Great Rivers of the World – Earth Day/PPBF

Posted on April 22, 2021 by Joanna

Title: Great Rivers of the World

Author: Volker Mehnert

 Illustrator: Martin Haake

Publisher: Prestel, 2020

Translated from German by: Paul Kelly

Ages: 6-11 (and middle school)

42 pages, tall format

Genre: nonfiction

Themes: rivers, culture ecology, ecosystem, history, legends, geography

Opening:
Introduction

The great rivers of the world shape not only the countryside and nature of riverbanks, they also affect people’s lives. Since the earliest times, they have determined political and cultural borders, facilitated trade routes and even played an important role in religious life. Let’s go on the ultimate river cruise. We’ll explore 18 legendary rivers across all five continents. The journey begins with the Rhine in the middle of Europe, leads us on to the Danube, Thames, Volga, Lena, Ganges, Yangtze, Mekong, Congo, Nile, St. Lawrence, Mississippi, Colorado, Rio Grande, Orinocco, Amazon and Paraná, and goes right through to the Murray in Australia. We’ll marvel at the diverse life and famous sights to be discovered in and around these river wonders.

Synopsis:

Spend hours navigating the world’s great rivers in this vibrant, fact-filled book for kids that blends geography, history, and culture.

Where in the Rhein does the Nibelung Treasure lie? What river helps mark the prime meridian? Why do people make pilgrimages to the Indian city of Benares? Why is the Mekong called the “Nine Dragon” river in Vietnam? How does the Mississippi divide and unite the United States? These and hundreds of other facts are explored in this wonderfully illustrated atlas of the world’s great rivers. Each spread in this book offers a colorful map packed with drawings, figures, and facts. Cities that border the rivers are highlighted, as are distinct flora and fauna, significant natural and human-made features, and fascinating historical details. A “biography” of each river describes where it flows, and its importance to the communities it passes through. Special attention is given to the ecological health of the rivers–those that are thriving and those in danger of losing their valuable habitats. Along the way, young readers will come to understand the enormous impact that rivers have on our lives, while learning valuable information in a way that will spark their curiosity and imagination. (publisher)

Why I like this book:

Over forty pages, readers are taken to the greatest rivers on all five continents. Quirky questions are addressed like “why is the Colorado red?” or “why are there only 2 bridges over the 2010 km long Orinocco?

On each double-paged spread, a text box offers an overview of the important details of the rivers, such as origins, names, depth, length, tributaries, historical and political significance. And accompanying the text are wonderful detailed maps created in a collage style, with lots of added details, like festivals, flora and fauna, important people etc. Having visited 8 of the rivers, I loved exploring things I knew like the Famous Ganges Festival of the Kumbh Mela, which I attended in 1998, or a paddle steamer on the Mississippi. I of course, also poured over all the facts that were new to me, like Caviar being a main fishing product from the Volga or how dangerous crossing the Rio Grande is for many Mexicans and South and Central Americans seeking a better life.

A highlight is the information on the Nile, where the author looks at the river’s significance for ancient tribes and in the present. And there is a pull-out here, making it a double double-paged spread, which kids will love, and of course, accentuates the length of this important African river. There are some pretty sad facts about how much waste and garbage ends up in the Nile.

The information snippets are accessible to younger readers and will inspire more research, while the illustrations are a joy for everyone. The versatility of topics touched on make this a great classroom resource for many subjects. It is a large and beautifully created book, one that I would want as a classroom text because I believe so many children will enjoy browsing through it. For Earth Day, it is a terrific resource as a reminder to us all of the importance of fresh water and rivers to all of humanity’s history. This is the sort of book I would have spent hours with in elementary school.

Resources/Activities;

This is a book for specific research but also to browse. It can be used in topics related to geography, history and ecology.

https://youtu.be/b6LUaGy1ChA Video of history of Earth day

Have fun with this EARTH DAY Quiz created by earthday.org.

Each week a group of bloggers reviews picture books we feel would make great educational reads. To help teachers, caregivers and parents, we have included resources and/or activities with each of our reviews. A complete list of the thousands of books we have reviewed can be found sorted alphabetically and by topics, here on Susanna Leonard Hill’s website.

Posted in children's books, Children's literature, concept picture book, conservation, Earth Day, nonfiction | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Over The Shop – Perfect Picture Book Friday

Posted on April 16, 2021 by Joanna

Title: Over the Shop

Author: Jon Arno Lawson

Illustrator: Qin Leng

Publisher: Candlewick, 2021

Ages: 4-8

40 pages. 

Genre: wordless fiction

Themes: lgbtqia+, trans, grandparents, acceptance, community, companionship, differences,

Opening:

Synopsis:

The first few spreads show us a day in the life of a young girl who lives with her gender-ambiguous grandparent in the rooms behind their run-down general store. The grandparent is busy getting food onto their table and running the shop; we sense that the girl is often left to her own devices. The seems safe but exudes a certain loneliness.

One day, the grandparent puts up a sign advertising the apartment above the shop. Many people visit but either aren’t interested or are turned off by the apartment’s run down appearance. Then one day, a new couple stops by. One person is dark-skinned with long hair, and reads as female; the other is Asian with short hair and could be read as nonbinary, a transgender man, or a butch/masculine woman. Lawson’s dedication in the front of the book is “To trans activists of all ages,” so maybe the character was intended as trans, but I think readers have leeway in interpretation. Regardless, they’re probably a queer couple; the Asian person has a rainbow-hued belt that we see subtly in several scenes, and a rainbow hat in another.

The girl senses something positive about them and urges her grandparent to let them take the apartment. The grandparent gives them a critical look—we’re not sure if it’s because they’re a queer couple, a non-White and interracial couple, or because the grandparent is simply crotchety—but finally concedes. The couple soon begins to clean up the apartment, wave hello to a suspicious (and gender-ambiguous) neighbor, and engage the girl in their sprucing up. Their DIY projects spread beyond the apartment to the rest of the building, and eventually, they start helping at the store, too. The grouchy grandparent’s demeanor brightens; even the neighbor begins to freshen up the building next door. The transformations continue and a rainbow flag—the first on the block—is hung outside the store, and we then see the girl, grandparent, couple, and neighbor sharing a meal together.

Why I like this book:

The author dedicates this book to “trans activists of all ages,” and it is wordless. He is the Canandian poet and writer JonArno Lawson, you may remember his also wordless and exquisite Sidewalk Flowers, published in 2015. Obviously this is not a read-aloud but a pour-over-for-hours kind of picture book. I am always wowed when a wordless book is created by separate author and illustrator. Leng’s watercolor-and-ink drawings are soft but animated, and offer many details that will encourage multiple “readings”. The illustrations pack in more story than words could. She also gives us a secondary storyline involving a neighborhood cat. 🙂

I love this book on many levels. It is a wordless presentation showing us single acts of kindness can change not only our world but the lives of those around us. The storytelling is very pure, without a hint of preachiness. Add this book to your bookshelves today, or recommend it to your local school or library.

Resources/Activities:

This is 100% sure to provoke a great conversation. Possibilities for discussion are about: acceptance of people who don’t look like us; socioeconomic differences and struggles; gender and whether knowing someone’s gender makes a difference; friendship and helping; neighborhood, community, and family.

Each week a group of bloggers reviews picture books we feel would make great educational reads. To help teachers, caregivers and parents, we have included resources and/or activities with each of our reviews. A complete list of the thousands of books we have reviewed can be found sorted alphabetically and by topics, here on Susanna Leonard Hill’s website.

Posted in Book recommendation, children's books, Children's literature, LGBTQIA, Perfect Picture Book Friday, Picture Books | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Maddy – Perfect Picture Book Friday

Posted on April 9, 2021 by Joanna

Title: Maddy

Author: Gayle E. Pitman

Contributor: Anne Paschier

Illustrator: Violet Tobacco

Publisher: Magination Press, 2020

Ages: 4-8

32 pages. 

Genre: nonfiction,

Themes: parents, gender nonconforming, intersex, transgender, transitioning, lgbtqia+

Opening:
Most Mommies are girls.
Most daddies are boys.
But lots of parents are. neither a boy nor a girl.
Like my Maddy.

Synopsis:

A child celebrates her Maddy, who is neither mommy nor daddy but a little bit of both, like so many things in nature.

Why I like this book:

This is the first picture book I’ve seen featuring a nonbinary parent. I hope there are many more in our libraries in the coming years. I had not heard the term Maddy before (combination of mommy and daddy). The first page brought tears to the eyes of a nonbinary family member. Seeing representation is so important for everyone. 


This is a must-purchase for your school library shelves for trans and non-binary representation. It’s a book that may not be your top circulator, but it’s a unique book that you’ll appreciate having when you need it for a family and a book great to include on displays and book lists about families because representation matters. A little girl reflects on her Maddy – a gender non-binary parent – as she thinks about things like the color hazel (a little brown, a little green, but also its own color), the changes in the sky at sunrise (not yet day but not still night), and other in-between things.

I probably wouldn’t use this in a story time, but I would certainly promote it and want to have it to offer to children and parents seeking books to develop this understanding. Comparing her Maddy to many things in our lives that are in-between things makes these parental differences super relatable for young children.

Some of the best things in the world are not one thing or the other, but in between, and kind of both, and something entirely fantastically their own.

Teaching/parenting info and advice in the back matter are from a psychologist.

I am super excited to see a book like this being published.

Resources/Activities:

The back matter includes a double spread of information for caregivers/teachers about intersex people, transitioning and gender nonconformity, as well as a paragraph on navigating bias and a list of other resources.

Each week a group of bloggers reviews picture books we feel would make great educational reads. To help teachers, caregivers and parents, we have included resources and/or activities with each of our reviews. A complete list of the thousands of books we have reviewed can be found sorted alphabetically and by topics, here on Susanna Leonard Hill’s website.

Posted in Book recommendation, children's books, Children's literature, LGBTQIA, Perfect Picture Book Friday, Pride Month | Tagged , | 4 Comments