Nonfiction Favorites 2012

As 2012 is quickly coming to a close, I'll use today's Nonfiction Monday event to feature my two favorite nonfiction books of the year - one for young listeners and one for older readers.

Without a doubt, my favorite nonfiction book for older readers was

• Temple Grandin: How the Girl Who Loved Cows Embraced Autism and Changed the World by Sy Montgomery (Houghton Mifflin)

Educational, inspirational, celebratory!

Though I first reviewed it in March, it has remained on the top of my list.  Click the title for my review.

For younger listeners, it was a difficult choice - You are Stardust, Eight Days Gone, so many great titles - but my favorite was

• A Leaf Can Be ... by Laurie Purdie Salas (Millbrook)

Rhyming, whimsical, gorgeous illustrations!

(click the title for my review)

If you haven't checked out these two nonfiction books yet, hurry to your library or bookstore!

They're not to be missed!

Today's Nonfiction Monday is hosted by Jean Little Library.

Note:  I was recently interviewed by The Children's Book Review - check it out today!

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.

Count Down to Fall

Hawk, Fran. 2009. Count Down to Fall. Illustrated by Sherry Neidigh. Mt. Pleasant, SC: Sylvan Dell.

There is much to like about Countdown to Fall. Ostensibly a counting book, its true value is in its leafy pages. Seasonal leaf identification is as easy as falling off a log with simple rhymes and realistic, double-spread illustrations.

Not all of the rhymes flow perfectly, but each offers a fun way to memorize each leaf type. Beech tree leaves are described "like yellow cat's eyes," and my favorite,

"Six linden leaves
in Valentine shapes
reflect golden sun
in autumn's landscape."

Linking the Linden tree's leaves to a Valentine shape is original and memorable.

The real beauty of this book, however, is in its illustrations. Four corner insets on each spread offer depictions of a leaf in spring, a leafy tree in autumn, a seed pod, and an autumn leaf. The illustrations are bordered by a lifelike depiction of the tree's bark. The featured artwork shows the tree sharing its habitat with the creatures of nature - bears, birds, bugs, and more.

For Creative Minds is an educational section that follows the story and contains simple quizzes (match the spring leaf to the autumn leaf) and questions. Click to see.

This book is a teacher's dream - engaging, entertaining, and educational.
(If you're a librarian, check the publisher's site for crafts to do in conjunction with each of Sylvan Dell's titles- cool!)