And now, a little non fiction!

I got to venture down the non-fiction path this week!  Here are two great new titles.

The first one is a biography.  It's called "The Escape of Robert Smalls" by Jehan Jones Radgowski.  It's about Robert Smalls, a slave in South Carolina during Civil War times.  He is a good worker and at 12, he's sent by his owner to find work in Charleston.  He finds work as crew member on a ship and learns all the skills he needs to be an excellent seaman, including navigation.  When the Civil War starts, he continues to work on the ship and then comes up with a daring plan to run to freedom.  His plan is to try to pass as the captain of the ship, and basically sail the Confederate ship into Union waters.  This is a really exciting book to read, with the tension building as the story moves on.  The art work is modern enough to look appealing to students and the color palette adds to the suspense and drama.  It's also a really compelling story about an interesting African American that I had never heard of before.   I liked this one a lot and I think it will be an excellent addition to any elementary library.  It's going to be published later this year, so look for it!


The second one is a science book.  It's called 30-Minute Edible Science projects by Anna Leigh.  It's a book full of experiments that revolve around food.  They range from fairly simple to pretty complex and some of them require actual cooking.  These probably aren't projects you could do at school, but I know the kids at my school are crazy about cooking and food, so I think they're going to like this one a lot.  One thing that's really great about this one is how well organized it is.  Each project starts with a list of materials as well as a time table, so you know what you're getting into before you start.  There are also very clear, step by step photographs so you can tell if your project is coming along the way it should.  Finally, each project references specific science skills, so if you were teaching a lesson, you could use it document why you were doing this particular project.  I thought it was great and I'm going to get this one for my school library.  



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