Seperate is Not Equal in The Story of Ruby Bridges

I had read The Story of Ruby Bridges for another class I'm taking this semester, but Ruby's story is so powerful I definitely needed to share it here. This book by Robert Coles, profiles the young girl who inadvertently became swept up in the Civil Rights Movement when a judge declared that she should be sent to William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans in an attempt to integrate the school in 1960.

Ruby came from a family of humble means and her parents had to work two jobs to support her and her brothers and sisters. This unassuming family was unwittingly drawn into the fight for African American equality by the decision to integrate Frantz Elementary and since it was such a hot button issue, Ruby's daily walk to school drew mobs of angry people who did not want her to attend a traditionally white school. As the book shows, Ruby bravely showed up to school every single day despite the angry mob. Her teacher, Mrs. Henry, taught Ruby in an isolated classroom where she was away from the other students at Frantz Elementary. One day Mrs. Henry saw Ruby stop right in the middle of the angry mob outside of Frantz Elementary, which was extremely unusual for the quiet girl. Mrs. Henry observed Ruby's mouth moving and wondered what she could possibly be saying to the crowd. When Ruby arrived in the classroom, Mrs. Henry questioned Ruby as to what she said to the protesters to which Ruby replied that she hadn't said anything. Instead she had offered up a prayer for the protesters, that they would not be judged because they weren't aware of what they were doing.

I love this book for its beautiful simplicity. The language is straight to the point and not too complex while the watercolor drawings give the book its emotions, ranging from the Bridges' familial warmth to the strength and power of the angry mob. I also love this book because like Chidren of the Civil War, The Story of Ruby Bridges demonstrates the power a child can have and the impact they can make in the world. Teachers can use this story to illustrate this point and also to provide students with a child-figure to connect with when teaching about the Civil Rights Movement. For the other class I read this book in, we created a unit in which students looked at the story of Ruby Bridges and then examined the famous Norman Rockwell painting of her. This would be a great lesson to teach in the elementary classroom to tie art and literature together. Regardless of the way it is used, The Story of Ruby Bridges is an invaluable resource to any classroom teacher.

Life in the Oceans Takes Readers Beyond the Deep

Oceans have been on my mind a lot recently because my fifth graders are learning about them in science, so when I found Life in the Oceans at the library, I figured I should read up on this complex ecosystem on the off-chance I had forgotten any related information since I was in fifth grade. Turns out I have! Life in the Oceans was an extremely informative read and one that provides a visually pleasing mix of illustration and picture to support the text.

Author Lucy Baker provides readers with a great overview of the basic facts associated with oceans. There is a page dedicated to how the oceans are divided, one on wave power, multiple on the species of the deep and on the life cycle in the ocean including a highlight on the food chain. Particularly of note is the section on ocean resources, how they are being threatened by human impact and how people can intercede to help stop the damage. This could be a useful resource for teachers looking to teach students about human/environmental impact as one of the themes of geography or in a unit on environmentalism in science. The book overall could also be used as a resource in an report or presentation on the ocean ecosystem in general and the life that exists in them. The text is easily accessible for younger readers (grades 1-2) and could also be used for upper elementary readers, so it provides a great teaching point on how to approach non-fiction texts.

Children of the Civil War Helps The Past Come Alive

For many teachers, the issue of making the past come alive for their students is a common one. Historical events can seem too distant to be relevant in students' lives, especially in the age of video and computer games. However, Children of the Civil War by Candice Ransom can help students connect to the ways in which children were impacted by the important events surrounding the American Civil War.

The book profiles the lives of both northern and southern children before, during and after the Civil War. The text is accompanied by a wide variety of photographs and drawings from the period, exposing students to primary documents and making the realities of being a child during wartime tangible. The before period provides students with a quick overview of the relevant facts from the 200+ years of American history leading up to the war. The accompanying pictures of children playing outside of a plantation home juxtaposed with slave children  and their families send a powerful message regarding the stratification of society at the time. The second chapter, "A War-Torn Land," is the meat and potatoes of the book, profiling child soldiers, women and children left behind by men gone off to fight and slave families yearning for freedom. Ransom does a great job comparing and contrasting how children in the North and South were affected by the war, both in very different ways. Finally, the book concludes with a look at the extent to which life resumed after the war and reflects the changes in light of the terrible conflict that had just occurred. One quote from a Louisiana girl, Celine Fremaux, really highlighted for me the cost of the war, "Childhood had slipped away from me, never to return."

This book was eye-opening, even for a history major. The pictures spoke the realities of war and the text was extremely informative and easy to read. I would use this book as a read-aloud to give my class a child's perspective on the issue and to help students connect to a unit on the Civil War. I would also use this book to help students learn to interpret primary documents, a valuable skill necessary for higher level comprehension. Older students would not have an issue interpreting the text and pictures on their own but younger readers would need a bit of help processing.

Soar to Infinity and Beyond with The International Space Station

While astronomy is not covered on the elementary SOLs, many of the students in my cooperating classroom are interested in space and space travel. So when I found the book The International Space Station by Frank Branley my interest was immediately piqued. Much like Gail Gibbons' Polar Bears, The International Space Station presents scientific facts while highlighting them with detailed illustrations.

The International Space Station was first launched in 1998, when two astronauts, one from Russia and one from America, fastened together the first two parts of the Station. However, that was just the beginning. The International Space Station is still under construction to this day and is expected to be completed in the next one to five years. The Station is constructed by astronauts called "spacewalkers" who work in orbit, where there is no air or gravity. Spacewalkers wear specialized space suits to regulate their oxygen levels, temperature and pressure. They  must also be tethered to the Station by ropes or else they would float away into space and be lost forever! The International Space Station is a place for collaborative research among scientists from Russia, the United States, Japan, England and up to sixteen other countries so that we may learn more about outer space in preparation for further research.

I would definitely recommend The International Space Station as an excellent edition to any classroom library and as a great resource for helping students learn more about a pretty dense subject. The book explained the facts on an easy to understand level and the illustrations aided the text without making the reader feel overwhelmed. Teachers could also use this book as a part of a unit on technology or international collaboration.

An All-American Read

I'm not going to lie, I am a MAJOR history nerd, particularly when it comes to early American history. So when I found Heroes of the American Revolution by David Adler on the library shelves, I was immediately interested. As I read further, my interest was heightened. Not only does this book contain stories of  popular American heroes like Thomas Jefferson, George Washington and Paul Revere, it does a wonderful job of highlighting the accomplishments of lesser known figures of the Revolutionary War.

The book is divided up into mini-vignettes on each of the heroes profiled, 12 in all. Each hero gets their own biography and accompanying illustration. Some of the stories I found the most interesting were those of patriots I had never heard of! For example, Lydia Darragh, an Irish native living in Philadelphia, spied on British general William Howe, when he and his troops occupied her home. Hearing plans of a surprise attack on patriot forces, Darragh snuck out of her house and walked 13 miles to notify American forces, thwarting the British attack. I was also captivated by the story of Haym Solomon, a Polish Jew living in New York City during the Revolution. Not only did he work to smuggle injured troops to his house among British troops occupying the city, he also helped finance the struggling American army in 1779 when troops refused to fight after serving for months without pay.

I loved that this book highlighted often overlooked participants in the war, like women and ethnic and religious minorities. It would make a great teaching point for teachers to show students that history is FILLED with heroes of diverse backgrounds and might help students identify further with these heroes and the historical events associated. Readers might recognize author David Adler as the name behind the Cam Jansen series, but a visit to his website shows that Adler is the author of many social science-related children's books. Adler's books would be a great addition to any classroom library as they provide children with a great overview of many important historical events. I would definitely recommend Heroes of the American Revolution to history buffs young and old!

Take a Plunge with Polar Bears!

Non-fiction gets a bad rap for being rather a dry, heavy and emotionless genre of book so for my non-fiction blog entries, I wanted to find books that kids would actually find interesting. While non-fiction has never been my personal favorite, I think I've found a few selections that defy the stereotype. The first one  is Polar Bears by Gail Gibbons. I selected this book because Gibbons is a prolific children's book author, whose many books I have fond memories of reading as a child. Gibbons writes on all subjects but pays particular attention to holidays and scientific topics, so Polar Bears is a great example of her work.

Polar Bears is filled with tons of useful and interesting facts about the majestic creatures, all highlighted by Gibbons' beautiful drawings. Polar bears can be found in the Arctic tundra and they are most powerful and biggest of all Arctic animals. These bears belong to the scientific family Ursidae and have been living on earth for about 100,000 years. Polar bears can grow to be up to 10 feet tall and weigh up to 1100 pounds! Females are about 2/3 of the size of males. They can run 30 miles an hour (short distances though) and swim for at least 40 miles. They have special adaptations like warm fur, thick pads on their paws, webbed paws and even an extra eyelid to help them survive in the Arctic's freezing climates! Polar bears eat seals and have a very keen sense of smell enabling to smell their prey from up to 3 miles away! They hunt by waiting by breathing holes for seals to come up for air, swatting the seal with its paws and pulling it from the water with its teeth.

Besides the basic facts, Polar Bears also taught me two very important things about the bears that I never knew before. The first is that in the spring, when all the ice melts, polar bears eat musk oxen and carribous and scavenge for berries, mushrooms and seaweed. I had never thought about what polar bears do when it isn't the dead of winter before! Secondly, did you know that in 1970, there was great concern for the existence of the polar bear? Hunting had reduced the bear population to just 5,000. After a ban was placed on hunting, the species repopulated to a population of about 20,000 to 40,000. But the bears are still threatened by drilling for oil and natural gas in the Arctic and global warming.

I found Polar Bears to be an informative and interesting read. The book gave a lot of detailed information while the accompanying pictures held my attention the entire time. I could definitely see using this in a science lesson on either habitats, adaptations or bear species.Students could use this book as a resource for  a research project or teachers could use it as an informative read-aloud, maybe even as a teaching point for non-fiction literature. Further, teachers seeking to integrate science and language arts hould check out all of Gail Gibbons' books to see if she has written one on their particular subject (I'll bet she has!). As a precaution, I would use this text in an upper elementary classroom since it is so detailed. Many younger students will have a hard time processing the information presented. However, older elementary students will be captivated by this frosty read!

Fantasy Lovers, Get Savvy!

Mississippi Beaumont and her crazy, zany family have a secret. Despite the fact that they seem like your typical American family on the surface, this secret makes them truly unique.The secret? They each possess a "savvy" - a special power revealed upon their thirteenth birthday which enables them to do the supernatural. Her grandpa can move mountains and her great aunt Jules could step back twenty minutes in time every time she sneezed. Olive, a second cousin, has the ability to melt ice with a glare. Momma is perfect and her older brothers Rocket and Fish can create electricity and hurricanes respectively. Mississippi, or Mibs, is awkward, gawky (as so many pre-teens are) and eagerly awaiting her thirteenth birthday to learn her savvy. But then two days before her special day, her father is in a car accident and rushed to the hospital. Mibs, on a mission to see her father, sneaks on to a bus that she believes is headed towards the hospital. It is soon apparent that the bus carrying Mibs, Rocket, Fish and two of the local pastor's children, is actually headed in the opposite direction of the hospital! Mibs and her companions find themselves on the ride of a lifetime that will teach them not just about their savvies but about the realities of growing up.

I loved this book for many reasons. The characters were so unique and endearing - its as if your best friends from when you were younger were infused with the abilities of your favorite superheroes. They were also extremely realistic and human - two qualities I don't normally associate with fantasy characters. There is a great interview with the author, Ingrid Law, on Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/Savvy-Ingrid-Law/dp/0142414336/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1290552911&sr=8-1)  in which she says that she sought to create a different sort of fantasy novel in Savvy. "I wanted to create a different kind of magic—one that called to mind the feel of a modern American tall-tale. I wanted to break away from the traditional tales about magic and find roots in the soil around me. What would magic look like if it sprang up in the small towns of America?" To me this perfectly encapsulates Savvy. The characters can be role models for readers because of their reality.

I originally picked up this book because nearly every student in my cooperating classroom is obsessed with this book. So much so that one of my students who is a struggling reader was practically begging my cooperating teacher to let her read the book, despite the fact that she had ruled it out as a "just right" book. To me, if any book can cause children to a) pick it up en masse or b) beg to read it, it HAS to be good. And I was not disappointed. While I would recommend this book for students ages 9-11, Stonehouse has this book featured in its Battle of the Books program and rightfully so in my opinion; It is a bit challenging and lengthy for most students. However, I feel that Savvy's message is great for all ages -  a celebration of idividuality and remaining true to yourself, is applicable and valuable to students of all ages.