New Books

Greetings!
I have a few new books to share this week. I know, I know, but I just can’t help it. I see these great books and just have to tell someone about them.

The first two are part of a set called Toy Trailblazers. They are from the Checkerboard Library published by Abdo Publishing. I chose just these two from the set of six books.

American Girl Entrepreneur by Paige V. Polinsky is about the maker of the American Girl dolls, Pleasant Rowland. The story of how Ms. Rowland came up with the idea to create dolls from a historical perspective. She met with a lot of opposition to her idea. People said that the historical themes would be too boring. We know that they were wrong and the dolls were and are a huge hit.

Yo-Yo Maker by Paige V. Polinsky is about the maker of the yo-yo, Pedro Flores. Flores didn’t actually invent the yo-yo; it was a popular toy in his home country, the Philippines. But he is the one who brought the yo-yo craze to the United States.
Each of these books tells a little about the history of the toy and something about the creator of the toy. The other books in the set of toy makers include Mr. Potato Head, Pokemon, Rubik’s Cube, and Monopoly.

Another set of books is about fashion. I bought just two of them, too. Levi Strauss, Blue Jean Genius by Elsie Olson is about Levi Strauss and how he created the blue jeans that became a craze and are worn all over the world today.

Mary Quant, Miniskirt Maker by Rebecca Felix is about Quant who gave customers in London shorter skirts when they asked for them. She herself wore the miniskirts while helping her customers. She gave the shortened skirts the name ‘mini’ after the Mini Cooper, her favorite car.

Both of these books are part of the 1st in Fashion set. Other books in the series include Eddie Bauer Down Jacket Developer, Louis Reard Bikini Designer, Chuck Taylor Sneaker Sensation, and Sam Foster Sunglasses Success. This set is also from the Checkerboard Library published by Abdo Publishing.

When I saw the next set of books, I knew that I had to have the one about ketchup and the one about jelly. Henry John Heinz: Ketchup Developer by Heather C. Hudak is a short biography about Heinz and his persistence in creating his company. He had lots of troubles and lost a lot of money, but was able to persist and make a success of his company. I read this book to the first and second graders and we really enjoyed learning about Mr. Heinz.

Smuckers has had commercials on television using their grandchildren or great grandchildren. I was pleased to realize that real people, a real family, started this business. In The Smucker Family: Jelly Pioneers by Heather C. Hudak we learn about the family and how they began the jam and jelly business.

Other books in the set titled “Food Dudes” include S. Truett Cathy: Chick-fil-A Founder, Oscar F. Mayer: Hot Dog Manufacturer, Henri Nestle: Food Company Creator and Sam J Porcello: Oreo Innovator.
Again, these books are from the Checkerboard Library and published by Abdo Publishing.

Well, that will do it for this week. If you have any questions or need titles for a specific section of your library, I might be able to suggest some titles for you. Enjoy the weekend.

Audrey

New Books

Greetings!
I have four new books for you this week.

Red and Lulu by Matt Tavares. The first one is a Christmas book. Look for it now, because the holidays come much too fast! Red and Lulu are cardinals that live in a large tree. The family who lived in the house near their tree would decorate it with lights and gather around and sing “O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree, Thy leaves are so unchanging. . .” Red and Lulu loved this and sometimes sang along. One day Red flies off to find something to eat and when he returns, his tree had moved! It was tied to a big truck and then the truck drove away. Red flies along trying his best to keep up with the tree that still has Lulu in it. But before long he loses sight of the tree. In a big city, he tries to find his tree, and after a few days, he hears singing. “O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree, Thy leaves are so unchanging. . .”
He quickly flies toward the music and there is his tree with Lulu still there. The two birds have a happy reunion. Soon workers come and take their tree away, but Red and Lulu stay behind this time in the park surrounded by trees and friends.
There are a number of wordless pages in this book. Students of all ages will enjoy the story.

I Walk With Vanessa by Kerascoet. I really like wordless picture books and I found this next one to be just perfect for our school and really any school. Vanessa is the new girl in school and is being bullied by one of the children. A little girl sees this and decided the next day that she can walk with Vanessa and be her friend. Along they way to school, other children join them and when they arrive, there is a large crowd of children walking with Vanessa. The boy who was bullying her the day before, is red-faced to see that everyone else is standing up for Vanessa instead of bullying. What a great lesson to be an upstander!

What’s Your Favorite Color? By Eric Carle and Friends. Many of you may know Eric Carle as a talented artist. If you don’t know him by name, think of The Hungry Caterpillar, The Grouchy Ladybug, and more. In this book Eric gathered together fifteen children’s book artists and each tells what his or her favorite color is giving an explanation and then illustrates the color beautifully. Some stories are just a few sentences and others have a paragraph or two. I LOVE color and I LOVE children’s books and this has both! What a treat!

Lost and Found Cat: The True Story of Kunkush’s Incredible Journey by Doug Kuntz and Amy Shrodes. I am in process of collecting the Washington Children’s Choice books for the 2019. This book came just this week and the illustrations were so lush I sat down to read it immediately. A family in Iraq is escaping a dangerous situation and leave. Sura, the mother, decided that they could not leave without their beloved cat, so she hides him in a small carrier basket hoping that he would stay quiet. The different problems that fall to them as they meet smuggler after smuggler helping them. After crossing the sea in a very small boat, Kunkush is left on the sand while the older son helps the rest of the family. Kunkush is frightened and escapes his carrier and runs off. The family is heartbroken, but after hours of searching, finally must continue on to safety. Thanks to a number of kind people, and the magic of technology and Facebook, Kunkush is reunited with his family. There is an author’s note that gives more information plus a map to show Kinkush’s journey and the last few pages have photos of little Kunkush and his family. I have already decided my favorite of the Washington Children’s Choice books. THIS one.
I love that the story is true. The refugee crisis is very real and this book tells just one small story of one family trying to find a better place to live.

Have a great weekend.
Audrey

MakerSpace, part 2

Hello,

This week I am going back to the MakerSpace information. I had asked you to send me what you are doing in your school for this. Many of you (and me) are not doing anything in the library, but I did find an article that talks about this throughout the curriculum. If you are interested in reading it, here is the URL. https://thejournal.com/articles/2018/09/04/integrating-makerspaces-throughout-the-curriculum.aspx?s=the_in_070918

I did get one response and I thought that her experience would be beneficial to us all. Here is what she is doing in her library at her school.

She has a ‘station day’ about once a month where the students choose a creative or STEM activity to do either on their own or in small groups. Station ideas include Legos, build a marble run, snap circuits, laser maze game, brain teasers, puzzles, string art, origami, geometry blocks, Knex, and more. Many of the games she has are either from garage sales or from her personal stash.

This year she will be adding Madedos (cardboard construction) and is looking for some coding-based games or activities that aren’t too expensive. The school is adding tablets and Kindles this year. Some of the activities she wants to implement are coding, green screen production, and stop-motion animation.

She is starting STEM maker boxes this year and plans to use them in this manner. When students come in to the room, they will sit in small groups. Each group will have a box. In the box will be some items such as cotton balls, straws, string, tape, popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners, etc. There will be a suggested activity such as “Use the materials to design and build a marble maze”, or “Design and build a parachute” to complete with the materials in the box. Since this idea is new this year she is planning to experiment and find which grade levels this will work best for.

The article above suggests using MakerSpace ideas in the classroom curriculum such as science, history, and more. That actually seems like a great place to do this and probably many of you are already doing this. I know that our junior high science teachers has students build a marble maze and completes other activities that correspond with the curriculum. We also often have classes team together to work on something like Ozobots together.

Have fun with this kind of activity this year.

Audrey