The Book Search

I just got some new books that I ordered.  I just love getting a box of new books.  It's like Christmas!  Even if I had to order them and pay for them myself.  Still exciting!  Anyway, the kids are going to LOVE these new non-fiction books I just got. The first one is called "Snowy Owl Invasion: Tracking an Unusual Migration" by Sandra Markle.  I'm a big fan of Sandra Markle's work.  Her books are always thoroughly researched with lots of gorgeous pictures and super interesting text.  This one is no exception.  It's about what happened with snowy owls in the 2013-2014 season when suddenly people were spotting snowy owls in some pretty surprising places (like the Florida-Georgia border!) and in numbers not usually seen (like at the Boston Airport, where they typically remove 10-12 snowy owls per season, but that year, removed over 100).  She explains why scientists believe there was such a population explosion (no, I'm not goi...

Here's what I found in some new non-fiction this week. The first one is a biography called "Martin Luther King: The Peaceful Warrior" by Ed Clayton.  It was originally published in 1964.  The story is well written and doesn't seem to be anachronistic.  It gives a nice overview of Dr. King's life and some of the people who influenced him.  The artwork is warm and interesting.  I was a little fuzzy on what had been updated, since I hadn't read the initial work but overall it was a nice biography of Dr. King.  I read this one as an e-book from Netgalley so it will be interesting to see this as an actual book-to see the placement of the artwork and and how that all fits together.  I liked the fact that the book is written by people who actually knew Dr. King and how they interpreted the events of his life.   The second one is also a biography.  It's about Andrew Carnegie.  It's called "The Man Who Loved Libraries" by Andrew Lars...

I love non fiction books for kids.  And it turns out that my Montessori kids love them too.  Here are some really interesting ones I found lately on Netgalley. The first one is called "Like a Bird - the art of the American Slave Song".  It's written by Cynthia Parker and illustrated by Michelle Wood.  It's a collection of 13 slave songs and gorgeous paintings that depict them.  There is some short text about the symbolism of the pictures as well as the history of the songs.  I found it very interesting and the pictures are amazing.  The artwork is full of details that will encourage kids to look and look again to notice all the details.  This one would be great for some of those lessons where kids are expected to compare and contrast different kinds of media-in this case, art and music.  The full text of the songs is also included.  I think this one will be great in our library. The second one is called "Sachiko" and it's by Car...

My students really love nonfiction.  I think it has to do with the Montessori attitude where things are based in reality, starting with concrete and moving to abstract, or maybe their parents just prefer to read nonfiction with them.  In any case, the nonfiction books in my library get a work out and I know these new ones I've been reading are going to be great additions to my library. The first one is an easy sell in my library.  It's called "The Great Leopard Rescue" by Sandra Markle.  It's about the Amur leopards which live in Russia and are among the most endangered animals on earth.  They are big-almost twice the size of a German Shepherd and there are fewer than 1000 of them left.  The book details why they are endangered (habitat reduction) and what scientists are trying to do to help save them.  The book is full of engaging photographs of the leopards with small pieces of interesting text.  My kids are going to love this one. The ...