Book 8: The Panic Virus by Seth Minookin

I'll add my stats later, because I probably won't finish this book tonight and -- I hope -- will sleep too late to do any more reading for the challenge tomorrow.

It's traditional for me to read an autism book during the challenge and a nonfiction break seemed like a good idea. This is very interesting, though I'm not sure I'm taking everything in. I was very struck by how vulnerable children who can't yet be immunized are when immunization rates fall. It's not just an individual risk we're taking for our own children.

183 out of 311

Reading: 2 hours, 40 minutes
Blogging: 8 minutes
Networking: 3 minutes

Nonfiction Monday - review: Dinosaurs?!

Dinosaurs?! written and illustrated by Lila Prap. North-South, 2010 (978-0-7358-2284-9) $16.95

I was pretty turned off by nonfiction as a kid, so this book caught my eye as something that might appeal to the sort of kid I was. Incidentally, I didn't find any other blog reviews of this book, but I did find a mention of Lila Prap's Why at A Year of Reading, accompanying this comment: "I read aloud nonfiction that doesn't look or act like nonfiction to challenge my students' thinking about genre."

Dinosaurs?! may not be as challenging as Why?, but it's not your standard nonfiction. In addition to illustrations of dinosaurs that are a bit on the goofy side, the informative text is surrounded by a group of wisecracking chickens, who mock their enormous ancestors. (Hmm, a bit reminiscent of Robie Harris' facts of life books, come to think of it.) One little just-hatching chick always has a question or comment at the end of the page, and the next page answers it: "What strange ancestors. Did any others have unusual bumps on their head?" (Turn the page.) "Some of them had bony domes on their heads! Oviraptor, or Egg Seizer had an unusually shaped crest on its and two prongs on the upper palate of its beak, which it may have used to crush the shells of mollusks."

I didn't find this as funny as I'd hoped; the best part comes at the very end, when the chickens play a game of telephone: "Our ancestors were dinosaurs! Pass it on!" "Our aunt's stores were at the shore! Splash it on!" "The apple core went through the door! Mash it long!" The smart chick comments, "And so on... This is roughly how chickens evolved from dinosaurs." Other than that, the chicken remarks aren't that interesting, and the same few pictures of them are used over and over. But the dinosaurs themselves, thickly outlined against speckled backgrounds, occasionally sporting grins, are quite appealing.

I can see this book potentially working both ways, as a way to entice a fiction lover into enjoying a few facts, or a way to entice a nonfiction lover into enjoying a little whimsy. (4-8)


© 2010 Wendy E. Betts

FTC disclosure: Review copy provided by the publisher. This blog is completely independent, but I receive a small percentage if you order books from Powell's via this site.

Nonfiction Monday: Gone Fishing

Gone Fishing written and illustrated by David McLimans. Walker, 2008 (978-0-8027-9770-4) $16.99

This follow-up to the Caldecott Honor book Gone Wild: an Endangered Animal Alphabet counts from one to ten and then back again, illustrating the numbers with stylized, folk-art drawings of endangered sea creatures. Drawn in blue, white and black, against blue or black backgrounds, the pictures are very striking, though squeezing the animals into the shapes of the numbers is sometimes an exercise in imagination. Each page also contains a more realistic drawing plus some basic information about the creature: class, habitat, regions, threats and endangered status. A "Diving Deeper" section at the end offer more detail on each one, and there is also a section on ocean facts by tens: "Less than 1 percent of water on Earth is freshwater. In every fisherman's haul of shrimp, the nets catch up to 10 times the weight of the shrimp in other species, which is then trashed. Giant kelp, the fastest-growing plant in the ocean, can grown up to 100 feet long in little more than a year."

As nonfiction this book is a little dry, no pun intended, but numbers that come with tentacles, bulging eyes and sharp teeth are an immediate eye-catcher, and the creative use of limited colors and negative space only adds to the strong visual appeal. (5-10)


copyright 2009 Wendy E. Betts

Other blog reviews:

A Patchwork of Books
In The Pages...
SherMeree's Musings
Check It Out

Nonfiction Monday: George Washington Carver

The Groundbreaking, Chance-Taking Life of George Washington Carver and Science and Invention in America written and illustrated by Cheryl Harness. National Geographic, 2008 (978-1-4263-0196-4) $16.95

The title and cover of this book give you a clue right away that it doesn't want to be a standard dry biography and indeed, it is a particularly engaging one. Part of the immediate appeal is its design: it's chock-full of black and white line drawings, many of which are interesting hand-drawn maps and diagrams. There's an ongoing illustrated time-line that puts the chronological story in historical perspective, showing important dates in world history, science, and black history. Essentially, almost all of the purely factual scientific and historical information is presented in an eye-catching format that cries out to be read. (A Carver chronology, science websites list, bibliography and index are also included.)

The main text of the book is just as attractive, taking an informal, opinionated style that moves quickly. It tells not only the known (and guessed) facts of Carver's childhood and life, but thoughtfully considers his place in history as a black man and a scientist: "Regardless of their ethnicity, poor folks who were struggling through hard times found encouragement in the way George climbed so high from so low-down. He became famous because of his wisdom, inspiring personality, life story, and his blackness--not because he was a great scientist. He wasn't? No, but he was a great thinker, one who used science and art to help himself and others understand the world."

With many quotes from Carver himself, and descriptions of his habits and interests, this book brings him close to us as a creative, idealistic and likable person, as well as an important figure in history. I don't think I've ever enjoyed a biography written for children more. * (8 & up)

(Check out more interesting books at the Nonfiction Monday round-up.)

Nonfiction Monday: Face to Face With Lions

Face to Face With Lions by Beverly and Dereck Joubert. Photographed by Berverly Joubert. National Geographic, 2008 (978-1-4263-0207-7) $16.95

There's a lot that appeals in this new series by National Geographic: plenty of striking photographs of course, an effective design, many interesting extra features. What really worked for me, though, was the use of first person narrative by people who've worked with the animals for a long time. The personal touch makes the information flow and the facts come to life.

Joubert draws us in from the start with an exciting and funny story about how he and his wife Beverley had an encounter with an unfamiliar lion. "We live by an important rule out here. If a lion charges, we stand out ground. If we ran, it would turn into a cat-and-mouse game. And that's a game we couldn't win. So we faced down the angry lion." Joubert is impressed by how perfectly still his wife manages to be, only realizes after the encounter is over that she had very sensibly backed slowly away.

Following this, we learn about the areas where lions live, about the course of their lives, and about the issues that threaten them. Personal information keeps the narrative lively: "We love to watch lions with cubs. Sometimes you'll see the cubs running, leaping, biting an ear, attacking a tail. The cubs in a pride are usually born around the same time. They suckle the milk from any mother they come across any time. After three of four months, I doubt whether the mothers even know which cubs are theirs." Throughout the book the photographs, all labeled with extra detail, are exciting and eye-catching, ranging from the aggressive grandeur of the pack leaders to the cuteness of the cubs. There's a bit of realistic gore, as this is a book about predators, but I think only very sensitive children would find it too much.

Extra features at the end of the book include a section on how to help endangered creatures, suggestions for observing lions in a zoo, a round-up of general facts, a glossary, books and websites, and an index. Even the research and photographic notes have a personal touch, describing sitting in 128 degree temperatures for 12 hours straight, only to lose a perfect shot to a dead battery.

This is an excellent choice for school and public libraries and might even be able to turn on kids who aren't usually attracted to nonfiction. (6-9)

Find more excellent nonfiction at the Nonfiction Monday Round Up.

Nonfiction Monday: Postcards from Washington D.C.

Postcards from Washington D.C./Postales desde Washington D.C. written and illustrated by Laura Crawford. Raven Tree Press, 2008 (0-9795477-0-9) $16.95

Part of the series, "Traveling With Anna," this is a partially bilingual book (English/Spanish) that uses a postcard-to-friends format to describe places of interest in Washington D.C. An eye-catching design mixes formal photos of the sites with casual pen & ink and watercolor pictures of the friendly Anna, who smiles with bookworm glee at the Library of Congress (even though nothing can be checked out,) and gazes soberly at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, putting some flowers under her uncle's name. Each section includes a "postcard" from Anna, enthusiastically describing her trip, plus a few additional facts as text.

Anna's postcards are engaging, giving interesting information that will appeal to kids, such as a description of a ritual in Arlington National Cemetery: "A guard marched 21 steps, clicked his heels, faced the tomb, waited 21 seconds, and marched back." After visiting the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, she writes: "Money isn't made of paper. It is really linen and cotton. That's why it doesn't get ruined in the washing machine!"

Postcards from Washington D.C. isn't completely successful as a bilingual book, because only the additional text is offered in Spanish; the postcards themselves, the best part, are only given in English. It's still an excellent resource for English speakers planning a family trip to D.C., for kids interested in other places, or for classroom reading. (6-10)

Nonfiction Monday: Let My People Go

Let My People Go! by Tilda Balsey. Illustrated by Ilene Richard. Kar-Ben, 2008 (978-0-8225-7241-1) $7.95

Every time I look at this book, I flash on Gene Wilder in "The Producers," reading the title Springtime for Hitler: A Gay Romp With Eva and Adolf at Berchtesgaden and ending with "Wow!" Really, what else is there to say about a rollicking rhyming romp with Moses and Pharaoh in Egypt? For sheer bad taste in approach to the subject matter the book is hard to beat, but add in jocular illustrations and ear-painful rhymes and it almost inspires admiration for its awfulness:

Then Moses spoke to mean Pharaoh,
"Our God says, 'Let my people go!"
Pharaoh shouted, "NO, NO, NO!"

A plague! A plague! A Plague!
Egyptians moaned and cried with dread.
To see their skin turn purply red
And nasty boils begin to spread.
But Pharaoh was an old hardhead.

The text and dialog is printed in different colored inks for use as Readers Theater and can't you just hear that read by halting, rhythm-impaired children's voices?

For those who might actually be interested in using this in a classroom, I should mention that it ends with Pharaoh letting the Jews leave, so the parting of the Red Sea and so forth isn't covered. Teachers who aren't familiar with the story will also want some supplementary material to explain the sections that might be obscure, such as the burning bush at the beginning. This is assuming you can bring yourself to get past the image of a distraught cartoon-style Egyptian waving a rattle over an empty cartoon-style Egyptian crib to illustrate the plague that brings death to every first-born son. I could not. (6-10)

Other blog reviews:
A Patchwork of Books

Nonfiction Mondays: Jewish Holidays All Year Round

Jewish Holidays All Year Round by Ilene Cooper. Illustrated by Elivia Savadier. Harry N. Abrams, 2002 (0-8109-0550-7) $18.95

I started out liking this book for its fresh and lively cover illustration of a multicultural Passover gathering, and I continued liking it for its fresh and lively text. The stories of the Jewish holidays have been retold so many times, it's a pleasure to hear them in a distinctive voice, as well as to see portrayals of less conventional Jewish families. In addition to the bright pen & ink and watercolor illustrations, the book also contains photographs of artwork from the Jewish Museum in New York City, offering many different expressions of Jewish life and art: four different menorahs, for example, range from a delicately wrought metal lamp from North Africa to a modern interpretation using eight small Statues of Liberty and the American flag.

The Jewish calendar has a number of holy days which are difficult to explain to children, like Yom Ha-Shoah, Holocaust Rememberance Day. Jewish Holidays All Year Round includes those emotionally charged holidays, but its descriptions are pretty minimal (also a little confused: "six million Jews and other people died during the Holocaust"), leaving parents or teachers to decide how much of the story to tell. A short bibliography of Holocaust fiction for children and young adults is included.

The least successful portion of this book is the activities contained in each chapter: most are recipes requiring a lot of adult help, and the illustrations of items like an elaborate mechanized purim noisemaker from Russia will not satisfy children making groggers out of empty coffee cans.

Overall, this is an excellent resource for Jewish families; it's enjoyable to read, and the range of illustrations from the joyfully simple to the intriguingly sophisticated gives it visual appeal for a wide age range. (4-12)

a new day in town

Why should Poetry Friday have all the fun? Kidlitosphere-ers have been invited to make Mondays Nonfiction Mondays. I'm not really prepared, but I did do this short review for a bibliography recently, so I'll throw it into the pile




Kids Need to Be Safe by Julie Nelson. Illustrated by Mary
Gallagher. Free Spirit, 2006 (9778-1-456-4288-7)

This book intended for children in foster care keeps things simple and direct. "Foster parents take care of children when parents need help. Foster parents have a bed and food and toys for children. Foster parents keep kids safe. Kids are important. Kids need to be safe." The last two lines are repeated over and over throughout the book, a mantra child readers will hopefully take to heart. Without placing blame on parents--"sometimes moms and dads need to solve big problems"--the book briefly describes some of the reasons kids might need to be in foster care, and some of the difficult feelings they might have about it, but keeps its focus on that message: "Kids are important. Kids need to be safe." The general tone will make this a good springboard for discussions; it might also be helpful for kids who have friends in foster care as well. I only wish it had included some advice for children who still feel threatened in their foster homes. (4-10)