Nonfiction Monday

Nonfiction Monday was started by Anastasia Suen and is hosted today at Rasco from RIF. Please read the sad news that RIF's government funding has been cut. I never benefitted personally from RIF's books for children, but it makes me sad that we can afford to fund the military but not education for impoverished children.

Nonfiction Monday will be hosted here on 14 May 2012!


Latham, Donna. Garbage: Investigate What Happens When You Throw It Out.
This is part of the Build It Yourself Series from Nomad Press. This book is an overview of how garbage is produced and dealt with through history and today. Each chapter discusses different aspects of garbage, gives explanations of vocabulary and unknown concepts, and concludes with an experiment, activity or craft project. Cartoon illustrations accompany this information, and there is a complete glossary, index and bibliography at the end.
Strengths: This would be great for a teacher to have as a resource in a classroom. I can see it being helpful for coordinating lessons with the curriculum. (And I REALLY want the one in this series where you can learn how to make your own trebuchet! My students think this would be dangerous.)
Weaknesses: I have deaccessioned several books that look very much like this from my library and am extremely leery of things illustrated solely by cartoons and anything that deals with science fair projects. It always seems like students would check them out, but they just don't.

(And on the weeding front, I finally deaccessioned my Mr. Wizard book from about 1962 after flipping it open and reading that "Mr. Wizard has been on television for the past eight years". Sadly, Don Herbert passed away in 2007. I gave the book to a science teacher who was very happy to have it!)

Szpirglas, Jeff. You Just Can't Help It!: Your Guide to the Wild and Wacky World of Human Behavior.
This book covers several topics of human behavior, including senses, emotions, communications and interactions. Each is described briefly, and short paragraphs with illustrations are arranged on the pages and don't need to be read linearly. Each chapter also includes the description of a scientific study that was done on the topic and discusses what the outcomes have to say about human behavior. There is an index, but no glossary of bibliography.
Strengths: This brightly colored collection of snippets of information is one that would be easy for students to skim, and there is a lot of good information in the book. High "gross" factor isalways good.
Weaknesses: The clip art/illustration mix looks rather 1990s to me, but students might not see that.

Nonfiction Monday-- Blizzard of Glass

Walker, Sally M. Blizzard of Glass: The Halifax Explosion of 1917.

In December of 1917, several ships containing hazardous chemicals in the harbor of Halifax collided. The resulting explosion was the biggest man made one until Hiroshima. Not only did the heat and shock waves destroy all of the buildings nearby, but the resultant tsunami also caused major damage. Thousands died. The devastation was incalculable, and this book does an excellent job of explaining this for middle grade readers-- after an introduction of how things aligned for this to occur, the catastrophe is followed through what happened to the members of several families. Maps, copious period photographs, and well-researched information and harrowing tales of survival make this a book that many readers will enjoy.

Thanks to Deb Marshall, of Just Deb for recommending this! One of our school volunteers, a former history teacher, really enjoyed it as well!

Turner, Pamela S. The Frog Scientist.

Like the honeybees in The Hive Detectives, the frog population in the US has been at risk for years. Not only are the numbers decreasing, but there has been a decided increase in the number of frog mutations that are turning up. One scientist, Tyrone Hayes, has dedicated his life to finding out what chemicals may be harming frogs. One of the most common chemicals that farmers use and that ends up in the pond water is atrazine, and Hayes has determined that this chemical often feminizes male frogs, leaving them unable to procreate, which may be one big reason behind the drop in population. This book details how he goes about his research, describing days in the field and at the labs, and also discusses the long term ramifications of this research.

Strengths: This series was recommended to me by my public librarian, and it is a very good one with lots of information. The books are engagingly presented in an easy to read but informative way.

Weaknesses: Again, the picture book format orientation of this series may work to its disadvantage in the middle school setting. Might take some arm twisting to get students to read them, but I will definitely be purchasing some when I have the money.

There's a new Nonfiction Monday page by Ms. Suen, and today's roundup is hosted at The Swimmer Writer.

Middle Grade Monday can be found at Shannon Whitney Messenger's blog.