Pink is for Blobfish (review)

TITLE:   Pink is for Blobfish: Discovering the World’s Perfectly Pink Animals 

AUTHOR:  Jess Keating

PUBLISHER:  Alfred A. Knopf

COPYRIGHT DATE:  2016

AGE RANGE:  7-11 years

LEXILE LEVEL:  NC1040L

ACCELERATED READER:  1.0 point

SUMMARY:

          If you think pink is only for bubblegum and princess dresses—it’s time to rethink pink.  Pink is for blobfish and pygmy seahorses and naked mole rats and hairy squat lobsters.  Pink is used to camouflage predators and prey.  Pink is also used to draw attention to itself. 

            This book is also full of interesting animal facts, such as:  “If a (pink) sea star comes across prey that is too big to fit in its mouth, it will stick its stomach out through its mouth, wrap it around its meal, digest it, and then draw the goopy, digested mass back into its body.” (p 23)

CRITIQUE:   

         

          Great photos!  This book was a great mix of animal facts and humor.

REVIEW:

          Kirkus states, “These texts will challenge the intended audience. They’re full of interesting but likely unfamiliar terms: carrion, deforestation, eusocial, negative phototaxis. These are printed in boldface in the text and defined in context and in a glossary. There are helpful suggestions for further research... An intriguing approach for animal-fact enthusiasts.”  (Kirkus, 2015, Nov. 15)

AWARDS:

• “A Monarch Award Nominee (2018, Illinois)
• School Library Journal’s ‘Fuse Eight’ Best Science and Nature Book (2016)
• A Wisconsin State Reading List Committee Favorite (2017)
• An Amazon ‘Best Book of the Year so far’ Pick (2016)” (Keating, J. n.d. 

RELATED MATERIAL:

Guiberson, B. Z. (2015). The Most Amazing Creature in the Sea. New York:  Henry Holt                  and Company.

          This book is sure to amaze young readers with its strange facts about ocean creatures.  It reiterates the fact that there are still so many creatures of the deep of which we have no knowledge…yet.  Sure to tantalize the curiosity of young inquisitive minds.

Roy, K. (2014). Neighborhood Sharks: Hunting with the Great Whites of California’s                          Farallon Islands. New York: David Macaulay Studio, Roaring Brook Press.

          For more information about oceanic animals, read Neighborhood Sharks.  This nonfiction book takes an in-depth look at the body mechanics of the Great White Shark as it hunts its favorite meal:  seals. 

Nivola, C. A. (2012). Life in the Ocean: The Story of Oceanographer Sylvia Earle. New                 York: Frances Foster Books, Farrar Straus Giroux.

          For young readers curious about studying ocean life, read about Sylvia Earle, who began her life of studying the ocean when she was a child living near its coast. 

REFERENCES:

Keating, J. (n.d.). Jess Keating: Author - Zoologist - Bookdragon. Retrieved from https://jesskeating.com/praise/

Kirkus Review. (2015, November 15). Pink is for Blobfish: Discovering the World’s Perfectly Pink Animals. Retrieved from https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/jess-keating/pink-is-for-blobfish/

Who Was Louis Braille? by Margaret Frith (Review)

TITLE:   Who Was Louis Braille? 

AUTHOR:  Margaret Frith

PUBLISHER:  Grosset & Dunlap, an imprint of Penguin Group 

COPYRIGHT DATE:  2014

AGE RANGE:  Grades 3-5

LEXILE LEVEL:  780L

ACCELERATED READER:   1.0

SUMMARY:

           Louis Braille was born in France in 1809.  When he was born, he could see.  When he was three years old, he was keeping his dad company in his dad’s workshop.  His father made leather saddles and harnesses for horses.  His father stepped outside for a minute and curious little Louis picked up one of his father’s sharp tools.  He tried to copy what his father was doing, but ended up poking the tool in his own eye.  Both of his eyes became infected causing Louis to become blind at the age of four years old.

            At first, Louis attended his local school.  He would listen to the teacher and he would rely on his memory to learn, but the minute the other school children were told to get out a book, Louis was left out.  There were no books for him to read.  After a time, Louis was very fortunate to be able to attend the Royal Institute for the Blind—the only school of its kind in France.  Finally, Louis might learn to read!  Reading for the blind at that time meant that entire letters were raised above the page, causing the reader to use a few fingers to feel the shape of the letter.  It was slow-going.  Louis kept thinking, “There must be a better way.”  Eventually, he found one.  It was based off of “night-reading” that soldiers would use to decipher messages in the dark—because, a soldier who stood by a light to read was making a target out of himself.  Night reading involved raised dashes and dots, not full letters.

          That was Louis’ breakthrough:  raised dots!  He translated the alphabet using raised dots—that way, people of different languages could use this same system—which later became known as the “Braille” system of reading.

CRITIQUE:   

          A great lesson in history and in describing how a blind person could read and write quicker by not having to rely on feeling the full letter. 

REVIEW:

          I was unable to find any professional reviews (such as Kirkus or Publishers Weekly) on this title which is part of a series of similarly-titled books offered by Apple Books.  I was only able to find customer reviews of the book. 

          Customers who purchased this book on Amazon.com gave it 4.5/5.0 stars overall.  The comments were mostly from parents of children who read the book.  One comment from a parent read, “Love these easy to read chapter books, especially biographies. These books are great for reading with unmotivated readers, for they are somewhat shorter than regular chapter books and they have narrowed down the information so as to be easier to read. (Amazon, 2015)

AWARDS:

2018 Bluestem Nominee (Illinois)

RELATED MATERIAL:

          For more books in the Who Was-? series, check out the following titles:

Brailler, J. (2002). Who Was Albert Einstein?. New York, NY: Grosset & Dunlap.

           Albert Einstein was a scientist in the field of physics.  He was a genius, but that did not mean he excelled in school.

Fraden, D. B. (2002). Who Was Ben Franklin?. New York, NY: Grosset & Dunlap.

          American Founding Father, Benjamin Franklin, was a very busy man.  He was a diplomat for America in France.  He was a signor of the Declaration of Independence, and he was an inventor.  Franklin invented many things:  bifocals, swimming fins, and the Franklin stove, to name a few.

Thompson, G. (2003). Who Was Helen Keller?. New York, NY: Grosset & Dunlap.

           Like Louis Braille, Helen Keller was born with sight.  They both lost their ability to see in their early childhood.  Braille lost his sight as a result of an infection caused by an injury to his eye.  Keller lost her ability to see due to a childhood illness, which left her deaf as well.  Both Keller and Braille had to rely on their sense of touch to learn to read.  Braille created a system of reading for the blind that would later aid young Keller in her ability to learn to read.

REFERENCES:

Amazon.com. (2015, July 27). Who Was Louis Braille? Retrieved from https://www.amazon.com/Who-Louis-Braille-Margaret-Frith/dp/0448479036

The Most Amazing Creature in the Sea (review)

TITLE:   The Most Amazing Creature in the Sea 

AUTHOR:  Brenda Z. Guiberson

PUBLISHER:  Henry Holt and Company

COPYRIGHT DATE:  2015

AGE RANGE:  ages 4-8 (Kirkus, 2015)

LEXILE LEVEL:  none found

ACCELERATED READER:  IL:  LG-BL: 4.2 AR Pts.: 0.5

SUMMARY:

          What makes a creature the “most amazing creature in the sea”?  Is it its ability as a predator, or its camouflage as potential prey?  Or, is it something different, something strange?  Take the box jellyfish, for instance.  It has no brain, no blood, no backbone and no lungs; yet its 24 eyes and toxic cells make it a deadly hunter.  Or, the vampire squid which can turns its body inside out to hide?  Or the barreleye fish whose transparent head allows it to see straight up from the ocean floor.  Or, the blue whale who weighs 6,000 pounds at birth and whose adult heart is the size of a car!

COMMENTS:   

          This book is sure to amaze young readers with its strange facts about ocean creatures.  It reiterates the fact that there are still so many creatures of the deep of which we have no knowledge…yet.  Sure to tantalize the curiosity of young inquisitive minds.

REVIEW:

          Kirkus Review states, “Inviting their readers to choose the answer themselves, this skillful author-illustrator pair (Brenda Z. Guiberson and Gennady Spirin) again encourages their senses of wonder at the natural world.” (Kirkus, 2015)

AWARDS:

·        Association for Library Services to Children (ALSC) Notable Children's Books

·        Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC) Choice-University of Wisconsin

·        Junior Library Guild selection (Guiberson, 2004-present)

RELATED MATERIAL:

Beck, W. H. (2016). Glow: Animals with their Own Nightlights. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin.

           “Bioluminescence” is another word for “glow”.  When a living thing is bioluminescent, it makes its own light.  We all know that fireflies can do this, but there are also many other animals that live in the ocean that do it too.  Why?  Because the ocean is a deep, dark place.  Animals light up to attract prey or to draw attention to themselves.

            The ocean covers most of the world; therefore, bioluminescence is the “most widely used form of communication on the planet.”  (p 13)

Comment:  The photos in this book are incredible and the author does a good job of describing the way in which each type of animal highlighted in the book uses its bioluminescence.  Very educational!

Keating, J. (2016). Pink is for Blobfish: Discovering the World’s Perfectly Pink Animals. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf.                                                       

          This book examines land animals as well as ocean creatures.  It offers great photographs and weird facts about many different types of animals.  A young reader interested in quirky animal facts will surely love this book.

Roy, K. (2014). Neighborhood Sharks: Hunting with the Great Whites of California's Farallon Islands.  New York: David Macaulay Studio, Roaring Brook Press.                                                                                            Wonderful descriptions of the workings of the body of the Great White Shark complete with descriptive watercolor illustrations. 

REFERENCES:

Guiberson, B. (2004-present). The Books of Brenda Guiberson:  The Most Amazing Creature in the Sea . Retrieved from http://www.brendazguiberson.com/books/amazingsea.php

Kirkus Review. (2015, March 17). The Most Amazing Creature in the Sea. Retrieved from https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/brenda-z-guiberson/the-most-amazing-creature-in-the-sea/

Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom: My Story of the 1965 Selma Voting Rights March (Review)

TITLE:   Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom: My Story of the 1965 Selma Voting Rights March                                        

AUTHOR:  Lynda Blackmon Lowry

PUBLISHER:  Dial Books, an imprint of Penguin Group

COPYRIGHT DATE:  2015

AGE RANGE:  11-16 years (Kirkus, 2014)

LEXILE LEVEL:  780L

ACCELERATED READER:  Level: 5.1, Points: 1 (Junior Library Guild, 2017)

SUMMARY:

The Civil Rights Movement, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and others, took place in America in the 1960's.  It was a time that African-Americans protested for certain rights, namely the right to vote in certain southern states that had withheld that right from them.  Led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the idea was to march--a non-violent form of protest, to make their determination for these rights known.  Although the marchers were told to remain non-violent, oftentimes they had to endure racial slurs and the violence brought upon them by onlookers of the march.  Often, the marchers were arrested.

If an adult, who was a parent, was arrested, that could become a real problem for a family.  If a mom or dad was arrested, he or she could lose his or her job.  If that happened, how would he or she support his or her family?  The Civil Rights leaders devised a plan for this:  fill the jails with children so that there would be no more room to fill them with adults.  Children and teens were willing to do this.  These children and teens were an effective part of the Civil Rights Movement.  One such child was Lynda Blackmon.  This is her true story.  It begins with the sentence, "By the time I was fifteen years old, I had been in jail nine times." (p 13)

COMMENTS:   

         

          This is the story of a young teen as remembered by a woman in her late 60's.  It was a quick and interesting read with descriptive illustrations.  Lynda recalls the tear gas and violence done to her as a child while she marched on the Edmund Pettus Bridge on a day that became known as "Bloody Sunday".  She was injured on the front and back of her head.  Her injuries fueled her desire to be seen by the Governor George Wallace, a staunch segregationist.  She was the youngest marcher of the original 300 people who marched the whole way from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, for voters' rights

REVIEW: 

         Kirkus gives this memoir a starred review stating, “Vivid details and the immediacy of Lowery’s voice make this a valuable primary document as well as a pleasure to read.”  (Kirkus, 2014)

AWARDS:

·        A Sibert Informational Book Medal Honor Book

·        Kirkus Best Books of 2015

·        Booklist Editors’ Choice 2015

·        BCCB Blue Ribbon 2015 (Penguin Random House, n.d.)

RELATED MATERIAL:

Weatherford, C. B. (2015). Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement. Massachusetts: Candlewick Press.

     Through the use of free verse poetry, the reader gets a glimpse into the world of Fannie Lou Hamer, an African-American female from humble roots whose voice rose up in the fight for Civil Rights, specifically voting rights, for herself and others.

Levenson, C. (2012). We’ve got a job: the 1963 Birmingham Children's March. Atlanta: Peachtree Publishers.

     This book describes the role of youth during the Civil Rights Movement.  As marchers, youth were as likely to be taken into custody as their adult counterparts.  

Lewis, J. (2013). March:  Book One.  Marietta, GA: Top Shelf Productions.

     This graphic novel tells the story of the Civil Rights marches from the point of view of John Lewis, who, as a student, worked with other Civil Rights leaders towards a non-violent approach to equal treatment for African-Americans.

REFERENCES

Junior Library Guild. (2017). Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom: My Story of the Selma Voting Rights March. Retrieved from https://www.juniorlibraryguild.com/books/view/9780803741232

Kirkus Review. (2014, October 22). Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom. Retrieved from https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/lynda-blackmon-lowery/turning-15-on-the-road-to-freedom/

Penguin Random House. (n.d.). Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom. Retrieved from https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/315827/turning-15-on-the-road-to-freedom-by-lynda-blackmon-lowery-illustrated-by-pj-loughran/9780803741232/

Separate is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez & Her Family’s Fight for Desegregation (review)

TITLE:   Separate is Never Equal:  Sylvia Mendez & Her Family’s Fight for Desegregation

AUTHOR:  Duncan Tonatiuh

PUBLISHER:  Abrams Books for Young Readers

COPYRIGHT DATE:  2014

AGE RANGE:  6-9 years

LEXILE LEVEL:  AD 870L

ACCELERATED READER:  

SUMMARY:

In 1944, Sylvia Mendez (1936- ) lived in California with her mother and father and two younger brothers.  Her father had come from Mexico and had become an American citizen.  Her mother was born in Puerto Rico, which was a U.S. territory.  Sylvia and her brothers were born in America.  Their family had recently moved to Westminster, California, and the children needed to be enrolled in school.  When they tried to enroll in the local public school, they were told that the children could not attend that school.  They had to go to the “Mexican school”.  When her father asked “Why?”, he was never given a real answer.  People would simply say, “Rules are rules.”

            Sylvia’s parents, Gonzalo and Felicitas Mendez, did not want their children to go to an inferior school.  They wanted their children to have all of the same opportunities that other children had.  They decided to fight for that right. They hired a lawyer and the case went to court.  The ruling of the Mendez v. Westminster School District case said that, “All children in California were allowed to go to school together, regardless of race, ethnicity, or language”.

REVIEW:

     Kirkus gave it a starred review and named it “One of the Best Books of 2014,” stating, “Tonatiuh masterfully combines text and folk-inspired art to add an important piece to the mosaic of U.S. civil rights history. The universality of parents’ desires for better opportunities for their children is made plain. The extensive author’s note provides context, and readers can connect with the real people in the story through photographs of Sylvia, her parents and the schools in question. Helpful backmatter includes a glossary, bibliography and index. Even the sourcing of dialogue is explained.” (Kirkus, 2014)

AWARDS:

2015 Pura Belpré Illustrator Honor Book

2015 Robert F. Sibert Honor Book

RELATED MATERIAL:

     The Mendez v. Westminster School District (1947) trial ended segregation in California schools seven years before Brown v. Board of Education (1954) ended segregation in schools across America.  Earl Warren played a key role in both cases.  He was the governor of California who signed the law of desegregation of California schools after the Mendez v. Westminster trial.  He was also the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court during the Brown v. Board of Education trial.  Thurgood Marshall was a friend-of-the-court stating a case for desegregation in the Mendez case.  He was the lawyer fighting for desegregation in the Brown case.

For more information on Thurgood Marshall:

Thurgood Marshall: Civil Rights attorney and Supreme Court Justice

by Mark Rowh (2002).

Thurgood Marshall by Lisa Aldred (1990).

For more information on Brown v. Board of Education,

Brown v. Board of Education: the Battle for Equal Education by Barbara A. Somervill (2004).

Linda Brown, You are Not Alone: the Brown v. Board of Education Decision: a collection (2003)

REFERENCES:

Kirkus Review. (2014, June 1). Separate is Never Equal:  Sylvia Mendez and Her Family’s Fight for Desegregation. Retrieved from       https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/duncan-tonatiuh/separate-is-never-equal/

The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights (Review)

TITLE:   The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights

AUTHOR:  Steve Sheinkin

PUBLISHER:  Roaring Brook Press

COPYRIGHT DATE:  2014

AGE RANGE:  10-14 years

LEXILE LEVEL:  950L

ACCELERATED READER:  Level: 6.7, Points: 6

SUMMARY:

          Before Rosa Parks sat on a bus and said “No”, before Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “had a dream”, before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball, before Civil Rights became a movement…50 young African-American men joined the U. S. Navy during World War II.

            At the time, the U. S. Armed Forces were segregated.  White soldiers and sailors and African-American soldiers and sailors had separate bunk houses, ate separately and performed separate duties.  At the U. S. Naval Base of Port Chicago in California, it was the duty of African-American sailors to load ammunition (bombs) onto war ships.  Many of these sailors were young—still in their teens.  The young sailors felt they were not given proper training in handling such dangerous cargo.  On July 17, 1944, a massive explosion occurred on the loading dock of Port Chicago, sinking two war ships, leveling the loading pier, killing 320 servicemen and wounding hundreds more. 

            The surviving servicemen were transported to a nearby naval base to return to duty.  Find out what happens next when these same sailors were ordered to load ammunition again.

CRITIQUE:  

          Very interesting non-fiction book from the author of Bomb (a 2015 Rebecca Caudill nominee) about the racial views and eventual de-segregation of the U. S. Armed Forces, specifically the U. S. Navy.  When these 50 understandably frightened young men refused to load ammunition again, but would do any other given task, they were arrested and tried for mutiny (which came with a death sentence) and all found guilty.

            Thurgood Marshall, a lawyer at the time, followed their case and later appealed the guilty verdict.  He was unsuccessful.  By this time, WWII was over and the nation would have regarded the death sentence for these 50 young men in this high-profile case as extreme.  They were quietly released from the Naval prison and put back on active duty in the Navy, but were branded as mutineers for the rest of their lives.

REVIEW:

            Receiving a starred review, Kirkus reports, “In this thoroughly researched and well-documented drama, Sheinkin lets the participants tell the story, masterfully lacing the narrative with extensive quotations drawn from oral histories, information from trial transcripts and archival photographs.” (Kirkus, 2013)

AWARDS:

“2014 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Excellence in Nonfiction

2014 National Book Award Finalist

2015 Carter G. Woodson Book Award”

(Sheinkin, 2017)

RELATED MATERIAL:

American Patriots: the Story of Blacks in the Military from the Revolution to Desert Storm by Tonya Bolden

Courage has No Color: the True Story of the Triple Nickles: America's first Black Paratroopers by Tanya Lee Stone

Thurgood Marshall by Lisa Aldred

REFERENCES:

Kirkus. (2013, November 20). Kirkus Review:  The Port Chicago 50 Disaster,   Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights. Retrieved from https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/steve-sheinkin/port-chicago-50/

Sheinkin, S. (2017). The Port Chicago 50 Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights. Retrieved from http://stevesheinkin.com/books/the-port-chicago-50/