To The Stars: The First American Woman To Walk in Space

While Kathy Sullivan was not the first woman in space, she WAS the first to walk in space.  Carmella Van Vleet’s style of writing Kathy Sullivan’s story is perfection.  I love how she flips from her childhood to adulthood with parallels drawn from specific experience.  The story is not linear and yet it is complete.  Likewise, Nicole Wong’s illustrations bring to life what doesn’t need to be stated in the text.  For example “Years later Kathy studies another instrument panel.”  And the accompanying illustration shows the panel within a rocket.  Because Kathy Sullivan helped co-write the story, a bibliography is not included.  As a teacher, I think of this book as an opportunity to highlight nonfiction with primary source usage.  Kathy herself!  She also includes a note that I found inspirational and Carmella Van Vleet includes further information about Kathy and highlights other firsts for women in space.  Overall, this book is the total package, a good text for young and older readers alike and can be the springboard for discussions or further research on space travel.

www.carmellavanvleet.com 

www.nicole-wong.com 

@carvanvleet

Title:  To The Stars: The First American Woman To Walk in Space

Author: Carmella Van Vleet and Dr. Kathy Sullivan

Illustrator: Nicole Wong

Published 2016 by Charlesbridge

ISBN: 978-1-58089-644-3

This copy was received from the publisher for review.

Mountain Chef: How One Man Lost His Groceries, Changed his Plans, and Helped Cook Up the National Park Service

Annette Bay Pimentel tells the story of Tie Sing, who was instrumental in making sure that Stephen Mathers’ guests were well fed along their journey through what is now Sequoia National Park.  Besides Mathers, the guests were not accustomed to the great outdoors and Mathers saw it as crucial that they enjoy comforts along the way in order to enjoy and identify the importance of protection of the parks.  Tie Sing was the most famous trail cook and he wasn’t cooking up hot dogs and beans.  He created gourmet cuisine for Mathers and his guests.  Pimentel lets the story unfold, revealing the mishaps along the way that highlighted Tie Sing’s quick thinking and ability to improvise to save the day!  

Mountain Chef includes maps on the endpapers which show the route that was taken by Mathers, Tie Sing, and the campers.  I always find maps to be helpful, most often in the sheer enormity of the trip and the undertaking that was involved with cooking meals along the way.

Rich Lo’s illustrations show the majesty of Sequoia National Park and his paintings highlight facial expression both joy and also frustration that bordered on exasperation and body language.  His illustrations also identify that this trip was both a joint excursion and also a separate endeavor.  For example when Tie Sing and Eugene were traveling along the trail by Rattlesnake Creek and lost even more of their food and supplies, I’d imagine they felt desperation.  But Tie Sing was able to improvise a meal that the men loved despite all the roadblocks.  

Mountain Chef includes a section called “What You May Be Wondering” and I found it very helpful as a reader with more questions.  Only so much can be conveyed in a picture book and having this type of note for the reader is a real bonus.  Source Notes and a Selected Bibliography will also help readers identify more sources of information.

www.annettebaypimentel.com 

www.greatsketch.com 

@annettepimentel

Title:  Mountain Chef: How One Man Lost His Groceries, Changed his Plans, and Helped Cook Up the National Park Service

Author: Annette Bay Pimentel

Illustrator: Rich Lo

Published 2016 by Charlesbridge

ISBN: 9781580897112

This copy was received from the publisher for review.

Ada’s Ideas: The Story of Ada Lovelace, the World’s First Computer Programmer

Ada grew up in an extraordinary time surrounded by opportunities.  With her mathematically minded mother, she had little choice in her own mastery of math.  The industrial revolution and chances to tour the factories opened Ada’s mind to possibilities all around and the connection to famous inventor, Charles Babbage, stretcher her imagination to think about what could be possible within the constructs of his inventions.  Fiona Robinson does a lovely job of illustrating the pages with Ada dancing among gears and whirling in the hole punched pages.  The only time she seems to be in a resting state is when she is struck by measles.  The inclusion of a bibliography will help young readers find more on this fascinating topic.

http://www.fionarobinsonbooks.com/ 

@FionaRStudio

Title: Ada’s Ideas: The Story of Ada Lovelace, the World’s First Computer Programmer

Author and Illustrator: Fiona Robinson

Published 2016 by Abrams Books for Young Readers

ISBN: 9781419718724

This copy was received from the publisher for review.

Charles Darwin’s Around the World Adventure

In reading the information about the author, it was no surprise to see that Jennifer Thermes is also a map illustrator.  She does an excellent job of seamlessly including maps of Darwin’s journey around the world on The Beagle.  

Sidenote: Such an interesting ship name.  I’m interested to read more about the origins of the ship name The Beagle.  Did the captain have a beagle?

I most often associate Darwin and his discoveries with the Galapagos Islands but, as it turns out, they were a short stop on a much longer journey.  Jennifer Thermes does a beautiful job of illustrating Darwin’s journeys and many of his discoveries along the way.  The color palette is bright and hopeful as I imagine Darwin was as well on this youthful adventure exploring and learning more about the natural world.  Many of his observations and insights seem logical now but were groundbreaking in their time.  The food chain for example.  “Charles saw how their lives were all connected.”

Thermes includes a note with further information, sources, books for further reading and even fun facts.  The inclusion of maps throughout makes this an ideal book to include in any curriculum hoping to meet Social Studies standards.

www.jenniferthermes.com 

@jenthermes

Title: Charles Darwin’s Around the World Adventure

Author and Illustrator: Jennifer Thermes

Published 2016 by Abrams Books for Young Readers

ISBN: 978-1-4197-2120-5

This copy was received from the publisher for review.

The First Step: How One Girl Put Segregation on Trial

We have all heard of Brown vs. The Board of Education but this story of a girl and her family working to desegregate schools took place more than 100 years earlier.  In the mid 1800’s!  Sarah Roberts parents intentionally enrolled her in a school for white students only since it was closest to their home and they knew it would cause a stir.  They were ready to cause a stir.  In Susan E. Goodman’s words “Every big change has to start somewhere.”  This story tells of the first city to integrate its schools and the steps some cities and states made to follow suit.  But not all.  Goodman refers to one step forward three back throughout the story.  The timeline and author’s note include thought provoking questions for the reader as to their opinion of steps forward and backward, and the decisions she made to include details in her telling of the Roberts case.  The story is very well written and beautifully illustrated by E.B. Lewis.  I love that Goodman included her sources but also included what she added to the story that wasn’t evident from a primary source and her justification for its inclusion.

susangoodmanbooks.com 

eblewis.com 

@iameblewis

Title: The First Step: How One Girl Put Segregation on Trial

Author: Susan E. Goodman

Illustrator: E.B. Lewis

Published 2016 by Bloomsbury

ISBN: 978-0-8027-3739-7

This copy was received from the publisher for review.

Cloth Lullaby: The Woven Life of Louise Bourgeois

Cloth Lullaby: The Woven Life of Louise Bourgeois

The book itself is beautiful.  Some of Isabelle Arsenault’s illustrations remind me of the work of Melissa Sweet.  There is greater variation in the illustration style and the textures throughout, coupled so nicely with the theme of the story, appear that you can feel the patterns with your fingertips.  I was not previously familiar with Louise Bourgeois’ life and I’m interested to learn more and check out her work at the MOMA.  Parts of the story felt very dark so, as an adult, I’m interested to read more about Louise and see if that is a reflection of true events in her life.  The passage referencing her throwing herself in the river with sadness that her father had left for business; the uncertainty of life and math; and especially the time frame following her mother’s death.  Like so many artists, it seems that these events are what catapult and inform her art and what may appear dark to us (spiders) really represents repair and wholeness.  A beautiful book, though somewhat abstract at times for some of the younger readers.  This book has citations and sources to accompany direct quotes used throughout the book.

http://amy-novesky.squarespace.com/

http://www.isabellearsenault.com/ 

After having written the above review, I was in Washington DC in mid-October for the SLJ Leadership Summit.  During a break in the day, I went out to walk and see some monuments with some of the other librarians.  Our walk took us through the sculpture garden outside of the National Gallery of Art and what did I see but a HUGE metal spider.  I instantly knew it must be the work of Louise Bourgeois and, it was.  I decided I needed a spider selfie.  Because of the setting sun, it’s difficult to tell but lurking over my shoulder is a spectacular weaver.

Title: Cloth Lullaby: The Woven Life of Louise Bourgeois

Author: Amy Novesky

Illustrator: Isabelle Arsenault

Published 2016 by Abrams Books for Young Readers

ISBN: 978-1-4197-1881-6

This copy was received from the publisher for review.

The William Hoy Story

The William Hoy Story

What’s not to love about a story where someone overcomes odds to be great?  Thanks to William Hoy (and others to be fair) we have the signals that prevail today during baseball games to signify balls, strikes, safe and out.  The illustrations throughout are somewhat simple in their lines and yet, the facial expressions are impressive.  A bibliography is not included but the author, Nancy Churnin, is one of the people on the Hoy for the Hall committee working to get William Hoy into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

http://www.nancychurnin.com/about/

https://jeztuya.carbonmade.com/

@nchurnin
@jez_tuya

Title: The William Hoy Story

Author: Nancy Churnin

Illustrator: Jez Tuya

Published 2016 by Albert Whitman & Company

ISBN: 978-0-8075-9192-5

This copy was received from the publisher to review.