Monday Morning Miscellany

First up,

• It's Nonfiction Monday again.  Please be sure to visit host, Wendie's Wanderings to read today's posts. I've got no reviews to offer today, however, I did read this book yesterday and loved it for its beautiful photos, sweet story, and simple sentence structure (perfect for sharing with little ones at storytime):

(Be assured that the quality of the book's photos exceeds the quality of the book trailer video.)  A curiosity about this decidedly nonfiction book - the copyright page lists the classifying subject headings as the following:

1. Orangutan – Juvenile fiction. 2. Dogs – Juvenile fiction. [1. Orangutan – Fiction. 2. Dogs – Fiction. 3. Wildlife refuges – Fiction. 4. South Carolina – Fiction.]

I sent a note to the publisher to inquire if this is an error or a choice, but haven't had a response yet.  This is not the first time that I've seen erroneous cataloging information in print.  Can someone who is familiar with publishing enlighten me as to the source of the classifications?  I'm a curious sort. 

Next,

• After many, many tries, I was finally successful in logging in to my White House account and signing the petition to  

Ensure that every child in America has access to an effective school library program.

If you haven't signed the petition, please do.  (You must create a White House account before signing.)  The log in process seems to be temperamental.  Please keep trying!  As I'm writing, 4411 signatures are still needed by February 4, to ensure a response from the President. Do yourself, your children, your students, your school, and your community a favor and support strong school library programs.

Finally,

• Next Monday, February 6, I'll be featuring an interview with Marcia Vaughan, author of 2012 Sydney Taylor Book Award honor  winner, Irena's Jars of Secrets (Lee & Low 2011).

Ms. Vaughan's visit here is part of the larger Sydney Taylor Book Award Blog Tour 2012.  The tour kicks off on February 5 with the following: 

Susan Campbell Bartoletti, author of Naamah and the Ark at NightSydney Taylor Honor Award winner in the Younger Readers Category
at Ima On & Off the Bima

Holly Meade, illustrator of Naamah and the Ark at NightSydney Taylor Honor Award winner in the Younger Readers Category
at Into the Wardrobe

Shelley Sommer, author of Hammerin' Hank Greenberg, Baseball PioneerSydney Taylor Honor Award winner in the Older Readers Category
at Great Kid Books

The complete schedule is available at the Association of Jewish Libraries blog, "People of the Books."  Follow the tour and support the authors and illustrators of this year's winners!

Have a great week!

Saint Louis Armstrong Beach - a review

Woods, Brenda. 2011. Saint Louis Armstrong Beach. New York: Nancy Paulsen (Penguin Group)

It's hard to believe that I'm labeling a book about Hurricane Katrina "historical fiction," but to middle-grade readers, that's exactly what it is.  While memories of  Katrina are still fresh in the minds of New Orleans and Gulf Coast residents, 2005 is a lifetime ago for a 5th grader, born in 2001.

This first-person fictionalized account of 11-year-old Saint Louis Armstrong Beach (named for his grandfather King Saint and the famous trumpeter), tells the brief story of the run-up to Hurricane Katrina, the storm (in which he is trapped with an elderly neighbor), and its aftermath.  With freakish good luck and a family with money and decent jobs, Saint will fare better than many, if not most, New Orleanians actually did.  However, Saint Louis Armstrong Beach: A Novel (a boy, a dog, and the hurricane that almost separated them) serves as an excellent middle-grade introduction to this important page in American history.  The plight of the less fortunate provides a backdrop for Saint's story.  When he wonders why others are not evacuating to shelter in other cities, his father reminds him that not all people can leave,

"And who's gonna pay for that?  Some people got no jobs, others got no money, and when I say no money ... I mean no money.  Some people got nuthin' except the clothes on their backs, Saint."
"Money's real important, huh?"
"Yep, but what you do with it is even more important.  Most a the people who claim money's not important are folks who have plenty of it.  You remember that."

If it's a tad didactic and Saint is a tad too saintly, so be it.  Sometimes we need the obvious lesson. A short (136 pages) and accessible book for young readers. Light on scientific information, pair this one with an appropriate nonfiction title.

Brenda Woods is a Coretta Scott King Honor Award winner for The Red Rose Box.

Other reviews @
Kirkus Reviews
Waking Brain Cells
Bermuda Onion's Weblog

Teachers, there's a Reader's Companion for Saint Louis Armstrong Beach.

A Leaf Can Be ... a review

Salas, Laura Purdie. 2012. A Leaf Can Be ... . Illustrated by Violeta Dabija. Minneapolis: Millbrook.
Advance Reader Copy supplied by NetGalley.

What's better than a beautifully illustrated nonfiction picture book? One that can be used to delight preschoolers, introduce poetry, or present science concepts. A Leaf Can Be... does it all.

Introductory stanzas give way to descriptive phrases of a leaf's many uses and manifestations,

A leaf is a leaf -
a bit of a tree.
But when cool days come chasing,
it also can be a ...

Wind rider
Lake glider
Pile grower
Hill grow-er

The font is simple and pleasing, like printing with a fine point gel pen.

The illustrations, depicting each thing that "a leaf can be," are nothing less than enchanting.  Blue is the color that anchors this journey through seasons and  locales - posing as the sky, a lake, a hint of frost, the rainwater gathered in the palm of a leaf. Though whimsically drawn, the trees, people and animals in Dabija's paintings are rendered in the colors of nature - not the muted colors of nature, but nature in its most vibrant, most spectacular displays. Her use of "speckling" gives each illustration a hint of magic or fancy.

Also included are:

• "Glossary"
• "Further Reading."
• "More About Leaves," in which each descriptive tree phrase used throughout the book is explained, 

Mouth filler - leaves can be tasty!  Apes, giraffes, insects and many other animals eat leaves.  Humans do too.  Have you eaten lettuce or spinach lately?

Highly recommended. It's early in the year, but I think this will be a favorite!

Manufactured in the United States of America.



Check Laura Purdie Salas' site for a teaching guide and bookmarks, coming soon.

Due on shelves March 1, 2012. (You can request it now on NetGalley from Lerner Publishing.  Don't read this one on a black and white reader!)

It's Nonfiction Monday and I'm today's host.  

Please leave your link below and visit the other links. If you have trouble using Inlinkz, leave your link in the comments and I will add it to today's roundup.

  Thanks for participating in today's Nonfiction Monday roundup.

Today's guests include:

Gathering Books

Ms. Yingling Reads
Prose and Kahn
The Nonfiction Detectives
NC Teacher Stuff
Archimedes Notebook
Hope is the Word
Jean Little Library
Anantomy of Nonfiction
Wrapped in Foil
The Fourth Musketeer
Geo Librarian
Check it Out
Apples with Many Seeds
Better with a Book
100 Scope Notes
Nonfiction Book Blast

Don't forget! You can watch the ALA Youth Media Awards announcements live from Dallas today, beginning at 7:30 am.