become the final manuscript, but it doesn’t work that way. After the first draft, I need to let it sit for a few weeks and then return with new eyes to the writing. It’s always apparent to me what I need to do next. But even then, I need to let that second draft sit and simmer for a few weeks. After the third revisit, I can get serious with line-editing, pacing and word choice. From there on out, I work non-stop on that manuscript until I am pleased. Sometimes that process takes 3-4 months for a picture book, but in the case of AN ISLAND GROWS, it took more than 2 ½ years before it all came together. Patience. Every writer needs a boatload.
What’s your favorite book that you wrote?
Many children ask me that question during author visits to their schools. In truth, all of my books are my favorites, but for different reasons. Hundreds of students who have read ARROWHAWK have sent me hand-written letters. I love that kind of personal response. AN ISLAND GROWS was like a puzzle and when I finished it, I was quite satisfied. Many of my small nonfiction books were great to write because I was able to revisit biographies or information books that I had not read since I was a child. Every book has its appeal. If I didn’t care for each one, I wouldn’t do a very good job with the writing.
Quick Picks
Favorite stationery item? Beautiful paper for handwritten notes.
Favorite or least favorite vegetable? Favorite vegetable is Chinese cabbage. Least favorite is okra.
Sourdough, whole wheat, white or rye? Stoned ground whole wheat bread, please.
Love revision or hate it? Love revision – it’s where a writer lives.
Early Bird or Night Owl Writer? Neither. My best writing time is between 10 am and 8 pm.
You must like nature if you’re reading JUST ONE BITE. Isn’t it fun to see the actual amount of food that these animals eat in one nibble, sip and gulp? And look at the real sizes of their heads and teeth! I never knew how long a giraffe’s tongue was until Geoff illustrated this book. I learn something new with each animal.
When I was a girl, I would get down eye-to-eye with animals to inspect them up close. It didn’t make any difference if it was a tadpole, a turtle, the neighbor’s cat, or one of my Uncle Merril’s pigs. I was fascinated, and still am, with everything about the natural world. My interest isn’t confined to only animals; I collect fossils, admire rocks and minerals, and enjoy hiking through streams, up mountains, and across fields.
Like most books that I write about the real world, JUST ONE BITE began with a series of questions. How much nectar does a butterfly sip with its proboscis? How much grass or bamboo does an elephant pull and eat in just one bite? What’s one of the largest bites of food that one animal swallows at once?
Since I never know the answers to my questions, I contact experts. For this book I worked with some scientists at universities, others at a butterfly house and even one the other side of the globe. The wonderful thing about scientists and experts is that they gladly share their knowledge with others. Since they are excited about their topics of study, they want others to appreciate them as well. After a few telephone conversations or emails, I generally have answers to all of my questions.
Research is searching once and again and again until you find information that satisfies your curiosity. What would you like to know? How far does a humpback whale migrate each year? How is marble made in the earth? How do islands form? One answer will lead you to another question and that answer will lead you to yet another question and on and on and on . . . for a lifetime – a lifetime of learning!
Enjoy the journey, and remember to READ! All great learning starts with just one book!
Download a copy of “Your Friend, Lola Schaefer ( A Letter to Readers)” HERE.
The Teacher Guide created for Lola’s delightful Just One Bite can be accessed by clicking HERE. In it – along with engaging mathematics, science, language arts activities, a study of various animal habitats and herbivore, omnivore, and carnivore eating habits – is a darling Reader’s Theater activity suitable for any Kindergarten to 2nd grade student.
The Reader’s Theater cast includes animals such as the worm, the butterfly, and the Komodo dragon…even microorganisms play a lead role. Let’s hear it for a chorus of microorganisms! And let’s hear it for Lola Schaefer’s tremendous Just One Bite with a big ReaderKidZ Hip! Hip! Hurrah!
Books about history, science, customs, cultures, peoples of all types – the famous and the not-so – are just a few of the many nonfiction topics available for kids in bookstores and libraries today.
This month, ReaderKidZ focuses on a handful of these for K-5 readers searching for facts, figures, information, and answers.
We’re pleased to welcome Lola Schaefer as our Author-In-Residence the first half of March. Lola’s written many nonfiction books for the educational and trade market, including, most recently, her picture book, JUST ONE BITE and a brand-new teacher resource, WRITING LESSONS FOR THE INTERACTIVE WHITEBOARD.
One of the wonderful things about books in a series is that there is, really and truly, something for everyone – from fantasy to historical fiction, serious to humorous, hefty tomes of over five hundred pages to short, realistic fiction chapter books for the newly transitioning reader.
This week’s Book Room is a small sampling of that variety. What are some of your favorites?
In book one, Nathaniel Fludd, age ten, finds himself orphaned and somewhat reluctantly placed into the care of his father’s long-lost cousin, Philomena Fludd. Aunt Phil, it seems, is the world’s last remaining beastologist – someone who studies beasts. Unusual, rare, exotic beasts. It’s a world, up to this point, completely unfamiliar to young Nate – so dangerous and full of adventure that Nate sometimes wonders if he’ll survive.
In this latest book, Nate, Aunt Phil, and Nate’s pet, a gremlin named Greasle, are off to northern Wales. Cornelius, Aunt Phil’s dodo bird, has sent word that the wyverns, one of the last surviving breeds of dragons, are on the rampage. Someone has been trespassing into wyvern territory and the delicate covenant, agreed upon by the countrymen and the wyverns over a thousand years prior, is in jeopardy. Will Nate and Aunt Phil remove the intruder and discover the one treasure that will satisfy Old Nudd, the cranky, ancient wyvern?
It’s November 1941 and the times, by most people’s standards, are uncertain. But to 13 year-old Piper Davis, the trouble brewing in Europe and Indochina is about as far away and dangerous as the moon is from her comfortable home in Seattle, Washington. After all, Piper cares about the things all girls her age are interested in. School, the hit parade, and the dreamy guy, Bud, she’s had a crush on since fifth grade.
But the war isn’t as far away as Piper once believed, and when the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, it seems Piper and her father, who pastors at a Japanese Baptist Church, find themselves in the middle of larger dilemma.
When her neighbors and friends are suddenly singled out and hauled away to internment camps, Piper begins to see things with new eyes. Over time, her friendship with Betty Sato deepens and when her father decides that Piper and he must follow his congregation to the Minidoka War Relocation Camp in Eden, Idaho, Piper begins to understand the meaning of true friendship.
THE FENCES BETWEEN US is the first in the revived DEAR AMERICA series. Learn more about the world, as Piper Davis knew it, here: The Scrapbook of Piper Davis
THE LOST HERO is the first book of Rick Riordan’s – author of the very popular PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS – newest series: THE HEROES OF OLYMPUS. It begins several months after the THE LAST OLYMPIAN and introduces three new characters, demi-gods Jason, Piper, and Leo. As the story unfolds, these heroes begin to put together the pieces that they’ll need in order to set off on a quest of their own to rescue Hera and prevent Gaea from raising Porphyrion, king of the giants, from the depths of the earth.
Of course, this is just the beginning for Jason and his friends, and by story’s end, readers will be anxious to follow the three heroes on the next leg of their journey.
Lucy is a beagle who loves to run. Unlike Bobby, her owner, Lucy makes friends easily. Of course, being as squirmy and inquisitive as Lucy is, it’s not hard to imagine how easy it is for Lucy to disappear. Especially when Bobby’s friend’s little brother, Ben, takes Lucy off her leash.
This series is perfect for young readers transitioning to chapter books.
Frannie is an original, one of a kind girl who wants a job. Of course, she doesn’t mean to find herself in the midst of trouble, but somehow, that’s exactly what happens every time she thinks she’s being helpful.
In this, the first of the series, Frannie fills in when the local radio host suddenly disappears. How was she supposed to know that all the people banging on the radio control booth window and signaling her were trying to get her off the air!
Frannie is energetic and spunky with a voice that seems modeled after Clementine’s. Even so, Frannie is definitely her own unique person.
I have to admit that this series is one I could have easily steered clear of. Hot pink cover. A title with the word “dumb.” It didn’t sound like a book I’d want to put on my shelves. But then a new student joined our class mid-year and when asked what she liked to read, DEAR DUMB DIARY was her number one choice! She gushed over these books, so I absolutely had to check them out.
Slightly wacky, slightly irreverent (in a completely elementary school way), I found the story-line a bit hard to follow, but even so, there are many funny moments throughout and I can see why these books are such a hit.
In this latest book, Jamie believes she must have super-powers. Why else would she be doing the crazy things she’s been doing (like actually kicking her good friend in the face?!?) and suddenly making some sense out of “boy speak”?
This series may not be for everyone, but it’s nice to have on a classroom or library shelf, as the humor will appeal to many.
Mission Statement
To provide teachers, librarians, and parents with the resources and inspiration to foster a love of reading in kids, K-5.
burros, one to carry books, and one to carry Luis. He’s determined that his biblio-burro will bring books to children. And it does.
Other true stories written by Jeanette Winter include award-winning NASREEN’S SECRET SCHOOL, WANGARI’S TREES OF PEACE, and THE LIBRARIAN OF BASRA, winner of the Bank Street Flora Stieglitz Straus Award for Nonfiction. Jeanette’s books gently introduce children to economic and educational challenges faced by many children in this world.
Biographies show real aspects of being courageous – standing up for what one believes in or persisting toward one’s goals.
Though not nonfiction, these books offer a window into a specific culture
and setting and can be paired with other informational resources to give students a peek into these other lands and peoples.
artists has written and illustrated ALEGO. This book presents a picture of today’s daily life of an Inuit child and grandmother – join them as they go clam-digging!
Sato, a Japanese American, and of all surprising partnerships, a cell biologist whose ideas and work helped to make the desert of Eritrea productive by planting mangrove trees.
“Fly” back to the United States for one more biography, SKY HIGH: The True Story of Maggie Gee by Marissa Moss, illustrated by Carl Angel – the first Asian-American woman pilot. Maggie showed persistence and courage to fly high and reach her dreams.
JUST ONE BITE
