Title: Every Minute on EarthAuthor: Steve Murrie and Matthew Murrie
Publisher: Scholastic
Copyright Date: 2008
Number of Pages: 224
Age Level: Grade 1-6
Genre: Nonfiction
Summary: This book explains many facts that may happen on the Earth or have already. As said as an description of this book, in the minute it can take you to read this whole book, Earth will be hit by 6,000 lightning strikes, 2,137 pounds of popcorn will be eaten, 10,000 pieces of skin will be lost from your body, 21,000 pizzas will be baked, and 750,000 gallons of water will go over Niagara Falls
Reaction: I feel that this book has many facts and you can learn something new on each page. Every section ends with activities that kids can do such as “see if you can lick the middle out of an Oreo just using your tongue”. There are fun interactive things for children to try. It’s nice to see lots of interesting things gathered into this book. At times this book can be frustrating, because it may leave you with more questions than the sense of wanting to share new findings with friends.
Recommendation: I recommend that this book be geared to readers age 9-12 that may want to grab a fact and share it with someone. This book is very interesting and with all the activities through out it, this may be very interactive for both the home and classroom setting.
Potential Problems/Conflicts: Some facts may be confusing, or to detailed.
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Title: More If You Had to Choose, What Would You Do?Author: Sandra McLeod Humphrey
Publisher: Prometheus Books
Copyright Date: 2003
Number of Pages: 132
Age Level: Grade 1-6
Genre: Nonfiction
Summary: This is a sequel to Sandra’s first book, If You Had to Choose, What Would You Do? This book is an interactive book about moral choices for children ages 6-12. There are twenty-six stories about moral dilemmas and through out it, the reader is asked what he or she would do in that situation. Each story is followed by thoughtful questions that may stimulate great discussions. The content page highlights themes that are seen throughout the book so that you can easily access what you may want to discuss. The stories are fun for kids to read and to get them thinking and talking about important moral issues.
Reaction: I like the idea of a scenario type book. Some of the scenarios are more geared for older children than others, but this book can be helpful to children that may not be exposed to proper guidance regarding basic or correct morality. Great book to start wonderful discussions.
Recommendation: This book consists of a series of short scenarios that children may experience at one point of their lives. The scenarios are thought-provoking such as, “how do you deal with jealousy of a friend? When your peers are pressuring you to do something you know is wrong, what do you do? These questions are designed to encourage discussion between kids and parents or teachers. I think the best target for this book would be teachers and parent’s, I don’t really see this as being something a kid would just pick up on their own.
Potential Problems/Conflicts: If your child is younger, than you would most likely want to preview this book before handing it to them.
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Title: The Way We Work: Getting to Know the Amazing Human Body
Author: David Macaulay
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Copyright Date: 2008
Number of Pages: 336
Age Level: 9 to 12
Genre: Nonfiction
Summary: The Way We Work by David Macaulay gives readers an opportunity to discover how remarkable the human body is. Most of the time we only know basic information, but this book shows what we may be taking for granted. This book is entertaining and reveals the inner works of the human body with all its systems and mechanisms. There are beautiful illustrations with much detail seen through out the book. In the book Macauley starts with the smallest body parts, such as cells and then grows to larger parts.
Reaction: This book is very informative and I learned things that I have never heard of nor been taught about in classes at school. With all unique and up-close glimpses, this book can help build an appreciation for the human body, one you may have not had in the first place.
Recommendation: If you are a science teacher, this book is for you. I would have my classroom read it during the study of the human body. This book is very informative and can help develop much more knowledge in students.
Potential Problems/Conflicts: If your child is younger, than you would most likely want to preview this book before handing it to them.
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Title: Our Pledge of Allegiance
Author: Syl Sobel
Publisher: World Association Publishers
Copyright Date: 2002
Number of Pages: 28
Age Level: Grades 3-6
Genre: Nonfiction
Summary: Main questions are asked such as, Who wrote the Pledge of Allegiance? Why was it written? What does it mean? The Pledge of Allegiance tells a story with words that children may be able to learn and recite each day. This book is written clearly and features wonderful illustrations that portray the Pledge of Allegiance from a child’s perspective. Each day at school we would stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance, but really how many students know who wrote it and what it means. This is answered through this book.
Reaction: I learned a lot from this book. I knew what the Pledge of Allegiance was, but I did not really know the back ground information that is not shared much. I feel that this book many need more info, specifically about the original socialist salute to the U.S. Flag.
Recommendation: This book is a great book to read at the beginning of a class and will help so many more students learn about their country in a different setting, especially to understand why they stand to recite the Pledge of Allegiance each day.
Potential Problems/Conflicts: If you are not really into history, than this book may not be interesting to you.
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Title: Ice Cream
Author: Elisha Cooper
Publisher: Greenwillow
Copyright Date: 2002
Number of Pages: 40
Age Level: Grades 3-6
Genre: Nonfiction
Summary: Ice Cream is a picture book about how ice cream is made. It begins with the cow and it takes farmers and milking machines, and scientists and recipes. This book also includes a glossary of terms for those interested in learning terms. Ice cream is a favorite food amongst not only children but adults also. This book starts at the very beginning of the process, and continues with the end of the process. The author uses humor and children may laugh when they see the illustrations. This is a great discussion on how milk is separated out for different foods.
Reaction: I learned a lot from this book. Since ice cream is one of my favorite foods, this was sweet to me. I didn’t really know the process of how ice cream gets to the grocery store, and now I do! I was amazed at how much milk one cow can give in a milking. There is a lot of talk about scientists and thinking up new ice cream flavors, which can give children their own ideas of their own flavors they may want to make in the future.
Recommendation: This book is a great book to read at the beginning of the summer months, to keep children interested in learning although the warm weather is calling out to them. You can even make homemade ice cream to eat!
Potential Problems/Conflicts: If you’re not a fan of ice cream, this book may not be of much interest to you.
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Title: Don’t Know Much About the Solar System
Author: Kenneth C. Davis
Publisher: HarperCollins
Copyright Date: 2001
Number of Pages: 48
Age Level: Grades 3-5
Genre: Nonfiction
Summary: Don’t Know Much About the Solar System is completely full with facts, questions, and answers about the sun, gravity, planets, astronauts, space exploration, asteroids, the moon, and so much more. This book uses a great question and answer format, as well as riddles and fun illustrations which makes learning about the solar system much more positive.
Reaction: I love the interaction of the question and answer format. I feel like I learned so much more about the solar system such as why the moon is different shapes on different nights, which planets (besides Saturn) have rings, and what really is beyond the Milky Way. This was a great book that covers the solar system’s components, starts, constellations, galaxies, and space travel, but not into crazy depth that is not understandable for children.
Recommendation: I would recommend this to children in grades three through five. They will be able to learn more facts and new things they may not have learned during science class. There are three questions per page and several-sentence answers for each one that intends to spark interest in learning. The illustrations are also wonderful and will interest all that read this.
Potential Problems/Conflicts: The only thing to be aware of is once you start reading this to children, you may never be able to stop and put the book down, and it’s that interesting.
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Title: So You Want to Be President?
Author: Judith St.
Publisher: Philomel; Early Printing
Copyright Date: 2000
Number of Pages: 56
Age Level: Ages 4-8
Genre: Nonfiction
Awards: Caldecott Medal
Summary: This book has been created to teach and help understand about the presidency. The basic theme is that anyone can be president: a fat man (Taft) or a tiny man (Madison, a relative youngster (Roosevelt) or oldster (Reagan). Through out the book you learn about presidential hobbies, sports, virtues, and vices. A glimpse of the book is trivia such as, “You probably weren’t born in a log cabin. That’s too bad. People are crazy about log-cabin Presidents. They elected eight”. The illustrations are comical and emphasize the president’s best known qualities but also lifts the playful tone of the text.
Reaction: Normally I would not even pick up a book dealing with presidential things because they are not of my interest and just make me think of history class, but this book was fun. I learned a lot of interesting facts through the trivia and humorous themes.
Recommendation: I would recommend this book to any history teachers wanting to teach students about presidents but in a fun way that does not bore them. This book is much more interesting and appealing than most traditional books. There are facts that can be learned and taught easily to students in a great way.
Potential Problems/ Conflicts: There are no problems or conflicts that I noticed in the book. It is an excellent book to add to your child’s book shelf.
Title: Robert Crowther’s Amazing Pop-up House of Inventions
Author: Robert Crowther
Publisher: Candlewick
Copyright Date: 2000
Number of Pages: 12
Age Level: Ages 4-8
Genre: Nonfiction
Summary: This book is a wonderful nonfiction book! In this elaborate pop-up book, you can learn fun facts about everyday household items, such as CDs, nylon stockings, skateboards, refrigerators, belt buckles, piggy banks, pens, cameras, and sandwiches. In the book there is trivia and facts. This is a great 3-D paper with oven doors that you can open, videos you can insert into a VCR, and model train sets you can spin around a track. This is a wonderful learning and interactive book.
Reaction: Best book ever! I really enjoyed this book right as I opened it because not only is it interactive and makes you want to look again and again, you are also learning crazy facts about things such as, toilet paper was invented in 1857, and Native Americans made popcorn more than 5,000 years ago. This is an incredible, entertaining, and amusing book with facts that will blow your mind.
Recommendation: I would recommend this book to kids in grades three through five. This is a book that will keep kids occupies and looking again and again but also learning facts that teach them things of the past.
Potential Problems/ Conflicts: A parts in the book there is a lot of blank space in it and the words are small and hard to read if your eyes are that great.
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Title: Tuck Everlasting
Author: Natalie Babbitt
Publisher: Scholastic
Copyright Date: 1975
Number of Pages: 139
Age Level: Grades 5-12
Genre: Fantasy
Summary: Winifred Foster (Winnie) comes from a family who keep her locked away behind a 4 foot iron fence that surrounds their home. They are the oldest family in the town, and own the surrounding woods. When running away one morning, she finds a beautiful tree from which a spring of water pours, with a young man drinking from it. This leads her to learn of Jesse Tuck and the rest of his family, who are immortal as a result of drinking from this spring over eighty years earlier. The family decides it best to take Winnie away with them to explain the secret and why it must be kept - but all the while, a man in a yellow suit has been watching. He has come to the town in hopes of finding the spring (which he had heard of through stories told by his grandmother) and selling it to the highest bidder. He sees the incident as a kidnapping, and uses it to his advantage in order to buy the woods from the Foster family. The Tucks become close to Winnie and they are affectionate, without strict rules, and live humbly in the woods 20 miles from town. They teach her why letting immortality upon the world would disrupt the balance of life, throwing human beings out of the great cycle of life and death and turning them into the equivalent of rocks. Their brief time together is ended when the man in the yellow suit finds the Tucks. After hearing his plan to sell the water, Mae Tuck takes out a shotgun and hits him over the head with it, from which he eventually dies. The sheriff, who has followed the man, sees the entire incident. Mae is incarcerated in the newly built jail, and will be hanged – but since she cannot die, her date with the gallows will but reveal the Tucks' secret to the world. Meeting the family by the jailhouse the night before Mae's "execution", the boys open the jail and Winnie takes the place of Mae in the cell. They then escape, while Winnie is found in the cell the next day. She gets in trouble for helping the Tucks escape, but the secret is safe. At the end it is revealed that Winnie dies two years before the Tucks return to the town, seeking to find her and make sure the spring is safe. It has been destroyed by lightning, and so the Tucks live on.
Reaction: I loved this novel. If you miss context clues in the beginning of the novel you are bound to understand it at the end of the book. In some ways I feel that this story can be considered a fairy tale with a magical spring, a kidnapped heroine, and an enchanted handsome prince. The descriptions of the woods and characters are eloquent. Overall a great read.
Recommendation: Tuck Everlasting is a good book for anyone who thinks living forever might be a good idea. Death is a hard thing for most people to accept, and one of the main ideas in this novel is that there is a natural cycle to life. This is an interesting and entertaining book worth reading, also there it is a major motion picture from Walt Disney pictures, and it is very much like the book.
Potential Problems/ Conflicts: This may lead some children to think that it is okay to disobey their parents as Winnie did on two occasions. Violence is visual in the book as the strange man is killed by Mae Tuck.
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