Life in the Ocean: The Story of Oceanographer Sylvia Earle by
Claire A. Nivola
Nivola writes about Sylvia Earle, but she also writes about
and draws the ocean and its many creatures. The illustrations are stupendous
and worth the price of the book; the text gives an excellent overview of
Earle’s background, her love of the ocean and the creatures that live within
it, and the importance of her work. For any child who has even a slight
interest in the ocean, this is a valuable book to add to her collection.
Monday, Wednesday, and Every Other Weekend by Karen Stanton
A clever story of a boy and his dog who go back and forth
between Mama and Papa’s houses. The boy seems well-adjusted to the routine, but
Pomegranate, the dog, has a hard time and always wants to go home! Perfect for
those children who are shuttled back and forth and may or may not know how to
articulate any lingering anxiety. The illustrations are slightly abstract and
colorful enough to draw you into the warmth of the book. (Okay, this book is fiction, not non-fiction,
but the topic encouraged me to include it here.)
My Country ‘Tis of Thee: How One Song Reveals the History of Civil
Rights
By Claire Rudolf
Murphy, Illustrated by Bryan Collier
Tracing the history of My
Country ‘Tis of Thee from 1740 in England through the election and
inauguration of President Barack Obama, Murphy gives a brief historical tidbit
and a verse from the song that was added, mostly as a time of protest. Two that
have particular meaning are those sung by slaves before and during the Civil
War:
My country, ‘tis for thee,/Dark land of slavery,/ For thee I
weep.
Land where the slave has sighed,/ And where he toil’d and
died.
To serve a tyrant’s pride,/ For thee I weep.
And a verse sung by women shortly after the revolution:
God save each Female’s right,/ Show to her ravished sight/
Woman is Fee;
Let Freedom’s voice prevail,/ And draw aside the veil,/
Supreme Effulgence hail, Sweet Liberty.
As always, Collier does an outstanding job with the
illustrations, both those that are realistic and those that are more
ephemeral. The depiction of both slaves
and soldiers from both sides overlaid one another on pages 24 and 25 is truly a
work of art. Care is taken to give notes on where the verses were found and
connect each verse with its historical significance. The end of the book
invites the reader to write a protest verse to continue the tradition.
When the Beat was Born: DJ Kook Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop by
Laban Carrick Hill, Illustrated by Theodore Taylor III
A brief biography of the first Hip Hop DJ. Kool Herc was
born in Jamaica and from a young age, he loved dance parties. When he finally
had a chance to DJ his own parties, he took the skill and made it his own. Hill
and Taylor use words, a variety of fonts and pictures to tell a multi-layered
story. Although Kool Herc is still living, the book does not go into what he is
doing these days. Both inspirational and informative, this will give some
background on how a music style was formed.
Buried Beneath Us: Discovering the Ancient Cities of the Americas
by Anthony Aveni, Illustrated by Katherine Roy
More of a short chapter book than a picture book, this text
includes several sections on ancient cities of both North and South America.
Some sections are told in narrative form giving an insider’s view into ancient
history. All is extremely well done and very readable. The illustrations are
grey-scale, but very detailed and informative. If you or your child is
interested in archeology, comment on this blog. I will randomly select a winner from any comment made by January 30th and send you a copy of this book. It is gorgeous!
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