Format: Chapter Book Nonfiction

The Great Rhino Rescue

The Great Rhino RescueThe Great Rhino Rescue: Saving the Southern White Rhinos by Sandra Markle
Published by Millbrook Press on August 1st 2018
ISBN: 1512444367
Pages: 48
Goodreads
five-stars

This book looks at the Southern white rhino and what is being done to save it. It discusses why they are in danger and includes amazing facts about the rhino. One that stuck in my mind is that baby rhinos weigh @150 pounds at birth! The photos in the book are beautiful and give the reader a solid feel for what rhinos look like as well as what happens when they are attacked by poachers. The back of the book has a nice glossary and includes websites where readers can go to to find out more about rhinos (including a video of the sounds they make). Fascinating book that would be a great addition to any library.

 

Ages: 8 and up. Cream. Mary Lehmer, Librarian, Freeport Community Library, Freeport, ME

five-stars

Attucks!

Attucks!Attucks!: Oscar Robertson and the Basketball Team That Awakened a City by Phillip Hoose
on October 23rd 2018
ISBN: 0374306125
Pages: 224
Goodreads
five-stars

Using newspaper articles, photographs, and personal interviews, Hoose tells a compelling story of race, sport, and triumph in the face of adversity. The book revolves around the high school basketball scene in Indiana in the 1940s and 50s. With no professional sports teams in Indiana, communities in Indiana were mad for basketball and the high school basketball scene was fiercely competitive. It was also fiercely white. With school segregation in its heyday in Indiana, there were schools and then there were all-black schools and teams from the two spheres rarely met on the same field or court. Hoose centers his story at Crispus Attucks High School, an all-black school in Indianapolis that built a powerful, championship-caliber team that eventually helped force the integration of the basketball scene because if you were the best in your league (read: white school) but you had not played the best team in the state (read: Attucks Tigers) were you truly the best? This book will appeal to fans of narrative nonfiction and to those who appreciate reading about a group of people whose mantra became “Respect all, but back down from no one.” Highly recommend for high school and adult collections.

Reviewed by Jill O’Connor, Merrill Memorial Library, Yarmouth

five-stars

Orcas on the Hunt

Pages: 32
three-stars

How do orcas work together to hunt? Where do they live? How are they different in different parts of the world? These are a few questions answered in this informational book.

Some of the phrases could be clearer. One page explains how the orcas work together and charge the ice flow to create a wave that will wash a seal off so they can eat it. A fact box on the same page says the wave is created by the orcas diving under the floe. Some places could use more information, such as what is an EQ score? The way it is used in the text implies the reader knows what it is.

The backmatter includes an index, glossary, Learn More list, Fact File and a Food Chain diagram of 4 animals, but they aren’t named and they are all pictured as being the same size.

Younger elementary students may enjoy the photographs, but the text would be more accessible to middle elementary ages.

 

Reviewed by Lynn Mayer, Librarian, Old Town Elementary School, Old Town.

three-stars

Speechless

SpeechlessSpeechless by Adam P. Schmitt
Published by Candlewick Press (MA) on November 6th 2018
ISBN: 1536200921
Pages: 304
Goodreads
five-stars

8th-grader Jimmy has been tasked with giving the eulogy for his cousin Patrick. While trying desperately to avoid people at Patrick’s wake, Jimmy alternatively whines to his parents about his task and tries to write something nice he can say about Patrick. The problem is that Patrick was not a nice person — he was always wild, hurting someone, ruining family get togethers, taking risks, and erupting in major temper tantrums. Patrick’s mother leaned on her twin, Jimmy’s mom, for support while Patrick’s dad had his own anger management issues and drank perhaps a little too much. In each chapter, Jimmy learns a life lesson, e.g., “some people enjoy a wake like it’s a wedding,” and Schmitt weaves a page-turning story about Patrick. At the end of his journey, Jimmy figures out what to do at the funeral. This is a searingly beautiful, yet painful  — and occasionally humorous — exploration of family.

Reviewed by Karen Sandlin Silverman, Mt. Ararat Middle School, Topsham

Recommended for Cream of the Crop

five-stars

Animal Look-Alikes: Frogs and Toads

Published by Red Chair Press on 2018
ISBN: 978-1-63440-211-8
two-stars

Animal Look-Alikes: Frogs and Toads by Joanne Mattern is a photo illustrated nonfiction work for grades 1 through 3. The clear colorful photos will draw the children into the short 32 page informational work for new readers. There are graphs, charts, maps, labeled photos, table and contents, and a glossary. The writing style is weakened by the overuse and sensational misuse of exclamation points. The text briefly provides information on how one can tell the difference between frogs and toads by looking at their bodies and observing their smooth or rough skin. Much of the short text is devoted to general facts about these animals and what they have in common.

Reviewed by Margy Soule, Coffin School, Brunswick, Maine

 

two-stars

Blood, Poop, and Dead Skin: the Things Insects Eat

Blood, Poop, and Dead Skin: the Things Insects EatBlood, Poop, and Dead Skin: The Things Insects Eat by Ruth Owen
Published by Bearport Publishing - (Ruby Tuesday Books) on January 1st 2018
ISBN: 178856006X
Pages: 32
Goodreads
three-stars

Ruth Own’s Blood, Poop, and Dead Skin: the Things Insects Eat is a high interest science book for children grades 1-4 who like scary photos and gross miscellaneous facts. Slag is used “poop” “science stuff.” It includes labeled photos, a table of contents, and a glossary. It will appeal to  readers looking to satisfy their desire to learn odd facts about the animal world. Each different insect gets a two-page spread. Thirteen insects are discussed including the  dung beetle, green bottle fly, and bedbug. Large clear photos will draw the kids into the book. Sensational? yes Fascinating? yes

Reviewed by Margy Soule, Coffin School, Brunswick, Maine

three-stars

Above and Beyond: NASA’S Journey to Tomorrow

Above and Beyond: NASA’S Journey to TomorrowAbove and Beyond: Nasa's Journey to Tomorrow by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich
Published by Feiwel & Friends on September 11th 2018
ISBN: 1250308461
Pages: 160
Goodreads
four-stars

Space travel is well covered in this new and snazzy nonfiction presentation.  Students as young as intermediate classes and those in middle school will respond favorably to this large book offering.

Most questions about training of astronauts and space travel will be answered in text or informational boxes provided throughout the text.  The history and progress of the USA National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) beginning in 1958 and looking forward to 2020 is discussed and reviewed with middle readers in mind. NASA provided excellent photos of rockets and space travelers but it is the profile and fast fact sections that add the most to the often drawn-out text.  Above and Beyond is sure to make research easy and its bibliography will send the most interested students to additional sources of information about space exploration.

Intermediate and middle school media centers will want to consider this for their space collections.  Public libraries should also place this new book on their shelves, replacing older materials.  Most libraries will find that some students just want to peruse the photos, this exposure to science is worth the book’s cost.

 

Reviewed by Jan Hamilton, retired youth services librarian in Scarborough, ME

four-stars

The Beloved World of Sonia Sotomayor

The Beloved World of Sonia SotomayorThe Beloved World of Sonia Sotomayor by Sonia Sotomayor
Published by Delacorte Press on September 4th 2018
ISBN: 1524771147
Pages: 352
Goodreads
four-stars

Sonia Sotomayor has adapted her adult memoir story for teen readers in The Beloved World of Sonia Sotomayor. The Supreme Court justice relates stories of growing up as part of a close-knit Puerto Rican family in the Bronx. She recounts the challenges of living with Type 1 diabetes and the tragic death of her father. Readers will be inspired by the chapters devoted to Sotomayor’s college years at Princeton and Yale Law School as well as her work in the District Attorney’s office in New York. Throughout the narrative, Sotomayor pays tribute to those who supported her along the way including her Abuelita and her mentor, Judge Joseph Cabrenes. She also describes micro-aggressions and macro-aggressions she encountered throughout high school, college, law school and in the workplace. Sotomayor’s hard work, determination ethics and civic work serve as a model for teen readers.  Unfortunately, awkward sentence structure, invented dialogue and several grammatical errors prevented it from being a Cream of the Crop contender. Several times “till” is used instead of “until,” and “I” is used as an object on page 36 instead of “me.” There is also a reference to “drunken Indians” in a college anecdote, which was problematic.

Grades 6-12

Reviewed by Cathy Potter- Falmouth Middle School, Falmouth

four-stars

Trees

TreesScience Comics: Trees: Kings of the Forest by Andy Hirsch
Series: Science Comics
Published by First Second on August 21st 2018
ISBN: 1250143101
Pages: 128
Goodreads
four-stars

Another winner in the Science Comics series. The series and book are aimed at upper elementary and middle grade readers, but anyone can get a lot out of reading these books. In Hirsch’s deft hands, an expressive acorn is not sure that it wants to become a tree, but aided by a leaf, a frog, a beetle, a woodpecker, a squirrel, and a mushroom, it sees how amazing it is to be one of these majestic plants and how honored it should be to join an ecosystem that provides so much for others. Through this journey of self-discovery, the reader learns so much about trees from their formation to their growth to their pollination and reproduction to their place in the world and finally, and most fascinating, to their way of communicating with one another. There is a lot of scientific vocabulary in this one, but there is a comprehensive glossary in the back and Hirsch does a nice job of explaining in simpler terms many of the complicated scientific processes at work in one tree. The acorn is a fantastic host and through it, Hirsch manages to inject humor and a message of responsibility that it and WE AS HUMANS have to nurture and preserve/protect trees on our planet. This book could be used in an Earth Science class or in a unit on plants or plant/animal adaptations. Add to any collection that already has some of these Science Comics titles and if you don’t have any, start with this one and then add as many as you can.

Reviewed by Jill O’Connor, Merrill Memorial Library, Yarmouth

four-stars

Let’s Draw Robots with Crayola!

Let’s Draw Robots with Crayola!Let's Draw Robots with Crayola (R) ! by Kathy Allen, Crayola
Published by Lerner Publications (Tm) on January 1st 2018
ISBN: 1512432962
Pages: 32
Goodreads
five-stars

For younger artists in grades k-3 who wish to create a variety of robots with a cartoon style, this visual instruction book from Crayola will provide the necessary building blocks.  Most of the 2 page spreads have the same layout.  A title of what the each spread illustrates such as Box Robots, Round Robots, and Robot Animals next to a text box illustrating the different shapes used to create the different robots.  Each robot has 8 steps to create the final robot.  The finished robot is colored with a few colors.  A non-essential page of advertising the names of the crayon colors used follows a joyful, full spread of all the robots pictured in a “Robot World”.  The back page provides three drawing books and two websites as resources.  The websites are geared toward parents, but the second tracing website will be useful for teachers, librarians and parents.

Reviewed by Sheila Dube, Springvale Public Library

five-stars